Cohab Canyon

After a super quick two-day turnaround from our England trip, we were on the road again!  This time we ditched the fancy fascinators for our hiking shoes and met the Johnson family down in Capitol Reef.  No sooner had we said, "Hello!" to everyone, than we geared up for our first adventure of the week: Cohab Canyon.  Andrew lives in Torrey (a quick 15 min. drive from the park), and is friends with all of the park rangers so he definitely knows his way around.  He was kind enough to share his know-how and his gear to take us on as many excursions as we wanted while we were there.  I know he doesn't read this but I'm going to say it anyway.  Thank you Andrew!  

The whole crew hiked up Cohab Canyon, pregnant ladies, toddlers, grandmas and all.  

On the way up Andrew would stop for the random geology or history lesson of the area.  He knows a lot. 

Once we were a good way up the canyon, we found a nice shaded spot for the young kids and supervising mothers to hang out.  The rest of us climbed up further to Third Wife to test out our canyoneering and repelling skills.  The views were beautiful!  There is a certain charm and beauty to the red rocks of southern Utah.  Exploring the area this way with ropes and harnesses makes it that much more astounding.  

What goes up, gets to come back down!

We decided to let Cambrie come with us and I was super proud of her.  After climbing to the top of the canyon, we had to scamper down some rocks before the first drop.  Well, the first drop was the biggest one and you could tell Cambrie was a bit nervous about the whole thing.  Once she learned to trust her gear she had no problem.  

She looks so happy here just telling me a story.  I don't even remember what it was, but it was such a great morning with her.

Our faithful guide teaching us the ropes, literally!  We were all much more knowledgeable and confident at the end of our week.  In fact, we could actually help!  The first trip we were all rookies who needed a bit of hand holding.  

Our last drop put us right back at home base for the kids.  We had taken long enough that they had headed back to camp.  Well, it was my mom, Camille and Grandma Stratford who had to haul down McKenzie, Faye, Kelton, Sam, Daxton, and Emma.  Not an easy task!  

We shouldn't have been worried though.  They were happily back at camp munching on fresh apricots they had just picked from the trees there in the campground.  Those looked delicious!