Capitol Reef National Park in May

I was so excited and did so well at posting on this blog until I got pregnant and sick and winter hit, so it's been almost a year. Sorry, but life goes on and the Hansens get out camping again eventually! This weekend was our new baby's first camping adventure. He's 2 1/2 months old and the perfect age for camping. Ideally he'd be sleeping through the night by now, but we survived. He's not the hard one, the hard one is the two year old, and he's not hard during the actual camping, he's hard on the drive to and from.  So we just try to stay a little closer to home.

We sure live in an outdoor lover's paradise here in Utah. This weekend we decided to try out Capitol Reef National Park.  It's a little over 2 hours off the main highway, so it was not nearly as crowded as some of the others like Zion's or the Grand Canyon, but I think it was equally as stunning.  With river hikes, dry river bed slot canyons, desert landscapes, petroglyphs, historic sites, and beautiful picnic areas, we will definitely go back.

We left early Friday morning and got to the park by lunch time. The campground was full, but we had a tip on a little dirt road called Sulfur Creek Road just east of the town of Torrey where we just threw down for the night.  I would advise taking a good tent as the wind is usually ripping through these desert areas.  We had a hard time getting our stakes into the sandstone, though a pop up tent would do fine.

These are the bigger kids hiking Hickman Bridge, poor B was a little outnumbered by the ladies, but he stole a pink hat to feel more a part of the clan.

After a quick lunch we hiked to Hickman Bridge.  It's about a mile from the parking lot to the natural bridge. It was beautiful and you actually hike through the middle of it and around a little loop.  My four year old did great and walked the whole way.

After the hike we crashed at the picnic area in the park. It's beautiful and grassy with shade trees and access to a little stream where the kids threw rocks and played in the mud. My two year old went for a little swim on accident, but it was warm enough we just dressed him down to his diaper and he continued romping around.  After playing in the water we ate dinner and watched as the deer and turkeys came grazing through the grassy areas. I won't admit to it, but maybe the kids had fun chasing the wildlife around. The poor tourists who had never seen a deer before, they were out of luck after our visit.

The nice part about camping on Sulfur Creek Road was that we had the place to ourselves and had no one driving past in the middle of the night and it was quiet. My kids could cry or be loud all night long and only keep us up.

Saturday morning we cooked our eggs in boiling water in ziplock sandwich baggies, loaded up everything and went back into the park. This time we explored the Grand Wash.  We just parked on the highway and hiked up the canyon for as long as we wanted.  Then we turned around and came back down.  The canyon never narrowed down like in Escalante, but still fun to zigzag around and see everything.

Petroglyphs in Grand Wash

Grand Wash

We liked the picnic area so much we went back for lunch for a repeat of playing in the river.  After we ate we stopped by the Freemont Petroglyphs.  They were pretty neat to see, but mostly the kids enjoyed petting the thousands of little caterpillars that were crawling along the boardwalks.  They were pretty cool.

Some nice parts of this park are 1) There's no fee to enter  2) Not so crowded 3) There are lots of little side activities that require almost little or no hiking 4) There are fun activities spring/summer/and fall

Family Photo at Chimney Rock

We could spend a week in this national Park and not even scratch the surface of what's down there.  I definitely want to go back in the summer.

Our bucket list for future Capitol Reef visits:
Bum sliding in Sulfur Creek
Leaping into Deep Creek Pool
Hiking the slots in Burro Wash
Hiking Sulfur Creek just across from Chimney Rock down to the Visitor Center
Driving Capitol Gorge Road exploring the canyons and slots
Hiking the Halls Creek Narrows

Lower Bell Canyon in June

This is probably the easiest kid hike on the Wasatch Front. It's easy and quick to get to and such a fun hike that my three year old went both up and down, no problem.  I like that we don't have to drive up any canyons so it's a quicky if you don't have much time.  You park in the lot just east of the intersection at Wasatch Blvd and S Little Cottonwood Road (about 9600 S).  There's an outhouse right there for the kiddos who may not like to go out in the bush. It's about a mile up to the lake on a well maintained trail. We are always rewarded with ducks and fish to look at at the lake. I've seen lots of dads and kiddos fishing too. If you hike up the trail longer, I've heard there's a pretty waterfall and another lake, but the kids (and the parents carrying them) have never made it up past the lower lake.  There's also a more difficult, but prettier trail farther south on Wasatch Blvd, just look for the parking lot on the east side of Wasatch.  This trail goes along a trail and has some little waterfalls and bridges to walk over, but it's super steep.  We got the kiddos some kid sized camel backs this spring and they love having their own water/gatorade to drink at will.  Just one warning though, if you do put some yummy tasting beverage inside, they don't have much self control and drink the whole thing in minutes. Then you have to take a lot of potty breaks.  I stick to water and then just make them stop and take a few swallows every so often.

