Camping in Zions

Maddie and Karl on the Zion bus with Karl's Bug net

getting ready for our first hike to Emerald Pools

Underneath a small waterfall

Karl caught a tadpole, looks like he wants to eat it

Maddie at the top of Emerald Pools

Nick and I at the top of Emerald Pools

Beef Jerky

All of us at the top of Emerald Pools


Maddie holding the frog Karl caught

Maddie at the very begging of the Narrows

Maddie and I hiking the Narrows

On Thursday night Nick, me and some friends drove down to ZIONS National Park. For Nick and I this is a tradition to go down. But we had some great company this year. Nicks Best friend Karl and his cute wife Maddie came with us camping and hiking. We had so much fun. We didn't want to leave! It is just amazing how beautiful it is in ZIONS. From the start we had a great time. Nick was really Lucky and found this campsite that is free outside of the park. It is about 30-45 min away from the parks gate, but still it was free and much bigger, cleaner, nicer and more secluded than the campsites in the park. We hiked Emerald Pools on Friday and The Narrows on Saturday. Nick and I have done Emerald Pools which is amazing but The Narrows is by far my favorite hike I have ever done. One thing I hate about hiking is the sun, that will always put me in a cranky mood if I have to climb a steep hill with the sun peering down on my neck. But I loved the idea of going into a cold river in the middle of a hot summer day and getting soaked . It was a blast hiking down the river against the water. At the beginning I was getting so excited and wanted to take lots of pictures. But then I pulled out Nicks camera so we could get a group picture of all four of us when we all hear a "SPLASH"! I wanted to think it was a lot of other things because I was still holding the camera, but when I looked at it the battery had dropped down into the mid-waist high river bottom. Poor Nick, every time we go on vacation I seem to forget something of his (or drop it in the deep muddy river). He is always so nice by just having a funny comment. This time though with the camera being the case I think he was sort of glad since I take lots of pictures already, he did get a short break. The rest of river hike was great. It was slippery, muddy and defiantly eye opening. The walls to the side and above you are so high and just covered with colors. When we were done with the hike we drove into St. George and went to the Pizza Factory for a nice meal after we were all exhausted.
Thanks again Maddie and karl for coming with us, we had a great time!

Camping over the 4th of July

On the actual 4th Nick and I went on a small trail hike in the canyon where we encountered a large moose. I didn't even see it at first till it's huge furry self stopped on the trail about 15-20 feet in front of us and just starred at Nick. (Nick was trying to get a picture during all of this) The moose just stood there for a good 20 sec. That is a pretty long time when there is a moose in front of you! Later we went and saw Transformers and saw the fireworks at south town. What a nice holiday.

It's been a while since I last posted, but to catch up this is one of our latest activities. We went camping right before the 4th with my parents to Antelope Island. Nick and I love the Great Salt Lake, (for other reasons than the smell) but never thought it would be enjoyable to stay over night. But everyone ended up having a good time and really enjoyed the scenery. It was a bit of a bummer, when we went they said "NO FIRES" so luckily I have I wonderful mom who thought to bring her stove so we could cook dinner.