The Subway 8-23-08

Scott's pictures have been added to the link. Descriptions to follow soon! (My camera got wet about halfway through, so sorry for the blurry pics.

Elephant Arch - June 2008

Craig and I went to Elephant Arch in June.
You start off by driving on a dirt road over in Buena Vista (the north half of Washington's Main Street), going towards Pine Valley. You should have large tires to drive on this road, or you can take your bike.
The hike isn't very long - you can get there in an hour or so, and there are beautiful views along the way. The trail is pretty level - follows a dry riverbed - until you get to the arch, where you have to hike up a little.

Here I am taming the elephant.





Doesn't this elephant have a great view?

Oh, how cute!!

Red Hill - June 2008

Craig took me up to hike on the Red Hill in St. George in June. I've hiked around here a little as a kid, especially in the Narrows part, but forgot how many cool caves and crannies there are here.

Red Cliffs - July 2008

Piece of advice: Don't go to Red Cliffs in July. Everything was dry except for a few stagnant pools.
Craig still had fun hiking up to the cave.
And we hiked up to a little overlook.

Duck Creek Chili Cookoff - July 2008

In July, Joe and I went with my parents up to the Duck Creek Chili Cookoff.
It was a beautiful day, and much cooler than in St. George!
Here's Joe trying to walk the line with his drunk driving goggles on.
The wildflowers were in full bloom!
Joe had never been to Cedar Breaks overlook before :)
What's holding this rock up? Should I jump on it? Don't do it Joe!!
Here's a little overlook at the top of the dirt road branching off to the right from the road going in to Brianhead.
Nice view!
Joe was a good sport - helped my Dad change a tire when it blew out coming off the dirt road.
Here's Joe posing with the bears from Georg's Ski Shop in Brianhead :) A lovely day!

Zion Narrows to Orderville Canyon

In June, my parents and I hiked the Virgin River Narrows in Zions.
Here's Mom and Dad on the Riverside Walk leading up to the Narrows - it's a pretty little 1-mile trail.

About halfway up the trail is a rest area and pond where some squirrels (chipmunks?) came to say hello.

Here's me and Dad at the end of the Riverside Walk where the wading starts.

Not far up the river is a lovely waterfall running down the rock face.



We stopped to picnic under a shady tree - I took a little dip in the pool on the right - the water was freezing!!

The canyon walls are so colorful - they look like they're painted...

And carved by a master artist!
Here's my dad in a narrow part of the canyon...

And helping my mom across the river.

Here's a cool little tunnel.

Mom and Dad were getting tired, so I ran ahead to a little past the junction with Orderville Canyon. Here's me and Dad on our way back :)

It was a great trip!

Here's a link to the full album.

Sunflowers

Check out how big the sunflowers are in my dad's garden!! He's also growing zucchini, tomatoes, squash, and peaches - yum!

Whipple Trail - Pine Valley 8-9-08

This was a beautiful, although long, hike.

If you look at the map, you can see that the hike can be done as a loop, but we just did the upper Whipple trail to Whipple Valley, and it took eight hours, so the loop would be an all-day hike or overnighter. I'd like to go back and do the lower Whipple Valley trailhead someday.

We started our hike with a trip into the Pine Valley Lodge country store. You can buy sandwiches there, but it'll cost you about $6-$7, so we settled for some banana marshmallow cookies.

The hike started out with some switchbacks all the way up the side of the mountain, so we got a really nice view of the town of Pine Valley.

On the way up, we saw a butterfly, just emerging from its cocoon, sunning its wings.

There were a lot of quaking aspen and pine along the trail.

And a cool, twisted tree stump.

Aye yi yi - the switchbacks were killer - at times, it seemed the hill would never end! This is not a trail for the faint of heart!!



But in the end, we were rewarded with a beautiful meadow.


And some very colorful bees and butterflies.


It seemed like heaven after the long hike.

And on the way home, we dipped our feet in a refreshingly cool pond.

Here's a link to the full album.