Clint with all 4 kids at Lower Bell June 2013

Martha and Mary Lake in July

We have done this hike with the kids every year since the twins were one! It's about a mile and a half up and you get a fantastic reward at the top with the most spectacular mountain lakes.  I like to do this one near the beginning of the summer because sometimes the lake drops significantly by the end of the summer. You start the hike in the parking lot of Brighton Ski Resort up Big Cottonwood Canyon just east of Sandy, Utah.  Make sure you take plenty of water because the trail is not very well shaded.  KK, my 3 year old made it almost half way up, and then she pooped out and went into the backpack.  We let the kids take off their shoes and dip their feet in the water. Though that's probably not allowed since it's a watershed.

The nice part of this hike is you do all the work on the way up and then you can eat lunch or a snack and then it's downhill all the way back to the car when everyone is tired.  We also found some fun snow patches that the kids went sliding down.  We've often seen moose and other fun wildlife, though I'm never excited to get too close to a moose, they freak me out!

Here's a few pictures of us over the years with the kiddos. It's fun to see how our family has changed!

2 kids 2008

3 kids 2010

3 kids 2011

4 kids 2012

4 kids 2013

Raccoon Creek State Park in June

We had some good friends, Heather and Hyrum who lived in Austin with us. They were always planning some fun adventures even with the kids, so I asked her to do a guest post. I hope you enjoy her adventures in Pennsylvania!  The following is a kamping with kiddos post from Heather!

Thanks to Kelli for inviting me to share an experience from our family camping trips. We have taken all of our kids on camping trips pretty early in life. We’re definitely not as rustic as Clint and Kelli though.

We went camping in June to Raccoon Creek State Park outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with our four children, ages 6, 4, 2 and 1. The weather was lovely, highs in the mid-70’s and lows in the 50’s.

The highlights of this trip were the beach and a little hike we took around the lake. The beach trail was about .3 miles of downhill from the camp site. The trail was well kept and easy to follow. Charlotte-2, tripped a few times so make sure you have band-aids. This way took about 15 minutes.

The beach has nice sand that goes right into the water. There is little shade nearby so next time I would bring a beach umbrella. There is a bathhouse close for changing and showering off as well as a concession stand down the road. We liked what we saw and headed back up the hill after doing a little wading. This time we took about 20-30 minutes.

Our big hike was the Wetlands Trail--1.2 miles. We took this to Nichol Rd, then the Heron trail (.5 miles) until meeting back up with the Wetlands Trail to our car. It took us about three hours to do the whole trip, maybe 3 miles altogether. The Wetlands trail is categorized as easiest hiking by the park and while the terrain is fairly level and easy, the trail was overgrown with wild raspberry bushes and other thorny vegetation so long pants are recommended.

The Wetlands trail winds around the Upper Lake in the park and then into a valley to meet up with Nichol Rd. The first part of the trail is wide and easy. It is through long grass and we got wet from dew--I was wet to my waist by the time we finished hiking the trail. We enjoyed seeing some herons, frogs, and a water snake. The vegetation got fuller about .75 miles in and stayed that way up until the last .2 miles or so on the Wetlands Trail. There were a couple of large dips as well where the trail comes quite close the bank of the lake. The vegetation made it difficult to see and at one spot Hyrum took a spill with Spencer-1 in the kid pack. Nichol Rd is a wide gravel road with a gradual uphill when headed toward the Heron trail. The heron trail was mostly down hill as we headed down to the Wetlands trail. We thought the Heron trail was easy due to the lack of vegetation. The whole trail was also very shady.

I find that one of the best things to remember with kids is always have food and water. Those two things can calm just about any complaint. Camping with kids is a fun and worthwhile experience. It was nice to unplug, talk and play games together as a family. It requires flexibility and patience, but is well worth the work.

Escalante in May

In the beginning of May we took all four kids and met my parents and my brother and his wife out by Escalante, Utah.  We drove about 25 miles down the Hole in the Rock road and pulled off another road going west toward 50 Mile Mesa and camped out on the dirt road for 3 nights and 3 days.

