Our 1st Anniversary Trip

Mike and I think we've maybe started a new tradition: to go camping in southern Utah for our anniversary since that's what we did for our first anniversary this year. We went down to the Escalante and Boulder area to do some slot canyon hikes that I have always wanted to do, but boy the weather looked iffy as we drove down I-15 in pouring rain pretty much the whole way to Escalante. But the weather cleared a little and we decided to check out the Escalante Petrified Forest State Park rather than do a slot canyon that day.

At the petrified forest

At the petrified forest

In trying to find out the weather for the next day, we stopped by a local outdoor store and talked to a cool guy that point us to Cedar Wash Arch - which was pretty cool! Of course we took some different, longer and crazier trail in our first attempt to find the arch than what he told us about, but it got us there and provided a pretty good laugh when we found the actual trail he talked about that was only a one or two hundred yard walk to see the arch close up.

On our first, long hike into Cedar Wash Arch

View of the arch from our first route

View of the arch from the actual trail and short hike

We camped off of Hole in the Rock road and ate some yummy and easy shepherd's pie that night for dinner. Then the next day the weather looked great so we hauled down the Hole in the Rock road to the trailhead for Peekaboo and Spooky canyons. When we got there, there was only one car, but as we geared up to begin the hike another ten cars showed up much to Mike's chagrin. Peekaboo. Woah nelly. We did it first. I had visions in my head that it was going to be a walk in and come back out kind of deal. I did not anticipate a number of scrambles and climbs!! The first three really wore me out and I was not excited about the several more scrambles I saw immediately up canyon. But Mike helped where he could and I made it through Peekaboo! We tried to make it a loop to Spooky but we couldn't figure it out since there were so many cairns all over the place. So we hiked back down to the main wash to find Spooky and did the normal in and out path for it. (Later, we talked to a couple that had figured out the loop but they said it dropped into a pretty gnarly chalk-stone pile that had some big down-climbs so that made me happy that we didn't figure out the loop.)

Peekaboo - yes, that's a climb I had to scramble up

Peekaboo

Peekaboo

Peekaboo

Spooky

Spooky

Barely fit through Spooky!

After Peekaboo and Spooky, we explored the Batty Pass Caves a little and then also Devil's Garden. Then that night, we had a fancy dinner at the Hell's Backbone Grill and camped at a cool place by the Boulder air strip. 

Batty Pass Caves

Batty Pass Caves

Batty Pass Caves

Devil's Garden

Devil's Garden

On Monday, we explored a little on the Burr Trail Road outside of Boulder: we hiked to an old grainery structure built by cliff-dwellers . . . maybe of the same descendancy as those found in Mesa Verde? And then we attempted to hike down to some narrows along Deer Creek. But after hiking a mile and a half in soft sand and chasing cows, I lost all energy and all emotional control and told Mike he'd have to explore those narrows with Lane since the narrows are too far and too hard for me at this point in my pregnancy.

Me resting by the grainery structure

Mike out exploring a little further away on the cliff where the grainery was