Memorial Weekend

Every year for Memorial weekend my family does a hike through the Paria Canyon. It's an amazing 36 mile hike through the most gorgeous canyon in AZ/UT. Well, my family has come up with the idea of doing a "Death March" - all 36 miles in one day. It doesn't sound too horrible, but just imagine walking for 12-15 hours with only two 20 minutes breaks for water and food.

Anyway, this year was my first year that I had the opportunity to go. Every other year there's been something that came up that has stopped me from going (Abe can't get work off, pregnant, new born baby, etc.). So I was super excited to go. I even went on a few long walks with my parents to prepare for it. I was convinced I was ready and couldn't wait to leave! This year the hikers were: My dad, Mom, Waylon, me, Jeremy, Becky, Uncle Jeff, and his friend Mitch. A much smaller group than normal.

We left at about 5:30 am Friday morning and headed for our destination. We arrived at camp at a little before noon. My little brother Waylon and I quickly realized that we had nothing to do for the rest of the night and became bored. And then came the rain. Yikes. Not a good sign for the morning to come. So it rained ALL night long and I barely got any sleep. We awoke to Mom's alarm at 2:45 am. Ugh. And it was still raining. So we had a little group meeting. About 4 miles into the hike the path gets very narrow for 3 miles and there is a risk of flash flooding if it's raining. So, we couldn't hike from the trailhead. MAJOR bummer. That's the best part. So we all agreed to hike in from the end for as far as we wanted. It's been done before so no surprises there.

I was very mad at the situation, but I wanted to hike anyway. I mean, I did all the prep work and I was already there, right? We stuck around camp until about 5 when we headed to the trail. The rain had stopped but the river was a little higher than usual. So about 6 miles and 6-8 river crossing later, we were at the Petroglyphs. Kinda cool if you've never seen any. My back was starting to give me issues and I was already bitter about the hike so I decided to turn around there and go back. Waylon, Becky and Jeremy did as well. So the four oldest hikers marched on to the first natural spring, about 9 miles further.

The walk out of the canyon was a little annoying considering the millions of bugs and biting flies. Little buggers. When we got back to camp we cleaned up a little and got dressed. We all decided to go into Page for some RD's (a tradition) while the other hikers were still out. We enjoyed greasy food, saw some cousins, and headed back to camp. Becky and I attempted to nap (I had to take advantage of my complete freedom), but to no avail. Barking dogs and loud rap music are not the best for sleeping. I hate public campsites!

At about 3 pm Dad, Mom, Jeff and Mitch came in; all covered in muddy water!! When they had hiked about 12 miles in they realized that the river water had changed. And here came the flood! So they had to head back out. They had to cross the river, sometimes all the way up to their chests, about 15 times! It was crazy! My mom said she was actually scared for her life a couple times. I was so jealous! Why didn't I keep walking with them?! Oh well, the guys would have had to worry about getting me through that water anyway.

Saturday nights sleep wasn't as bad as the night before except for more light and wind. I was grateful for the cot my parents let me use. We had some pancakes and then headed home. Waylon and I slept most of the way which was good (I tend to get car sick). I really enjoyed the weekend, despite the fact that I didn't get to do the "Death March". Maybe next year. Thanks to my hubby for taking good care of the kids while I enjoyed my freedom.

A view from camp - the Colorado River.


The hikers


Me chillin' at the Petroglyphs


A peek at the canyon while hiking out