Day 1

We drove further down the Hole in the Rock road and took a turn off left just before Dance Hall Rock and drove the dirt road to the end.  We hiked about two miles into Coyote Gulch to see a beautiful arch and hike down what is called Crack in the Wall.  We handed the kids down the crack and had lunch at the bottom while they played in the sand and we enjoyed the view of the arch as a rain storm approached. The flowers and cactus were all in bloom with oranges, yellows, reds, pinks, purples, and whites.  Each little depression in the rock had its own pristine flower garden.

Summer with a flowering prickly pear cactus

Clint trying to hike Hank through Crack in the Wall. It was so tight we each took and arm and shimmied him through, Hank didn't particularly enjoy this adventure.

The arch with the rain in the background, it was really neat until the rain  hit us and started pouring off the rock.

Samantha was easily able to hike the Crack in the Wall while 8 months pregnant, though much more and she wouldn't fit through the crack or through some of the canyons. 

We then hiked the 2 miles back to the car, though we stayed on the rock to avoid trudging through the sand on the trail. The kids were a little worn out from the rain and the cold, Ali said to Grandma Debi, "I don't think Pappa had a very good idea."  After lunch and a little rest they recovered well and we went to our next adventure.

Right about where we pulled off to go camp is a sign called Dry Wash.  That's where you turn off to go hike Peek-a-Boo, Spooky, and Brimstone Canyons.  It was a Thursday, so we had the place to ourselves.  It's about a mile and a half hike downhill to the start of Peek-a-Boo.  We climbed up the rock and started in.  I wasn't sure what to do with the kids, but we just unloaded the kid backpacks and carried Hank on our shoulders.  He wasn't super happy about it, especially when we had to snake him through narrow spots by each holding an arm, but the 3 and 6 year old girls had a riot!!! We went up Peek-a-Boo, hiked around a short little trail and then went down Spooky.  I can't imagine how you would do this with crowds of people. There's just barely room for one person at a time, so passing is virtually impossible.  There were a few little pools and tricky spots where we had to hand the kids down to each other, but we never needed ropes or anything. These were probably my favorite hikes of the trip. I don't have tons of pictures because we were having too much fun, but here's a couple.

This is the beginning of Peek-a-Boo

Clint got the kids up into Peek-a-Boo and turned around to help my sister-in-law up the cliff and as he had his hands tied helping her, Hank started crawling into the muddy, dirty pool of water.  He wanted to go for a swim!! YUCKY

Just one of many tricky spots

I think I have the coolest, toughest kiddos around!!

Exiting Peek-a-Boo before hiking into Spooky

Two happy hikers in Peek-a-Boo!!

Day 2

We drove back towards Escalante on Hole in the Rock Road to the 2nd cattle guard from the pavement and hiked about 2 miles down into the wash and up into Zebra.  This was a water hike, so we left an adult at the bottom with the kiddos and some sand toys and took turns hiking Zebra. It was only about 200 yards to a pretty gnarly rock fall where we turned around.  Ali hiked the whole thing on Uncle Ty's shoulders.  It was armpit deep water for me in places (waist deep for most normal people), but sooo amazing. The rock literally has zebra stripes.  There were all these neat rocks embedded in the sand stone and when they erode out they have sand stone in the middle so they turn into hollow bowls when they break in half.

Clint in Zebra

Ali hiking Zebra in style.

Kelli and Ali in Zebra.

After we hiked Zebra the kids were wiped out so Clint and I hoofed it out of there and my parents did a canyon called Tunnel.  It's about a half mile down the wash from Zebra. It's not very long but full of freezing cold water.

This is tunnel, the canyon closes in on itself in the top it's sooo narrow.

