{ Narrows }

Last weekend we drove down to St. George and hiked all the way down the narrows. This wasn't the ordinary few hour hike that most people do at the narrows, oh no. We hiked the WHOLE THING.

All 16.2 miles worth.

[caption id="attachment_358" align="aligncenter" width="560"] ^^ 16.2 miles of walking on a rocky riverbed ^^[/caption]

The entire hike itself is supposed to take 12.5  hours, and we finished it in 10 hours. Well ahead of the average! But probably because by the last 5 miles we were hurting so bad that all we wanted to do was finish, so we didn't take as many pictures. But WOW. The steep jagged walls really are breathtaking!

Since pictures can describe the hike better than my words, I'll just show some of my favorite pictures out of the million and one we took!

[caption id="attachment_359" align="aligncenter" width="560"] ^^ Before we started. Bright and early at 7am ^^[/caption]







[caption id="attachment_363" align="aligncenter" width="348"] ^^ The first real "Narrow" we came across ^^[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_365" align="aligncenter" width="560"] ^^ The waterfall we jumped off of! ^^[/caption]



At first, crossing rivers was more like this:

[caption id="attachment_373" align="aligncenter" width="400"] ^^ On foot ^^[/caption]

THEN it turned into this:

[caption id="attachment_374" align="aligncenter" width="300"] ^^ Crawling because our legs were DEAD ^^[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_375" align="aligncenter" width="300"] ^^ Lunchtime ^^[/caption]





[caption id="attachment_379" align="aligncenter" width="390"] ^^ Freeeeezing cold water ^^[/caption]







[caption id="attachment_384" align="aligncenter" width="475"] ^^ How we looked by the end ^^[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_385" align="aligncenter" width="475"] ^^ How we really FELT by the end ^^[/caption]

And then I couldn't walk for the next 2 days.

The end!

{ Stewart Falls }

 

Utah really does have the best hikes. The hike to Stewart Falls was only 4 miles and fairly easy. We went with our good friends Sarah and Spencer. Once we reached the falls, of course McKay and I couldn't help but climb all over the rocks and explore, which made for some fun pictures! The inital falls you see once you arrive are probably about 25 feet tall, but if you climb up above those falls there's a pool of water and a thin waterfall that's well over 100 feet long. My favorite part of hiking is the climbing (if there's any involved) I could climb things all day long, I love it!

Pictures taken on iPhones aren't the best, but it's certainly better than no pictures at all!

[caption id="attachment_323" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Playing around with a fish eye lens[/caption]

 

 

[caption id="attachment_324" align="aligncenter" width="560"] The only green places in Utah are in the mountains![/caption]







[caption id="attachment_326" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Chacos leave some pretty loud tan lines[/caption]

Hikes: Creepy Caves, Best Friends, and a Sweet Sunset

Canyon + Cave

The hikes have already started! I honestly didn't expect for us to get started so quickly, but it's been less than a week and we've already gone on 2 hikes. Woo! Last Friday, my good friend Jackie called me up and asked McKay and I if we wanted to go with her and her husband on a hike up the canyon, let me think... YES. Plus, they have the cutest baby boy, so double yes. It was perfect for our first hike of the season. We hiked in for about an hour and actually found a cave, this isn't one of your 10 ft. deep, round, "let's have a lovely campfire in here" cave, this was like a tunnel. Seriously, it went in maybe 30 feet until you could either climb down this big hole which leads down into who knows what (no way I was letting McKay explore that without being harnessed in) or you could try and climb on a log that was put across across the huge hole (also not a safe idea) and keep exploring the tunnel. COOL. But also creepy. I'm pretty sure that if Jackie and I hadn't been there, the guys would've gone exploring down there. I want to hike back and bring some harnesses and ropes, only then will I be going down there.

Anyways, it was a fun hike! Next time well take a real camera, so the cave pics turn out better.

[caption id="277" align="aligncenter" width="560"] 2 minutes in and our hoodies were already coming off[/caption]

[caption id="279" align="aligncenter" width="224"] The log you could fall err... walk on to get across the gaping hole.[/caption]

[caption id="278" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Scary hole. Scary hole that I want to explore *safely*[/caption]

 

 Hiking the Y

Do you know what's great? One of my best friends, Becca, lives 3 blocks from me. AND she and her husband are in our ward. So basically it's like we're 16 again and hanging out all the time.

Do you know what's better? My other best friend, McKenna, road tripping out to Utah for a week. So now I get to see BOTH of them every day, for at least this week. After that, McKenna goes back to Oregon :( but I don't want to think about that right now. (WOW that is an ugly frowny face.) McKenna got here on Monday, and this week has/is going to continue to be crazy as we go around trying to do everything unique there is to do around here! Monday night we hiked the Y. And I only managed to lose my phone twice.

[caption id="283" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Looking at the city upside down![/caption]







[caption id="287" align="aligncenter" width="560"] The goofball.[/caption]

The rest of this week is going to be NUTS!

The Hiking Life

Last year McKay hiked so many mountains. Together we did some simpler hikes, like Squaw Peak, Bridal Veil Falls, and the Y.

But this year, I'm ready to start hiking big time.

I've compiled a list of places I'd LOVE to explore this coming Spring, Summer, and Fall (in no particular order). Some are simple hikes to popular places, others look insane...ly cool. So we'll see how this goes. If you know of one that I don't have on here, let me know! I'm hoping to hike something at least once a week, even if that means going up the Y mountain over a dozen times. The point is, is that I want to get out and explore Utah before life and school takes us elsewhere.

...Aaaand also because I want epic pictures to show my kids one day that prove that mom and dad are so cool.

1. Box Canyon

2. Cascade Springs



3. Pittsburg Lake Trail



4. Silver Lake



5. Timpanogos Caves



6. Ding and Dang



7. Lake Mary Hiking Trail



8. Donut Falls



9. The Narrows (or just Zion's National Park in general)



10. Battle Creek Falls



11. Stewart Falls



12. And of course I'd love to go back to Arches National Park, the place McKay and I met!



Seems like I sure to have a thing for narrow hiking trails with massive canyon walls. Hikes that are kinda narrow and trench-looking.

This weekend I want to hike one of the closer simple hikes. Preferably one that leads to a waterfall!