Coyote Gulch

This last week Mike and I had the opportunity to go on an awesome adventure backpacking in the Escalante region of southern Utah with our great friends Jen and Dave. I think that being able to take off in the middle of the week for a trip and not missing any work is definitely a benefit of a nurses' 3 day work week!Our adventure started after I got off work in Provo on Tuesday morning. We had planned to grab some food on the way before we started our first hike. Well we were surprised to find out that Boulder, UT, really doesn't have much as far as eating establishments... or really anything. We did end up going to the really great place called the The Burr Trail. Best carrot cake ever!

Tuesday we hiked Lower Calf Creek Falls. It is beautiful. A huge waterfall in the middle of the desert! Mike, Dave and I ended up jumping in. It was frigid! I tried to swim under the falls but I couldn't breathe because of the cold so it didn't happen.

That night we traveled down the the trailhead. We started our backpacking adventure Wednesday morning. The hike is a loop, but it is a couple miles shorter if you have a shuttle car. So we had to walk along the sandy road until we got to the start of the trail. We started at 40 mile ridge trailhead and ended at Jacob Hamblin arch trailhead. Along our trails we made friends with a run away horse and had to find the lost cowboy.

At the edge of the canyon.

Jen getting ready to go down "crack in the wall."

The hike starts out through sand and rock before descending into the canyon. It was amazing getting to the ridge and looking down. We ended up going through what is called "crack in the wall" and lowering our packs down. It was beautiful in the canyon. The trail followed part of the Escalante river. It was perfect weather, warm enough that the cool water felt nice, but not too hot.

One of the waterfalls along the trail

We found a great place to camp. In the morning we made it to the biggest of the arches, before exiting the canyon. To get out of the canyon we had to climb up a wall. It wasn't a technical climb, but it was quite hard with packs on. My guide book had suggested raising the packs out with rope, but we decided to just take our time and climb with the packs. Getting out of the canyon was a crazy feeling. Looking around all that I could see was desert. We put all our faith in the rock cairns (which are piles of rocks that people have set up to lead the way) and I still think that we got lost on our way back to the cars. I had visions of some boy scout setting up fake cairns and leading us into nowhere. Next time I'm bringing a compass, or a GPS...

Hiking out of the canyon

Coming out of the canyon feeling lost in the middle of nowhere

It was such a great trip. I love spending time with the Pauls. Dave grew up next door to me and I have known him forever and it is through him and his sister I became good friends with Mike... and now we are married forever! Two years ago at this time we took a trip with Dave and Jen to St. George and Zions. Jen and David were dating, but Mike and I were just friends. Who would have though that six months later we would both be married?