Coral Pink Camping

Thursday, October 22 - Sunday, October 25th. Another great weekend camping. We were supposed to do Moab in September but Homecoming was on the same day. We rescheduled a few times but couldn't ever make it work before it got too cold. So we went back to Coral Pink with the Cains where we started out this year.  Good book ends for our camping season. Gentry came with us Thursday, we met Sadie in Hurricane Saturday and she came up and Calli was in Provo for a former missionaries wedding. 

Thursday, Gentry needed to go to 1st and 2nd period so we headed out as soon as she got home around 11:00am. We pulled in, set up and went riding. Ryan always has rides set up for each day. Today was the overlook. 

Always have to plan stops to check out the machines. 

The Overlook

Cool Tree

Gentry made these tracks and tried to convince Noah and Charleigh that a toddler was out wandering around. They didn't believe her. 

There were hunters out staking a herd of deer. They are in the distant in this picture. 

Hiking up to get a view of the other side. 

The guys giving us their best "Men" poses

Amazing Sunset

That night, Ryan pulled out his telescope and we looked at the moon, Saturn and Andromeda

Adam had to get the guys sheets ready for work the following morning so we bought a huge antenna for the trailer to boost our signal. It worked great. We were able to even watch the BYU game.  

Another ride on Friday. This was a longer ride, so we got up early, ate a big breakfast, packed snacks and headed out. 

Barracks Trail from Coral Pink Sand Dunes to Mt Carmel.  We ended up crossing the Virgin River 23 times. It was an awesome ride. 

At Mt Carmel we tried the famous Thunderbird restaurant and their...

"Ho-Made" Pies. 

The pie slices were huge and delicious. We tried chocolate cream and apple pie with rum sauce. YUM!

Picnic on the grass before heading back. 

Lots of amazing fall colors. 

We stopped halfway back and walked through the "Belly of the Dragon" cave. It was pretty cool!

Our Crew!

While we were there we ran into a guy that had done the Barracks Trail before and told us that there was a huge hill that we would have to go up. Most people go the other way to avoid the climb and come down the hill instead...of course. 

We headed out again watching for the big hill we would need to conquer.

Love  this Pic!

We knew it when we saw it that we had arrived. This picture doesn't do it justice. The hill was long, straight up and the sand was very loose. Adam and Ryan got out and scoped things out. I don't know why I was surprised when they decided we could do it. As we were walking the hill and checking it out a couple other machines attempted the hill. Some made it and some didn't. Their wheels just spun out in the sand and they had to back back down. Ryan and Adam decided it would be best to go up with as little weight inside as possible. So Ryan and Adam drove the hill while we nervously watched and then hiked the hill to the top. 

They both made it with no troubles. Funny Story: During Adam's attempt his back door flew open. Ryan was about half way up the hill when he noticed. He went running towards Adam and lunged towards the machine, swinging at the door. He missed but it was a valiant try. We captured a great video of it. Haha!

It took us a while to hike to the top. It was so steep and slippery. But we finally made it and the view was worth it. 

We got back to camp. Took showers, relaxed and...

 made our favorite shrimp boil.  

Saturday Morning, we woke up early and drove to Hurricane to meet Sadie and bring her back with us for the night. 

Gentry was so glad to have her there. 

Ryan and Adam made a huge combined breakfast this morning. 

Playing games while waiting for breakfast. 

Heading out on another ride. 

Sadie and Gentry a ready for their sandy dusty ride. They look likes it's freezing outside but the weather was actually really nice. It was high 70's during the day and then cooled down to 40's at night.

Heading to Peek-a-Boo Canyon

It was so cool!! I took way to many pictures. 

More Manly poses

Heading out after spending about an hour exploring. We stopped to eat some lunch before heading to our next destination. 

We found these old indian artifacts. We knew it had to be something because it was fenced off but wasn't sure what. After looking it up we discovered it was an old food storage place for the Indians. 

We headed out again for one last adventure...looking for Hidden Lake.

 We found Radiator Springs along the way. Haha!

And finally found Hidden Lake...It was really hidden but really cool. So glad we found it, 

It was back inside this cave. 

 

It was deep, dark, cold and echoey. 

Again, amazing fall views all along the way. 

On our way back to camp we happened upon this Pet Seminary. It was erie. 

We went back though the sand dunes to camp. It was at sun down and gorgeous.

Of course, we had to try every big hill and obstacle along the way.

The cows all stopped to stare, wondering what the heck we were up too. 

Ryan and Adam are like two little boys when they get out on the dunes. 

Letting the kids get out and stretch before heading back to camp. 

Another fantastic trip. One of my favorites. 

Too bad all good things have to come to an end...after pulling out the razor we found that it had slipped in transit and crunched one of the cupboards. I guess that's to be expected when carrying a machine in the trailer.  Here's to another great adventure and plenty more to come.