Utah Roadtrip

We just completed a surprisingly successful ten-day family roadtrip around southwest Utah.  The whole family, all of us jammed in the xterra, camping at 8 different campsites in 10 nights, driving every day but one.  It was a lot of driving, but we managed to split it up over the whole trip so it wasn’t too bad.  Both Karen and I had honestly expected it to be difficult and involve some parental suffering.  Some previous road trips had been disastrous; every parent has some of those stories.  So this was our first week-long trip with all three boys, and it exceeded our expectations.

(JUMP TO MAP AT BOTTOM)
(JUMP TO PHOTOS AT THE BOTTOM)
(JUMP TO GPS FILE DOWNLOADS AT THE BOTTOM)

I love the southern Utah desert, specifically the areas that are filled with deep, narrow and convoluted canyons.  The type of terrain through which one simply can’t build a road—big empty areas of the map.  I’ve been going to southern Utah regularly since 2000, when Gary, Jon, and I did our first ever slot canyon (Egypt 3).  After that experience, were were hooked on the canyoneering.  Dozens of canyons later, the lure remains undiminished.  I have been eager to get the boys out there, to sleep on slickrock, to experience the desert.

Obviously a road trip with the family is quite different than trips with friends.  Even when you’re only caring for yourself, it can be logistically challenging; to remember where you put your toothbrush, where you left your headlamp, packing your lunch for the day, preparing a camping meal at night.  With the boys, that’s multiplied by four.  Four sleeping pads for me to blow up, four sleeping bags for me to ready, four sets of pillows, so many things that the boys can’t yet do for themselves.

The way I handle it is with extreme organization.  “A place for everything, and everything in its place.”  I first came across that maxim when preparing for the sailing trip, but I have been living by that principle for most of my life.  For camping, I put everything I can in stuff sacks, and then the stuff sacks inside bins, as much as possible.  Each boy’s clothes are in a stuff sack.  Shoes get a stuff sack.  Headlamps get a stuff sack.  Fleeces get a stuff sack.  Rain jackets and puffies get a stuff sack.  Even the pooping gear gets a stuff sack.  All sleeping bags fit (barely) into a single huge compression stuff sack.  Etc.  Let me emphasize that my way is not the only way, and not necessarily the best way.  Different strokes for different folks, and all.  If throwing everything willy-nilly (etymology) in the car and tearing out of the driveway is what gets you out, fantastic.

Back to the trip: yeah, it was fantastic.  There was far less fussing and far better driving attitudes than I had ever expected.  They were completely comfortable with all the camping, and they were rock stars on the hot hikes.  Two days after returning, they’re setting up the tent in the living room because they want to go camping again already.  I’ve got Bodie saying that we need to do a Utah trip every year—that’s my top indicator of success. Karen and I even managed to get in some relaxation for ourselves.

I hope to expand on the individual adventures in separate posts, but here is a run-down of the activities/places that we did/went (I’ll update the list with links as I write the individual posts):

1. Muley Pt camping
2. Fry Canyon slot
3. Leprechaun canyon
4. Lake Powell beach day at Bullfrog
5. Little Wild Horse Canyon
6. Lower Calf Creek Falls hike
7. Lake Powell beach day at Wahweap bay

I had a general itinerary planned out ahead of time; this was made easier by my solo trip two weeks earlier, to many of the same spots.  It wasn’t a Day 1, Day 2 sort of rigidity; it was more of a list of camping spots and activities along a proposed route, to be consulted or ignored as desired.

What we REALLY did, everywhere and all the time, was play cars and legos.  Everywhere.  We used to joke that cruising on the sailboat consisted of doing boatwork in exotic places.  Camping with the boys consists of playing legos in exotic campsites.  Rain or shine; in the wind; in the dark; in the blazing sun.  In the lake, on the table, in the car, at the rest stop, on the hike, in the canyon.  You name it, we played legos there.

I have much more to say about the trip, but I could spend the next two weeks writing this post and I need to plan our next trip, so let me get this published and then I’ll try hard to write bite-sized posts about some of the individual adventures as I get time.

Map:

 

Photos:

 

This video contains clips of the boys during the interstitial moments of the trip, doing nothing special.  Brings back good memories to us parents though.  The canyon footage is on the canyoneering post page.  This video is unlikely to be very interesting to anyone except family.

https://youtu.be/GRbnqoiUv0A

GPS File Downloads:

• DOWNLOAD .kml file of waypoints and tracks, for import to Google Earth or Gaia GPS
• DOWNLOAD .gpx format of the same (for import to a Garmin GPS or other app that doesn’t take kml)