Pushing to the limit

Part of this trip, I wanted us to try new things. New things we had never done before (on top of visiting new places we had never seen before!)

We have indoor rock climbed a bit here and there, so when I saw that Moab and Zion are known for outdoor rock climbing too, I knew I wanted to try it. We had too much planned for Moab to squeeze it in, so I scheduled it for Zion. When I called to schedule, the lady recommended a "combo" tour - rock climbing and canyoneering because we would have Brie. Kids normally enjoy canyoneering more :) So I booked it!

*side note - when we went rock climbing back home in Tyrone a couple of months ago, the girl who worked there had also just been to Zion for rock climbing! She said it was amazing.

The only bad thing? The best rock climbing and canyoneering for a half day was on the other side of Zion from where we were staying. Meaning, the meet-up spot with our guide was one hour away, and then the spot to climb was another 20 minutes. And I wanted to be done by noon so we could have lunch in Springdale and do a quick hike afterwards, still having time to get back to our resort for the kids to swim before dinner and bed. All this meant waking up at 5:45am in the cold to drive there in the dark! lol. Oh well, we are kinda used to it!

Our guide's name was Amanda (with Rock Odysseys). She was a super sweet girl who ended up being wonderful with Brie. We first headed over to a rock climbing wall about a 15 min walk from the road. When we first got to the rock, I looked at it and thought to myself - this will be a bit challenging, but I can easily do it! Hmmm....

Well, Aaron went first. And he undoubtedly made it look easy. LOL. He tore up that wall in probably 1-2 minutes.

When I went to try it next - not so easy! haha, the first part of the wall definitely had me exhausted from trying to keep my foot in footholds and searching for the next place to go. The very top was slanted and much easier, but by the time I got there, boy was I exhausted! LOL. I could not believe how tiring it was!

And then there was Brie bee.... haha. She tried so hard! She really did. Brie super impressed us so much by continually pushing herself even though she was nervous and would rather have come down. Everytime she wanted to stop, we encouraged her and she found another foothold and would make it up just a bit more. But she reached a breaking point halfway up (on what thereafter would have been the easier section to climb) and we let her come down and congratulated her A LOT. She did so so good for a six year old girl who has never outdoor rock climbed before!!

After this "easy" wall, the guide knew Aaron wanted to do more even difficult climbing, so she took us over to another wall. She showed us how to do it first in order to hook the rope up, and it involved climbing up the wall backwards and going behind a bit of the ledge where you couldn't see her! Aaron was excited. I was not so sure :)

Sure enough - Aaron made it up to the top like a pro! Sigh. He is amazing!

And then there was me. HA. I wanted to at least try. Once again, the climbing just wears you out! Esp. after already days of tough hiking. I made it halfway up! And then I decided that continuing to push myself just was not worth it this time :)

And then there was Brie again! We told her that she did not have to go farther on this one - just to give it a try. We knew she had pushed herself hard on the last one. So she gave it a try :) She had fun climbing up the beginning rock portion, but once she made it to the part that you are supposed to turn around and go up backwards, she got all sorts of confused! haha. The guide went up and even tried to help her by trying to put her feet where they should go. But Brie was just not getting it. Which was fine! We went ahead and let her come down.

Next up was canyoneering! Amanda took us to a "practice" rock wall first. Aaron and I caught on right away how to belay ourselves down with the rope. But the practice was definitely good for Brie. It took her just about five minutes of questions/answers with Amanda before she was coming down, slowly down :), the side! It was SO COOL! I was super proud of her. She wore her little gloves and fed the rope through her hands to let herself come down, little by little. She even got the hang of keeping her feet flat on the wall! It was awesome.

After we mastered the practice wall, we grabbed our stuff and hiked about 15-20 minutes more into the canyons.

