Spring Break recap

OK, so we're back from our trip. Aside from smashing the front of the van, the trip was nice. I hiked 3 miles up the Lower Calf Creek Falls trail, which is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been (and how odd that while looking for a descriptive link, this image should pop up; I wish I'd seen that while I was there!) While Erin stayed in the van, napping or reading or something, I was stalking the skittish brown trout that live in this crystal clear stream. This pic shows a brown trout I caught there on a previous trip; notice how shallow and clear the water is? Anyway, since we've done this hike many times, and she knows how I get when I fish, she opted out, leaving me on my own.

That night we parked the van in Capitol Reef Nat'l Park, just down from the Fruita Schoolhouse on the Fremont river. We did a shortish dayhike to see the Hickman natural bridge, then headed back to the van and on our way to Colorado.

We spent Tuesday lazing around, acclimating before skiing on Wednesday. I caught a fat Rainbow Trout from the Snake River in Keystone, but the river was still half iced over and he was so sluggish it was like hauling in a log, so I quit after I caught him. We went back to my sister's place, then saw 300 (read Gates of Fire and you'll feel quite cheated by the movie, I assure you!) before going to bed.

Wednesday we went skiing. The slushy Spring snow was a little difficult at times, but with views like this, it isn't much to complain about. In fact, I had a fantastic time while Erin was in Ski School, though my knees paid for it by the end of the day. We were both whipped, and got a great night's sleep.

Thursday was going to be another ski day, but we were both worn out, and so we just laid around, went to a BBQ, got blizzarded on, and wound up leaving at around 6. One thing I just love about the mountains is how quickly the weather changes... when we left, it was pleasant and sunny, if not quite warm. We slept at a rest stop in the middle of Utah that night.

Friday we spent mostly driving, stopping in St George, only 2 hours from home, because we wanted to go rock climbing on Saturday. We went to see Grindhouse that evening, very entertaining, then drove to Gunlock reservoir to sleep for the night.

This morning we climbed at Crawdad Canyon, maybe the coolest place on earth. It is a basalt gorge with hundreds of bolted climbing routes. Down the middle of the gorge runs the Santa Clara river, a large creek with a decent population of trout. In the center of the canyon is the Veyo Pool, a natural thermal spring that fills up a nice sized pool with hot mineral water. Some of the climbs can be belayed from patio around the pool. I would be hard pressed to come up with a better place to live in my fantasies. Click on the words "rock climbing park" on their website to cycle through some pics. We knocked out a few climbs, then headed into St George for some BubbleTea, then came home.

However, I am a bit tired and just realized I've been rambling on... if you've made it this far, congratulations. :)