I have a lot to catch up on. It has been a crazy couple of months, so I guess I'll start where I left off. I hate to admit this but we had our season premier camping trip just one week after Sam's accident. (You can't let a silly thing like a head on collision interrupt plans) To make things worse, the day we were leaving to go camping was the day we found out he had a fracture in his knee beside the fracture in his skull. We decided we would just go and Sam would just have to take it easy. I felt guilty about wanting to go and him not being able to have fun, but then again there have been more than one camping trips where I haven't been able participate because of early contractions while being pregnant, so that was just my thinking process to help myself feel better. I knew deep down that he wouldn't be taking it easy but I also felt that he would be okay. You can't make a guy sit at camp, and honestly I didn't want him to sit at camp. He decided he wouldn't get on the four wheelers but he did drive the durango where ever it could follow with all the kids. Just in case anyone is wondering, the docs did give him the okay to drive.
It was cool because we started the camping season in the same place we ended last years season because we wanted to see if we could get everyone to the hot springs that we found on the first trip. We had quite the adventure and I want to tell this one story but fair warning, its a long one. The trail that went to the hot springs was only for fourwheelers, so Sam couldn't go that way and it was way too long for the kids. We came up with a plan. Not the smartest plan but it was a plan. There was another road that made it all the way to lake powell where the canyon with the hot springs empties and it was a durango worthy road. Last year we marked the hot springs on our GPS so we knew we could get about a mile from the springs as the crow flys by going on this other road. We decided that my dad, Sam, me and the 3 kids would pack a lunch up in the durango, pull a four wheeler on a trailer and attempt to meet up with everyone else around eatin' time. We thought it was 'probably' possible to hike about a mile and all have a pic nic at the springs. We also thought we may never meet up, but it was our only option.
We reached the end of the road for the durango. Sam and I decided to scout it out with the four wheeler. (I know, Sam wasn't suppose to be on the four wheeler but we all knew it was the inevitable) There was a canyon in the way and the trail wrapped up and around forever. We finally reached the canyon that the springs were in and the four wheeler couldn't go any further. The GPS was saying .8 miles and we felt we could see right were the springs might be, but there were a lot of obstacles in the way. I decided to hike my way back to where my dad was to see if the kids could even do it because we all couldn't fit on the four wheeler. Sam drove back around the long way. I ran and ran, and it kinda felt good, felt like the good ole days when I use to run. I kinda gave my dad a heart attack though because I came running back all by myself. Sam was way behind me trying to make it around the canyon. You could only imagine what was running through his head when we had been gone so long and I came running back by myself. Not nice, but we made it back and made our plans from there. We all decided to take a risk and try to make it. Poor kids didn't have a say in the matter. We knew we couldn't get a whole cooler and another box of food across the terrain we were facing, so we hurried and packed only the essentials into a back pack we had. We bused ourselves in a couple trips to the first canyon that needed to be hiked, from there Sam and Lily went around on the fourwheeler and the rest of us started hiking. We made it through the first part fine and met up with Sam and Lily, only to stand at the edge of a shear cliff that overlooked about 30 yards of the gooiest, muddiest river ever. The GPS said it was only .8 miles and we could see where we thought we needed to be. We couldn't really make a decision so we figured we might as well just face one obstacle at a time and stop if there was no other option.
We found an easy way to the bottom of the cliff and then we faced the 30yd. bog. We knew areas like this can act like quick sand but we were running low on time, so I took my shoes off and jumped in. Sam likes to make fun of the funny prance that I did to try to prevent from sinking. The whole middle part really was solid. It was the edges where you sank, but I thought it was do-able and the water felt pretty good, so I pranced back over to the other side to get Marah and my shoes. I crossed it without a problem but I didn't take into account the extra wt. I was carrying and when I hit the edges, I immediately began to sink. Everytime I tried to take a step I just sank further. By this point Marah is starting to scream her head off and I'm beginning to panic. I threw Marah as far up the bank as I could. I know that sounds bad but she was fine and she was safe. My dad and Sam watched pretty helplessly as I sunk deeper and deeper. I would put my hand down to push myself out and it would sink to my armpit. My saving grace was the shoes I was carrying because they had enough surface area to push down on them and wiggle myself out. I never really felt in danger, it was more of just a 'how am I going to get myself out of this' feeling. I still had to go back and get Nathan since I was the lightest one. I tried going by the trees this time and still got stuck. I about dragged my dad down with nathan and me as he was trying to help pull us out. Definitely a very helpless feeling, but we all made it to the other side. I was the only one who took off my shoes to cross and I was regretting it. My feet and legs were caked in mud with no chance of getting it off. I scraped off what I could, hiked as far as I could with out shoes and then was forced to put shoes on over muddy feet.
So we set out, I was in charge of Marah, dad had Nathan, and Sam had Lily, who was on his shoulders most of the time and the bag full of food and drinks. So much for doctors orders of light duty. Hope insurance companies never see this if he has problems in the future. We would go over a hill or around a bend just sure we would be there but all we would see was another hill or bend. Marah and Nathan had to be carried but would fight it and want to get down and then wouldn't follow us plus we were in a hurry. Discouragement was definitely setting in. We finally rounded a bend and heard Whitney's voice at the bottom of the canyon but at the same time this was a breaking point, both Nathan and Marah refused to be carried, fell down, and started bawling. I think I was holding back the tears as well. We sat and rested for a minute even though we were so close but still had another ridge to climb over. The kids calmed down and were ready to go again. We climbed over the rim and saw the most beautiful sight ever....our destination. It was a beautiful green oasis in the middle of the canyon desert, surrounded by beautiful red rock. All we had to do was climb down to it. We put the girls' swimsuits on, I threw my shoes down and we jumped into the water. It was heaven.
Lily just loved swimming in the warm water. It was like her own little outdoor hot tub. Seeing her beautiful smile made that whole journey worth while.
This little oasis literally is the only green spot in the whole country at this time. So amazing!
Marah, unfortunately, did not appreciate the water and was actually quite scared of it. I think she was just worn out. We started a fire and the 13 of us scarfed down everything we could fit in that back pack. Someone thought they were pretty funny and complained that we didn't bring the pop! It was going to get dark and I had no clue how we were going to make it back. I was pretty sure I had nothing left and would not make it. Justin was missing at this time because he had gone on one of the four wheelers to try to find us. It was getting late and he still wasn't back. We were getting a little worried but he did eventually make it back and turns out he did have a wreck. He hit a rock going at fast speeds which stopped the quad short and he flew over the handle bars. The next thing he knew was he was lying on his back staring up at the four wheeler. He made it back with minimal injuries, which is a huge blessing. He could have been hurt very badly and he would've been all a lone. I hate to think about what could have happened. He came back bearing great news. He had found the trail that led back to the
durango and it wasn't very far! Everybody was relieved. None of us wanted to go back from where we came. It had taken the other crew 4hrs on four wheelers to get to the springs and did not want to make that trip back in the dark and its obvious why I didn't want to go back the way we came. We still had the problem that there weren't enough four wheelers to get us out but we had no other choice. We had to put 3 per 4 wheeler and the big one had 4 people. I promise we were very careful and had all passengers get off on any questionable spots. The trail Justin found was beautiful and we were able to see the sun set over Lake Powell as we finally reached the
durango. It was only about 45 min trail and we had another hour on the good road to make it back to camp, still way better than the other 4hr trail or trying to make our treacherous hike in the dark. Justin definitely saved the day by finding that trail and now we know the best way to get to the springs. Long story but it was a long adventure and I actually can't wait to go back! The following are just more pictures from the trip and some videos of a slot canyon we explored.