The next wall we went down was so fun!! It was like a massive bowl, but you couldn't see it until you went over :) Once again, Brie surprised me and down she went! The curved bowl threw her just a bit because she wasn't sure when to move over to the right or left as she was going down. But Amanda guided her from the top, and she made it! It was so awesome.

(Brie is still a kid and loved playing in the sand while waiting her turn!)

Our last wall to go down was about 70 feet tall and it definitely made me a bit nervous! Once again, you had to squeeze through a bit of a small opening before you saw how high up you were. But it was a lot of fun! Brie wanted to go last on this one so she could be with Amanda lol. She got a little bonded to Amanda and though she was cool I think :). Aaron and I were waiting for her at the bottom, and I was a bit anxious to see whether Brie would actually do it or not. But at the top she had kept saying that she just would not look down. And Amanda told her all she had to do was look at her feet. And guess what - that six year old child did it! It was so cool! Another older couple were also in the canyons and they were even impressed with Brie.

(there comes Brie!)

After coming down, we still had a bit of fun ahead - we had to squeeze through very narrow canyon walls to get out! Ha, surprisingly this is what Brie had been most nervous about! Amanda had pointed out to us what we would be coming out of when we were done. Brie said she was most nervous about that (vs rappelling down!). But it turned out to be a lot of fun! Some places were so narrow that we had to push through our bags before our bodies.

Finally, we took our hike back to the cars. And that was a gorgeous view too!

By this time, we were STARVING. We drove a bit, got reception, and texted my sister-in-law that we would meet them at Oscars (a place I had read about on blogs/review sites, and Amanda also recommended!) The restaurant had wonderful views in the middle of a super cute town - Springdale, Utah. And the menu was so amazing it took me over 20 minutes to decide what to order! ah! haha. I finally decided on a delicious sweet potato and pork burrito. I was in heaven! The weather also was perfect - dry as usual with a delicate breeze.

After lunch, we walked across the street to a super cute supermarket in the middle of downtown. You had to pay 5 cent per grocery bag or you could recycle/use a cardboard box (they had a huge stack at the front of the store). Score! Because we were basically living out of our car for three nights while we stayed in covered wagons at two different resorts, I had been wanting a way to keep all my food together. Cardboard box for the win! The walk back to the car was, again, beautiful. I am going to miss this place!

Our final stop of the day before heading back to the resort was the one-mile roundtrip Canyon Overlook Trail in Zion. We had a bit of a hiccup as we are using the free 4th Grade National Park Pass to get into the parks for free, which is great! But it means the fourth grader (Grace) always has to be in our car. Opps! We forgot this time. When we pulled up to the ranger, I babbled on enough apologizing and trying to explain what happened that I think the poor ranger was just ready to let me go, so she did! ha.

The views heading to the trailhead were, sorry I am saying it so much but it's true, BEAUTIFUL! I love this place.

The only hiccup about this road is that there is a one-mile long tunnel built into one of the rock mountains, which is great/fun, except this tunnel was built in the 1930's and is not tall enough to accommodate all the tour buses that want to drive through. So what does the park do? Why they make the tunnel only one-way for significant portions of the day! Sigh. This can result in anywhere from a ten to twenty minute wait to get through the tunnel. At least you have a gorgeous views to help you pass the time!

Finally, we reached the trailhead. It is very popular! And for good reason. Not only are the views beautiful walking to the end scenic view, but you get LOTS of wildlife on the way! We came within a few feet of bighorn sheep multiple times. At one point, we looked back.....a huge bighorn sheep was walking the trail behind us! I stood to the side and it walked within two feet of me. What?!? So cool!

(lizard!)

The views at the end were very pretty! But geez was that sun hot. So we did not stay long because we had promised the kids swimming pool time :)

Back at the Zion Ponderosa Resort (not as nice as our previous digs at Capitol Reef Resort, but doable!), the kids got in some more swimming time. They loved the pool there - it had a slide and an adjoining hot tub. After showers, we made a campfire at cooked hot dogs and marshmellows!