May 19

We left Zion’s just after lunch time and headed for Panguitch UT to ride the Thunder Mountain Trail.

We arrived at the trail head around 3:30 pm and started to gear up while a light shower was finishing up.  The parking lot is at the bottom of the trail, which meant we were in for a long ride up before we could come down! Luckily Utah has longer sun hours. We packed plenty of snacks and water, put the kids on our bikes and started the long trek to the top of the mountain.

The first 5-6 miles of the trail is a paved biking trail next to the main road.  Just a slight enough incline to warm your legs up. The kids had fun as the trail would go UP an down like a roller coaster, and the smooth path helped us glide through it quickly.

Around mile 6 we turned off onto a dirt road, Coyote Hollow Road.  There is also parking at this turn off if you wanted to shuttle and shorten the trip by 6 miles or so. The dirt road leads you up into a thick forest and up through an equestrian camp. (Side note: equestrian is a hard word for a 2 year old to say! Fletcher worked on it for some time during the ride and then decided it was simply a horsey camp).

The trees were so tall and green. It felt like riding through the redwoods.  Why are the woods so darn magical?

After awhile we took off onto a single track.  This trail would zig up one side of a hill and then zag back down the other side through drainage ravines as you slowly continue your incline up the mountain.  Another fun roller coaster section for the kids!  The higher up the mountain we got, the more we would see patches of ground turn from brown dirt, to moon-like white dirt, to red sand and rocks.

Finally around 11-12 miles in, we got to the very top of the mountain!  The views were stunning! 

We were in full red sand dirt now. We would pass through sprinkles of forest sections with white sand and then come back out onto full red sand surrounded by hoodoos! (Now that was a word Fletcher COULD say…. HOODOO!)

Riley called the hoodoo’s statues, because after a while you start to see faces in them….lots of giant hoodoo people watching as you ride through the trail!  It got fun to try to name them :).  Hi Bob! By Sally!

I caught this pick of Brian and Riley at the top of the hill before a big descent.  The mix of the storm rolling in vs. the sunny sky and all the red hoodoos…breathtaking!  On a side note…time to race down this mountain before we get caught in a storm!

I will admit, this trail would be much more fun without a 2 year old on your handle bars.  There were a few sections where the single track would feel like riding on the the cliff edge of the Grand Canyon.  One wrong move would put us in a bad spot.  My nerves got the best of me here a few times (as a wiggly toddler can be unpredictable to balance) and we walked a few times.  On your own though?? This trail would be so fun to zip through!!

The descent is only 4 miles of the 16 mile round trip ride, but totally worth it. It descends about 1400 feet REALLY quickly in some areas.  The last mile being the most fun with a kid on your bike. Really smooth with a few little whoops for some extra fun.  We may have hiked back up the last section to ride it again!

Altogether the ride took about 2 hours (this includes 3 very long kid snack breaks, potty breaks, etc).  One of my favorite trails so far!

We packed up and ate some dinner and let the kids ride their scooters in the parking lot until the sun went down. Then we were off to find a good boon-dock spot for the night!

May 20th

Woke up early so Brian could ride Thunder  Mountain kid free. He did the whole thing in under an hour, speedy guy!  Then back on our journey!  Today’s visit was to……

BRYCE CANYON!

GUYS! This place doesn’t get enough hype for how cool it is!!  It’s an 18 mile drive from entrance to the top.  We drove up and hit a few of the overlooks on the way up.  There were a lot more places for RV’s to park here!! Finally!

Riley was feeling ill, so she stayed in the RV while we ventured out to the overlooks.

Fletcher of course could NOT let Hippo miss the action.

It was the weirdest thing.  You’d drive through a forest mountain road. Then you’d stop and walk to the cliff edge and see this amazing red rock arches, hoodoos, etc.  Seems so unreal!

After our drive to the top we headed back down to the main visitor parking lot and made some lunch for the kids. With the drizzley weather and their exhaustion from yesterdays bike ride, we decided to let them just hang out and do their own thing.

Brian sacrificed his day to stay with kids in the RV and let me go off on my own to explore the canyon!  (FREEDOM!!).  Normally I’m not the type to go explore areas on my own.  My fun usually comes from BEING with other people. But since we’ve been living so closely lately…..this was the best day!

If you have a National Parks Pass (or park entrance ticket) you can ride the shuttles for free.  I hopped on one and decided to see where it would take me.  I hopped off on stop 3 going Northbound, Bryce Point.  From there I walked the Rim Trail towards Sunrise Point. This trail is RIGHT up against the cliff face into the main Amphitheater.  You would think the view would get old….it doesn’t.

 

It was about a 3 mile walk to Sunrise Point. From there I decided to try out the Navajo Loop!  This takes you down INTO the canyon.  The sign said it was only a 1.3 mile hike.  Easy enough!  I saw mothers and children coming up the steep path. Surely I could do this hike.  I wasn’t carrying a 2 year old today so, this should be easy!

The hike down was steep zig zags.  It was fun to watch all the people scurry like ants the further down they got.

Once down into the canyon, the hoodoo’s look even BIGGER! All towering over you from great heights.  It has a similar feeling of being in a slot canyon.  Just with funny shaped canyon walls :).

Once at the bottom I found a group of hikers all sitting and resting. I decided to make friends and see what was going on?  Turns out…the 1.3 mile loop, wasn’t a loop that day.  The .2 mile trail left to ascend back up to the top was closed!!  Everyone was resting after thinking they were nearly done, and now gearing up for a another 1.1 mile hike back to were they started.  I feel like this sign COULD have been placed at the top of the trail.  There were quite a few angry hikers. Haha!  But not I!  Any hike without a kid screaming at me is a delight! (They don’t always scream….:))

Back up I went! The zig zags going back up are harder to see, but this angle shows just how steep the trail back up is!

I finally made it back to the RV after being MIA for 3 hours.  But oh what a wonderful 3 hours they were!

To anyone thinking of skipping Bryce Canyon, DON’T DO IT!  All you need is a couple hours.  It’s quick. There are WAY less tourists, and the views are spectacular!

We ended the day with dinner in the visitor parking lot.  Riley and Fletcher were having fun playing with an air rocket we found on Amazon.  This thing is HOURS of fun. Today, the game was…hit Riley in the butt. Fletcher got the biggest laugh out of this one!

Next up….ST George part II?