Clint and I went back to the truck to get some lunch and some fresh water. As we sat around waiting for the Tunnel hikers, Clint took the kids over to a tree to sit in the shade. He set Hank down in the sand to play but Hank kept trying to eat the cow pies, so Clint moved Hank behind him by a rock. He turned around for a second and turned back and a rattlesnake was slithering past within 3 inches of Hank. Clint grabbed Hank and dashed out of there. I don't know if I've ever seen Clint so panicked. Luckily the snake was not angry or irritated and luckily Hank didn't try to grab that cool looking slithery thing.  We saw several snakes while we were hiking. Watch out for them in the shade in the hot part of the day. They are like us and are trying to escape the heat.  Clint was funny, he went back to look at the snake and thank it for not biting our baby.  When he came back he said, "That snake was good to us, so I didn't even poke it." (He likes to hear them rattle)

One of many rattlesnakes we saw on this trip

Day 3

We packed up the tents and drove up to Lower Calf Creek Falls.  This is one of the most beautiful drives I've ever been on. We had done it on the way to Escalante in the dark and missed it.  AMAZING!!! I totally want to do this on a road bike, though the shoulder is pretty narrow and dangerous.  We were told that Lower Calf Creek was pretty easy and flat and that it was a good kid hike. I probably wouldn't do it again until the kids are older. It was LONG and hot and up and down the whole way. Though the six year old stud muffins made it.  The kids almost had a melt down at the end, but thanks to some nice fellow hikers, I got a stash of gummy bears to revive the gummy bear fairy.  The gummy bear fairy dropped gummy bears along the way for the kids to keep them going. The falls were beautiful and some in our party took a swim.  We actually got cold by the falls, so we went downstream a little ways and let the kids play in the water where the falls weren't misting us and making us chili. The water was still freezing, but even Hank got in and splashed some. He would yelp when the water got as deep as his diaper. He didn't like the cold water touching him there I guess. We tried to get my mom's dog to swim across the stream, but the little chicken just whined and yelped until we saved her!

Family photo at Lower Calf Creek Falls

Summer, Hank and Ali playing in the river downstream from the falls.

After the falls we had lunch at the picnic tables in the parking lot and hit the road home. The drive got even more spectacular as we drove down a skinny road between two canyons that fell down below us. We then dropped down into the mountains and went past Capitol Reef National Monument. I think that will be our next big adventure in the fall. It looked beautiful.  All in all it was an incredible trip. 

 We love just throwing down and camping out wherever and not having to listen to dogs bark or loud music or drinking parties. We also like not having to worry about our kids crying and waking up the neighbors.  We bring plenty of water and some solar showers, so after a long sweaty hike we can take a shower with water warmed by the sun.  Even Hank got a shower and loved it! The cows would come around and look at us, Clint called them white faced deer, and Ali gathered some cow pies to burn them just like the pioneers did. They do burn, and they aren't even that stinky.

Zion's Ponderosa Resort in May

We just got back from an awesome trip to Zion's National Park with Clint's family.  I know it's not really camping, but it was still an outdoor kid adventure and I make the rules, so I can break them, ha ha. We spent about 5 days at the Zion Ponderosa resort in a massive cabin (thank you Janice and Ross for footing the bill!!).  The cabin we rented was big enough that we slept 10 adults in 6 bedrooms and 8 kids in closets and other rooms very comfortably.  KK was in the laundry room, Hank was in our closet, and the girls shared a room with two twin beds.  It was fabulous.  The cabin had it's own ping pong table and jacuzzi (though it was a little green and smelly, Clint was the only one brave enough to go swimming in it with all the kiddos), access to a hot tub and pool, mini golf, horse back riding, rock climbing, tennis, 4 wheelers, a park, ping pong and pool tables, and a restaurant.  The resort even put on a mini rodeo for us.  The kids all clung to the fence and watched as they raced around poles and barrels with horses, mules and even a donkey (hilarious).  Everyone whooped and hollered and had a grand ole time at the "Rodeo."  This was the ultimate kid hiking adventure.  We went on hikes every morning and then came home and put the toddlers to bed for naps while the big kids went to the pool.

Day 1

We hiked a little 1-2 mile round trip hike called Hidden Gardens.  We parked in the pull out directly past the first short tunnel after you enter the park on the east side.  We piled out the the vans and went right down the hill off the road into the dry river bed.  From there we hiked a little and then entered a little slot canyon.  I was amazed at the ponderosa pines growing all the way past the top of the canyon.  The canyon was cool, green, and fragrant.  We just hiked until a spot where the kids couldn't maneuver past a rock fall and turned around.  We were home by 11 am and didn't even need to pack a lunch. It was a good warm up hike.

