Grand Canyon NP

Our National Park winner this year was Grand Canyon. Bailee presented the park and then didn't go with us. Mark and I went to the Grand Canyon when we were newly married with my family and the Lake cousins. It was a first for the girls. 

Day 1 was Lu's birthday and a drive to Grand Junction where we stayed for the night.

Day 2 we drove to Bears Ears National Monument to hike around Mule Canyon.

 The canyon was once home to the the ancestral Puebloan who left behind at least five dwellings. The most famous being the spectacular House on Fire.

 Searching the cliffs for more dwellings

Day 2 ended with dinner at the Bird House. Great food. Crazy busy!

We stayed a couple of nights in Page, AZ and spent Day 3 at Lake Powell. The girls were anxious to get their paddleboards out for the first time since getting them for Christmas.

Born and raised in Utah and I had never actually been to Lake Powell. I had driven by it, but never played there. We spent as much time as the girls wanted there, which was most of the day.

A guy and his camera

Dinner that night was at Big John's BBQ. Live music and lots of fun!

We ended Day 3 with a sunset view at Horseshoe Bend.

Day 4 we hiked Buckskin Gulch the longest slot canyon in the world.

The entire thing is roughly 20 miles long. We did about a fourth of that.

It was absolutely breathtaking. 

Some of the walls are adorned with petroglyphs. 

Mark took a lot of fantastic photos, but as good as they are it is hard to capture the majesty of the canyon.

We saw this little guy enjoying the heat from the canyon walls.

We also officially entered GCNP

We set up our campsite at Mather Campground.

We stayed around camp for the evening and Mark got some great shots of the sky.

This was our neighbors site. The campground hosts warned us that the Ravens are bold and will steal your stuff. They weren't kidding.

There were a couple of Elk that frequented our camp as well. Mark had an aggressive encounter with one of them at the water pump.

Mark was a bit obsessed with this blue bird that we spotted around the campground.

Day 5 we did the Rim Trail (south rim)

Ice-cream for the win!

We went to Grandview Point to watch the sunset that evening.

Day 6 we hiked South Kaibab trail to Cedar Ridge. Basically this is the hike that goes down into the Grand Canyon. It isn't lengthy (3 miles) but the elevation gain is the real kicker. I decided to go as far as OOH AAH Point to save some stress on my knee.   

Mark and the girls continued on to Cedar Ridge 

It was so steep! There is the option of riding horses or mules back up 

but not for these tough hikers. I am impressed with their smiles:)

This may have been before the hike back up.

Wowza💗

Back at camp we took it easy for a few hours and did some reading.

We made our Campfire Pizzas for dinner

Then we caught the shuttle to Yaki Point to watch the sunset again.

Gorgeous

Our last night campfire and s'mores

The original plan was to drive all the way home in one day. It was good we ditched that and stayed a night in Grand Junction. Because we weren't in such a rush, we were able to stop in Bluff and visit some family history.

A few years ago for Christmas my dad gave us a book about our ancestor Josephine Wood. It was a journal of her experience as part of the Hole in the Rock expedition.

They settled in Bluff and she became known as Aunty Jody. She was the midwife for the early settlers.

Bluff Fort has been created as a museum of replicated cabins and pioneer living.

I love this kind of thing and the church has really done a fantastic job with this historic site. It is an unexpected attraction in such a desolate place.

That wrapped up our GCNP road trip. Can't wait to see which park we explore next!