Capital Reef for a weekend

Several Fridays ago we drove to Capital Reef for a family camping/biking/climbing/hiking trip. We stayed at the campground which has orchards all over. At night the deers would come in and fill the orchards and eat the dropped fruit. Tyler took a few pictures with his camera.

This is Ella the photographers photo. See our lovely tent.
The real reason for the trip was due to a climbing event. I learned how to climb up walls with cracks in them= Crack climbing.

This is me - a very proud moment. I was leading my first Trad route. Which means I had to place funny looking gear into the rock and hope I placed it well enough so if I fell it would keep me up on the wall.
Darren went road biking through the park so the kids and I rode 2 miles on our mnt bikes. (to the visitor center)
Ella was a great sport but was tired when we got there.
The kids played around on the rocks with their Dad and did some more biking while I climbed rocks.
This is the wall we were climbing. Very grand... very amazing... and lots of cracks.
I was on top rope so I really couldn't fall while I was climbing. You tape up your hands and can even wear knee pads and elbow pads. You shove your feet and fists into the rock and climb up. I am not good at it so it hurt a bit. My drive.... go fast so you can get done with the climb. Thankfully I got a bit better and learned some good techniques so it didn't hurt to bad by the end.

After climbing we went for a hike in a slot canyon named Sulphur Creek. The hike winds back and forth through a slot canyon that crosses back and forth over a river. It is 5 miles long. Ella hiked all but about 1 mile. She was so cold from having to cross back and forth in the river. She asked me to carry her for a minute on my back. I did ... and before I could go-- she was asleep. We got out of the canyon in the dark. We ate at little dinner and drove home listening to the Hunger Games. Kid sleeping with exhaustion.

GREAT WEEKEND!