Day 2

We got up early, packed lunches, and drove all the way down to the main entrance of the park.  Zion's has a shuttle bus you have to use to hike the main portions of the canyon.  We hiked Emerald Pools that morning with some of Clint's extended family.  It's about 5 miles round trip.  My 6 year old twins hiked it no problem, though we had to resurrect the gummy bear fairy a few times to keep kids motivated to keep walking (she leaves little gummy bear presents).  It was frog mating season, so the frogs were all over, and in pairs.  It was fun for the kids, they even picked some up to pet them.  I carried my three year old, KK and Clint carried Hank, the 1 year old.  There's a beautiful waterfall about a mile up that is a great turn around spot if you aren't ready for the full uphill battle to the upper pools.  Probably the highlight of the hike was the cool down at the end.  Clint let the kids all wade through the river and play in the mud.  Hank had a grand old time wiping mud all over his body and soggifying his diaper.  The twins and KK even joined Clint for a swim.  I was a little to wary of the cold water, but enjoyed seeing all the mating frogs and watching Hank enjoy himself.

hiking under the waterfall at lower pool

Froggy Friend

family photo at upper pool

We finished the hike, now lets cool off in style

Rocks and mud, what more could a boy want?

Great swimming hole!!

Ali enjoying her after hiking snack, maybe a hot chocolate would have been more in order.

All in all it was a good day and a fun hike.  It gets a little hot climbing up to the upper pool, but well work the sweat and maybe a few 6 year old tears.

Day 3

It was Sunday, so we caught a Sunday Service in Orderville and then spent the rest of the day trying out the park, some mini golf, and some family style doubles in tennis at the resort.

Day 4

We ventured back down into the park to try some more swimming in the narrows. The narrows is the last shuttle stop in the canyon, so we thought we'd get off and go see Weeping Rock on our way.  The deer were grazing all over on our way up to the rock (about 400 yards from the shuttle).  KK walked the whole thing and she's 3, though at one point she says, "Mommy, my knees hurt.  When are we going to go down hill?"  I guess she was feeling the muscles working in her legs for once.

KK almost petting a deer close to Weeping Rock

After our little side trip to Weeping Rock we jumped back on the shuttle to the last stop.   It's about a mile or so to the end of the trail that enters the narrows.  The kids wore crocs or sandals and Clint took the big kids up the river for about another mile.  They had fun wading through the canyon up to a little waterfall.  I guess Ali even fell all the way in and didn't even flinch about it.  I stayed with the 2 littlest kiddos and we dug in the sand and splashed in the river while we waited.  The babies both fell asleep in the backpacks, though they never sleep for long if you aren't moving.

Day 5

We were scheduled to head home, so we thought we'd take a side trip into Bryce National Park on the way.  As much fun as Zion's was, I think Bryce topped it for hiking with the kids.  We actually never even entered the park, we went to a little State Park called Red Canyon that was about 6 miles past Panguitch towards Bryce.  It was free, super kid friendly, and we had the place to ourselves Memorial Day weekend!!! We hiked a little trail called the pink ledges trail that was a mile long just starting from the little visitor center there in the parking lot.  It was perfect for the kids, though don't carry kids on your shoulders, it can be very dangerous if you slip and fall, kid backpacks are much safer.  KK walked the entire pink ledges trail by herself. I even learned something new!! Did you know that if you lean into a Ponderosa Pine inhale deeply, the bark smells of vanilla? Crazy cool!  The little balancing rock formations are called hoodoos.  The kids had fun crawling into crevices and caves they found on the way.

Pink Ledges Trail

Summer with an army of Hoodoos behind her

Hank right before Clint fell on our hike

We then hopped in the van and drove about 5 minutes up a little side road called Casto Canyon Road.  At mile 2 there's a little parking lot and out house for a trail called Arches Trail.  It was about a 2 mile loop.  We walked through amazing country seeing arches, a little stone enclosure or house, hoodos, caves, etc. It was so dense with beauty I can't believe most people never stop here!!! Unfortunately it was starting to rain so we had to book it out of there. The forest ranger was super to tell us about this one.  I think we need to go back and scour Bryce and Red Canyons for more kid friendly hikes. I think I'm feeling another adventure in the works.  Anyone want to join us?

Just go through the wash to the other side and you'll see the trail

Hold on to your hats it would be quite a scramble to go get anything you drop

Yummy, I want to smell that Ponderosa Pine!!

Clint and the girls posing in some of the Arches

More arches

Ali in the stone house

All in all we had perfect weather, perfect company, perfect hikes, and so much to feast our eyes on.  I'd recommend this trip to anyone or any hiking level.