Easter Weekend

For Easter weekend Alan took a couple of days off so we could have a long weekend together. My idea of a long weekend together was a cruise. Alan's was to go backpacking. Alan's plan worked out better, so we decided to go backpacking. We left early Friday morning and I was sleeping in the truck on the way out to Escalante. Alan woke me up about an hour outside of Escalante so I could see the scenery.


As you could imagine I was not excited to see SNOW!! I made some comment about how there wouldn't be snow on a cruise and how I was not at all excited to go backpacking anymore. Thankfully this was at 7777 feet at Bryce canyon and we had some altitude to drop before we got to Escalante.

We decided that backpacking probably wasn't the warmest idea but that we would see the same things just in 2 miles not 26. We pulled put to the trail head and started to make lunch when 2 guys came up out of the canyon we were about to go into. We talked to them for a minute and found out that it wasn't cold in the canyon and they just spent 4 days down there. I got really brave and decided we could take the stuff down and have the possibility of just coming back up. From the picture you can see that I still packed warm.

It wasn't long before I got pretty warm and started shedding the winter clothes. It was a really pretty hike in the 2.6 miles. (Can you spot the arch?) After we got to the bottom of the canyon we realized that everything we read it was 2.6 miles to the bottom not to all the really cool stuff to see. Because it was warm and really pretty we decided to spend the night and make it a full backpacking adventure.

We found this cool spot and set up our tent. The next morning we got up late. (I had to wait for it to warm up.) Then went and explored the canyon. There were three arches and lots of water falls.

This is Alan filtering us some water. The water tasted really good!

On Sunday we jumped on the 4-wheeler and drove out to Hole in the Rock. We were really glad we took the 4-wheeler. We passed a few trucks and they didn't seem to enjoy the ride as much as we were.

This is my favorite picture. Someone has taken the time to mark the wagon trail from Escalante to the Hole in the Rock with these markers. Sometimes they are right on the dirt road other times you can see them off the road a ways. In the background you can see the opening to the Hole in the Rock.

I have always wanted to go out to the Hole in the Rock. It was amazing to be right where these incredible people showed their faith and overcome such an endeavor. There was a lot of emotion walking in their footsteps and looking out to where they went. I have a great love for them and am so thankful they stayed strong and completed what they were asked to do no matter how hard it was.