Escalante Epicness

Last weekend we went on a fun backpacking trip in Escalante National Monument with some friends and YSA peeps. This is the second time Dallin and I been here together; we went two years ago with the same YSA group. It was a lot more fun this time, probably because being married is fabulous... and single life? Well, it's good, not great. In my humble opinion. :)

Anyway.

This trip was awesome. We started out with Spooky and Peek-a-boo canyons. Lots of fun, much easier than most canyons we do, and non-technical (meaning no rappels) which is nice sometimes. Plus, they were absolutely, amazingly, incredibly beautiful. Check this out!

(Pictures by Dallin)

Limbo time! There were cool arches everywhere in Peek-a-boo!

Spooky Canyon was very, very narrow in parts. I'm pretty slim (although marriage is trying to change that...) but even I couldn't make it through without turning sideways sometimes. 

I wish you could tell how squished I am in the above picture... and this wasn't even the most narrow part!

I like to pretend I am beastly sometimes. ;)

After we played here for a while, we headed over to Coyote Gulch, the main part of our trip. We hiked in here, camped, hiked several miles the next day, camped, and then hiked out and headed home.

There's an amazing view from the place where we drop in. This picture doesn't come close to doing it justice.

We hiked out to this point near our campsite to see this sweet arch. So beautiful.

I love this man. I'm also happy he has trimmed his 'stache since we took this picture. ;)

Just after the sunrise the next morning. It was so beautiful we had to go back to this point one last time before heading up Coyote Gulch.

See the heart? ;)

There were lots of pretty waterfalls, and we took pictures at every one. Just be thankful I am not posting all of them. ;)

There were also lots of arches! This one was unique because the creek is still running through it and we had to walk through it to continue up the canyon. 

My favorite waterfall!

We camped right underneath this arch. This has to be the coolest place I've ever camped, both figuratively and literally. It was COLD, especially in the morning. Brrrr!

The canyon was really undercut right here. Cool, no?

Time for the steep climb out. It was quite the ordeal getting everyone up! It's pretty steep and there is a lot of exposure. Kind of intimidating. This part made me feel really proud of myself because the last time we did this hike I was pretty inexperienced and this scared me, a LOT. I needed a lot of help getting out. This time, however, I pretty much did it all by myself, and I did it with my pack on. BAM.

Hiking back to the truck! 

It was a great trip, but it sure felt good to get home, take a hot shower, and sleep in a warm, sand-free bed. 

P.S. This has nothing to do with Escalante, but this makes me happy.

 

Be a little kinder to someone today! This world needs it. :)