Indian Staircase

On our last day we decided to do our most ambitious hike: Indian Staircase. What made this especially challenging is that it's not an official hike and so the park doesn't have any signage about how to get there, so we were using a combination of AllTrails and extensive Google directions/YouTube videos. Supposedly the hardest part of this hike is actually finding it and we would definitely agree! Apparently it's a tricky enough trail that the park doesn't want to advertise it because it weeds out people who aren't able to actually complete it (so says the internet) and thus reduces the need to rescue people. 

Thankfully we managed to find the right combination of trails after some false starts and backtracking and up we went! The hike was SO pretty and went through so many gorgeous wildflower fields. 

The first part of this was actually super challenging; there's no way we could have physically gotten up the rock without Neil boosting kids (and me--I was about half an inch too short for the hold I needed!). 

Then we got up to the next pitch and realized that we had gone the hardest way possible and if we'd gone another five yards to the left we could have just walked right up. Oh well, it was really fun!

When I was researching this trail I kept reading things like "VERY DANGEROUS DON'T TAKE KIDS" (hence why I watched so many YouTube videos really trying to figure out if it was legit dangerous or just the trickiest trail in the area and not actually that hard compared to other stuff our kids have done). I was worried about Matthew but man he just RAN up this and we had to work to keep up with him!!

We had some snacks at the top and enjoyed the gorgeous view--so many little arches and holes and cool formations!

This one is called the Frog's Head--do you see it? 

Matty, standing next to me as I type: "Up dere you are right on top of the world!" 



Rather than go back down the Staircase, which is supposed to be quite a bit trickier, we opted to loop around the valley and take in some of the other arches. 

It was cool to see Indian Staircase from each new vantage point along the lip of the cliffs. 



Eventually we turned and headed down to this cool amphitheater-type thing (I think this is called the Council Chamber). 

At the very end of this we found an amazing bell-shaped concavity in the rock. It was low enough that when we stood under it it came down about to our shoulders, and went up about another 4 feet to make a perfect circle. The acoustics were AMAZING and we spent quite a bit of time hooting and whispering and experimenting with the echoes. 

Then it was on (with several more false starts and doubling backs--dang I was grateful for All Trails because all those unmarked trails were super tricky and many internet commenters noted that they missed turns and ended up with 10-14 miles instead of 3-5, so I was constantly checking our path!) to the next set of arches...

It got pretty hot by the end, but we loved this hike! When we got back to the car we headed home (and I hopped on a ward council meeting, 3 cheers for Zoom) and back to school the next morning!

 

Double Arch and Courthouse Rock

On our second day we decided to do a pretty ambitious hike: Auxier Ridge to Courthouse Rock & Double Arch. It was just over 6 miles but pretty constantly ascended and descended and there was quite a bit of scrambling involved (we were SO grateful for our trekking poles). 

We started out bright and early and marveled over all the changes in environment that we saw on this trail--at first it felt/smelled like the high desert in Utah & Colorado, then shifted to Appalachia, then reminded us of Glacier in its lush ferny beauty...then the last mile was just down a gravel fire road, hah!

Here are some shots from the desert-y part. We were walking almost exclusively on sandstone and it reminded us a lot of hiking in Moab! 

When we got up to the top of Auxier Ridge, we could see Double Arch across the valley from us! 

And then we went a little further and we could see Courthouse Rock. (Sidenote: this was another place where we kept a VERY tight hold on Matthew. The weekend that we were there two people fell off Auxier Ridge; one died and was found a day later and one was lifeflighted out. It's no joke.)

We had lunch at Courthouse Rock (very top pic at the beginning of the post) and then headed down into the valley to walk along the river towards Double Arch. 

We took a break by the river to toss stones and splash around--and then once we left the river it got HOT!!

Lots of snack breaks, but man that last ascent up to the arch was pretty brutal. Pretty much the only thing that got Matthew moving was the news that a snake was devouring a frog up the trail (which we watched for quite awhile). 

But finally we got to the arch! (This was kind of a stressful hike because basically every time we got to a really good vantage point you were worried about Matthew leaping off into oblivion.)

This was so pretty! We stopped for awhile and ate some Oreos and then the kids headed back down the trail (they were really into pretending to be Sandpeople on this one particular spot and I have a great video of them jumping out of ambush while making their best Sandpeople yells). 

Matthew was soooo cranky but luckily he was motivated by walking next to Abigail (she played Imagine Dragons for him on her mp3 player and so he moved along to the music). 

When we finally got back to our car we were hot and tired, but the day was still young! So we drove over to the Nada Tunnel (which was simultaneously amazing and terrifying; it's just blasted through the rock and is so narrow (one lane only) that you can reach out your window and touch the walls--there were lots of spots where the rock was spotted with paint where cars had gotten too close).

 

Then we went back to our campsite and the little kids splashed around in the stream while Abigail & Neil took naps in their camping chairs. 

And then after dinner we went up to the Hidden Arch sinkhole thingy which was pretty cool and right by our campsite. 

And then we went back to camp, hung out around the fire, and Juliet fell asleep in her chair.