We stretched our adventure legs last weekend with a camping trip in Zion and the little trip felt soooo goooood. “Adventuring” hasn’t really been a thing in 2020 (obvs), so the whole thing made our whole family so happy. On a whim last week, Ryan checked campsite availability in Zion and by some miracle (campsites are booked out 6 months in advance), there was ONE open site for Saturday night. Well Ry snatched up that lone site and on Saturday morning, we hit the road. Zion is part of our backyard in Southern Utah, and we are so lucky that it is. Everything about Zion is beautiful. The landscape, the weather, the colors – especially in October!! – we had our breath taken from us at every turn. So much so, we decided that camping in Zion every in October needs to be an annual thing. Which, if you know me, is a pretty big thing to say, ha! I am NOT a camper. I know I should be – I grew up camping – but I haven’t really liked it at all as a mom. Ryan, on the other hand, wants to camp multiple times every year and I’m always a stick in the mud about it. Between the sick babies, non-sleeping babies, super messes upon coming home — I’ve just felt like the investment of time and energy that camping requires yields a comparatively small return. Until this trip. This trip was amazing and I’ll shout it from the roof tops: I’m converted to camping! 😉 I’ve been wondering why my head and heart could take such a turn, and I think these are the reasons: no fires are allowed in Zion right now, so I didn’t bring 10 lbs of smoky mess home with me. I realized this trip was like “destination camping” – we were in Zion! – and Zion offered us amazing things to do while we were there. Our camping trip to Yosemite was just the same. We hiked famous trails and saw a famous place, and I think I prefer these kind of camping adventures over those where you set up camp, cook and sit. Lastly I think I just needed to accept defeat to an extent with camping, haha. I set some realistic expectations for this trip (it was going to be messy, someone was going to throw up [which Emmy did – in the car – 30 minutes into our drive], we were going to work) and that mindset elevated the experience! Funny how that happens, huh? You set a low bar, it gets surpassed, you are pleasantly surprised. 🙂
Here’s a shot of our campground as we pulled up at 10:00 AM on Saturday. We parked the car there and ran to catch the shuttle through the canyon in order to hike Angel’s Landing — a trail that’s a bit of a stretch with kids, we know, but man we’re so glad we took that little plunge with them! The girls were AMAZING and that hike is incredible…
Pit stop at the start of the trail for lunch…
And then we were off!
Emmy hiked uphill for the first 1.5 miles, and then she hopped in Ryan’s pack and Chloe Baby joined me (snacking on my water all the way).
The TOP! We were so stoked we made it!
The tired pack mules…
The stellar big-girl hikers. They didn’t make a peep about the uphill trail the entire time. Our girls are good hikers. We’re not even sure why…they just always have been!
The Bigs wanted to keep going to the very tippity top of Angel’s Landing – you know, the summit after the stretch of trail where you’re holding onto chains? 🙂 – but we obviously didn’t do that with them. Not this time, anyway (we want to come back with just Olivia and Claire and hike the whole thing soon)! Instead we headed back down, starting with the switchbacks…
And then on to the steeeeep steep twists and turns…
And then we hit the campsite. Because after all of that hiking our legs were jello and we were pooped. 🙂
The girls played, turning into legit Oompa Loompas as they went…
This dolly helped me with some cooking…
Sweet potato stew! Ryan picked out all of our camping meals and he nailed them.
This happy guy set up the tent (seriously his dreams came TRUE with this camping trip)…
HAPPY CAMPERS.
And the sun went down
And the moon came up…
And we all fell asleep. 🙂
Morning!! The girls got up and played again while Ryan and I cooked and took down camp (it was a fast trip)! BTW — we all slept soooo well. The weather was perfect and man, that fresh air all night was such a dream. Ryan and I also loved that we were ready for bed when the girls were since the sun was down and well, what else are you supposed to do??? It was so nice to be unplugged and totally away from work and life and all the things that “make” you stay awake too late. We talked under the stars for an hour after the girls went down and then yep, we hit the hay at 9:00 PM. Talk about a dream.
We drove through Zion all the way to the North entrance and we found Fall!
And all was well in the world.
Super grateful for another adventure together. Super grateful to have had it in Zion! And in the glorious world that is Fall.
See you next October, Camping.
(Unless we find you sooner!)
Did I just say that??
😉 🙂
