MOAB Family Campout

For my family's spring break, we decided to do our annual camping trip a little early in Moab! Travis and I hadn't been to Moab since right after we were married and have been looking forward to going back for awhile now. This time we were able to experience the off-roading adventures in Moab with our Ranger Crew. Yeah!

We arrived first on Friday afternoon. After camp was set up at Pack Creek Campground, we headed over to Sand Flats Recreation Area and did our first trail, Fins and Things. It was awesome! It was more rock crawling then trail riding for sure. It was gorgeous riding during sunset too. Dallen and Lily did great and we headed back to camp at dusk. Sarah, Emily, and Jacob arrived shortly after and we planned to do more riding the next day.

We got going Saturday morning and did Fins and Things again but with the rest of the group this time. It was a blast! Jacob loved that the trail was marked with Stegosaurus' (he's really into dinosaurs right now). Dallen did great except for when we'd scream at the scary parts- he cries when we scream. So sad, but cute. :) After the long ride, the kiddos were ready for a break, so Sarah, Jacob, Dallen, Lily and I went back to camp for lunch and a playing-in-the-dirt break. Emily and Travis decided to try out another trail, Hell's Revenge while we rested. When they got back, the family still hadn't arrived so Travis, Emily, Dallen, Lily and I decided to go on a short hike near Potato Salad hill. It ended at a swimming hole and waterfall. It was a really pretty hike and nice to get out and move after riding most of the day. While we were gone, the family arrived: Mom, Dad, Joe, Claire, Audra, Charity, and Joy. We ate dinner and had yummy Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler and then called it a night. For the most part, Dallen did OK sleeping. He still wakes up in the night at home and did while we were camping too, but it wasn't anything too extreme. He did end up in our sleeping bag one night for most of the night because I was just too exhausted to deal with him. Overall I didn't feel too sleep deprived, so that was good. 

Sunday we made it a hiking day. We headed into arches and did the hike to Delicate Arch, one of our favorites. It's a really cool hike on a trail and then up slick rock, through sand and on a short exposed ledge. The view is awesome once you get there and kind of nerve racking with little ones too since the arch sits on the edge of a huge bowl. Travis wanted to get a good hike out of it and lead the group at a pretty fast pace. Joy was his hiking buddy and kept up with him every step of the way. So cute. The rear was brought up by Jacob and his buddy Joe who ended up carrying him half the time. Who can blame him though?-it's a long hike for such a little guy. We ate lunch at the arch and discovered that Dallen was teething and getting a fever. He just couldn't take it anymore and cried/screamed/fussed the whole way back. Travis and I booked it back to the car where the Tylenol was and he felt a little better soon after. Poor guy! :( Sunday wasn't a very good day overall for Dallen. We ended up giving him medicine most of the day. Since the hike turned out to be a little more challenging then we thought and with a few of the group needing a break, we decided to take a scenic drive through the rest of Arches and then relax at camp the rest of the day. Well, Dallen, Mom, and I relaxed at camp the rest of the day. :) Travis took the rest of the group on rides up Hell's Revenge. Our camp site was really close to the entrance to Sand Flats so it was quick getting over there and doing the fun rock crawling rides. Sunday night we chatted around the fire and enjoyed visiting with Sarah and Emily on their last night. (They had to head back to Provo for work and school) 

Monday was our bad weather day with a huge wind storm all morning long. So we headed into town to look at the shops. It was fun checking everything out and just having a nice relaxing morning. We headed back to find that the wind took out Mom and Dad's really nice canopy :( Of course something has to break while we're all together. Bummer... So the wind seemed to let up for the afternoon and we decided to head over to Sand Flats again and take Mom on her first Ranger ride. We parked at Slick Rock Bike Trail so that I could get a ride in, while Travis took the little girls, Mom and Dad on Hell's Revenge. (It was Travis' favorite ride). Mom wasn't a huge fan in the end and Joy cried a bunch too, but everyone else had a blast! In the mean time, Joe and I did 3 miles of Slick Rock. It was fun but was still a little too windy for my liking. Claire stayed back at the car with Dallen and then we switched-Joe took Claire on a shorter portion of Slick Rock while I stayed back with my bebe. Once everyone got back, Mom and Dad offered to take Dallen back to camp while Travis, me, Joe, Claire and Charity went on a ride. It was a nice break and great to be able to scream at all the scary parts and not scare Dallen-ha! We did the beginning part of Fins and Things which turned out to be the scariest ride out of them all and then we did Hell's Revenge one last time since I hadn't been on it yet. It was definitely a fun ride and one of my favorite days. :)

Tuesday we did a trail ride all afternoon called Chicken Corners. We rode from camp way out along the Colorado River up to this awesome view point. Dad rented a RZR 4 so we all could go. I'd never been to that part of Moab and it was nice seeing some new places. I got to drive the Ranger and had fun changing things up for a bit. Travis tried out the RZR4 and now has a new off-roading love and will probably be wanting one of those in the near future. Oh brother! :) We had to head back a little sooner then we would've liked to return the RZR but it gave Dad time to get out and shoot his new hand gun. Mom, Joy and Travis all went out and gave it a try while Claire and I attempted to make dutch oven dinners. They turned out great, just took a really long time. :)

Wednesday morning we all packed up and left by noon. It was a great camping trip with tons of adventures. We all decided it would be a great place to come back to and keep exploring!