We spent a glorious few days down in Southern Utah. We stayed in Brian Head and it was so beautiful! First we went to Cedar Breaks and were amazed at the educational value of the signage...don't worry, we learned that cliffs and lightning are hazardous.
This tree is over 1600 years old!
The next day took us over the mountains, past lovely Panguitch Lake, through Panguitch, and onto Bryce Canyon. It was very windy!
This raven had no problem having people right up close to it. Then his little friend came and perched herself next to him. They loved all the attention from the many tourist cameras.
Can you see the Hoodoo Princess in the background? I'm imitating her.
Queens Garden. What a fun hike!
We had so much fun and can't wait to go back and explore more someday!
Another backpacking adventure-with Jake and Amanda! We went up Maple Canyon and hike the Spanish Fork Peak trail up to Maple Canyon Lake. We got a late start because of Labor Day Friday night traffic so we didn't get to the lake until dark. We found a nice flat spot right next to the lake and set up our tents. After a fun campfire we crashed into our tents. Within the hour, an elk came and bugled just outside our tent. For the rest of the night we laid in our tents, listening to the elk. A whole herd bedded down and two bull elk fought in the lake for hours. I was TERRIFIED. They would bed down right next to our tent and we would lay absolutely still, hardly daring to breathe. My heart was pounding and I was so scared I passed out! I was SO grateful when the sun came up in the morning. I have never prayed so hard in my life. None of us slept a wink! We enjoyed breakfast in the morning and explored around the lake/pond and saw where they wallowed in the mud, fought, walked around and we even saw remnants of their hair in the mud. We were grateful that they had left in the morning and we didn't come out of our tents to find them all still sleeping around our tent. WHEW what a trip!
This is how close we were to the lake where the elk were fighting:
