Spring by Makayla King

     As a recent school project, Makayla needed to write a poem. Today for her typing lesson, she is sharing it with you.

Spring

When spring is here,

The animals cheer.

The squirrel scampers up a tree,

Then he looks right down at me.

The rabbit hops into his hole,

Where he finds a friendly mole.

The fawn is hiding in the weeds,

Watching a robin search for seeds.

All the little children skipping in the grass,

Are so very joyful spring has come at last.

-Makayla King

"Emily in the Flowers" Makayla

North Rim of the Grand Canyon

    It's easy for us to get lazy and settled in when we're at a job but last week we forced ourselves to go exploring and it was so worth it! We've been to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon several times and enjoyed it except for the fact that there is to many people. Reviews of the North Rim all testified of the lack of people and that it's less commercialized so we knew if that was true, North Rim would be our favorite!

     After a 2.5 hour drive, we were in the Kaibab National Forest and found a great boondocking spot fairly quickly. When you're towing your 40 foot home, it's slightly terrifying to head down a dirt road and not know what you'll find! Usually Google earth saves us but we had absolutely zero service so we were happy that we didn't need it.

Our little clearing in the woods.

The trees were beautiful but they did block the sunlight we needed for solar!

Bison.............we were not expecting to see them here! Definitely more wild than the ones at Yellowstone.

So huge!

.......just no way to capture the vastness of it.

Emily was happy just stomping in the leaves.

The next morning it looked different due to the lighting and shadows.

Our very hyper children.

Hiking food.........

One day we walked for 4 miles through the woods.

So solemn.

And a bit chilly!

The pines were just huge!

The trail also took us along the edge for a ways.

Fallen logs made it so much more fun.

.

The only thing better than enjoying the view myself is watching our children stand in awe!

Lots of smoke from planned burns.

This was a scary little look-out. I prefered places with no rails and staying back from the edge versus this fence right on the edge!

Makayla is turning into quite the hiker!

The children found this toilet in the woods near our campsite.

Why do so many small Aspen trees have such crooked trunks? None of the big ones did so I assume they grow out of it?

It was so cold when the sun went down! I think it was in the teens some nights.

The Byler in Ethan is coming out- he is starting to really like puzzles.

      So yes, we did love the North Rim. It was stunning, like the South Rim, but I can't say the views were better, just different. We thoroughly enjoyed the lack of people. By December 1, or the first snow, whichever comes first, the road to North Rim is gated shut so we're glad we got our visit in!

Hiking near Page, AZ

     I promised a blogpost on the hiking we did while camping at Lone Rock then promptly forgot about it. Looking over these pictures brought back such warm, fuzzy feelings of our happy times together! One day we hiked to Wiregrass Canyon. We assured everyone that it was fun and easy. Hmmm.......

Wiregrass Canyon

     First off, it had rained since we hiked this canyon earlier in the year. It was all fine and dandy until we get to the drop-off and find a rather large puddle of water at the bottom. The kids that were running ahead bottle-necked at this narrow point. I came upon the scene in time to see Eldon and Johnny peering over. After discussion that I couldn't hear, Eldon took off his boots and socks, rolled up his pant legs, and jumped. Judging by the loud splash, I expected him to be soaked to the waist but it was only to his knees. Johnny followed him and I went to the edge and handed the kids down and they passed them to dry land. It wasn't bad, the drop-off was only about 6 feet but since there was 30 of us, it took some time! Most of the adults had to slide down and wade through, which only added to the adventure!

Taking the plunge.

The impatient, excited kids had to wait on the adults because the next obstacle was a much higher drop-off.

Eldon patiently waiting for another adult to help with the passing of kids. This is the bigger drop off, which was not bad since it had a few ledges and handholds. It just looked scary!

Ethan being corralled by his friend Logan.

Working our group down into the slot canyon.

There was a few people in our group who have a fear of heights and it was great to watch these dads coax them down. 

The walls of the slot canyon!

Kids climbing just because they can.

I love the spooky feeling of this place!

Annabelle and Emily, best hiking buddies. 

Marching along! Pic credits to Becky.

     Our family, along with 3 others turned around at 2.5 miles in. The other 2 families were determined to hike to Lake Powell so they continued another 2.5 miles. They did eventually get there and I guess it was worth it but I'm glad we didn't!
 

On the way back we opted to hike out of the canyon and around the drop-offs. Makayla was so disappointed to miss that part she cried.

At the top! These 3 were troopers.....most of the time :).

Looking over the slot canyon.

Loved all the neat textures and weird rock formations.

Michael and his friend Benjamin.

     So, the next day, we planned THREE hikes. Our group got smaller and smaller as the day went on.

Toadstools

     We choose to Toadstools first, since it was fairly easy and only 1.7 miles round trip. I was impressed how good the children trotted along, considering how far they hiked the day before!

These reddish hills never cease to amaze me.

Crossing a narrow ledge. It wasn't as bad as it looks but you did need to step carefully.

Some of our kids 😍.

A toadstool! 

The King's in front of a toadstool.

Emily and Annabelle, hiking buddies once again!

It's terrifying how high Ethan climbed if you looked away for 30 seconds!

Notice the distinct white/red line.

Miss Makayla

Emily managed to forget she was hungry this hike since she had friends along.

Michael, Evan, and Logan. 

   

One of the very few flowers left.

Next, we drove across the road to do the 1 mile round trip hike to The Nautilus.

They skipped and poked along until their mothers shouted at them to hurry up.

The wash we were hiking in.

Obviously, walking on the walls was much more fun.

Our destination!

At the top of it. The kids slid down and pulled each other up the entire time we were there. Then they could barely hike back.

      After going back to the rigs for some real food and a little rest, a very small group of 9 of us headed to Skylight Arch.

We drove to the top of a butte then hiked along it. The view is incredible up there!

Looking down at a ritzy, secluded resort. Like, $2,000 a night resort.

We found it!

More Lake Powell. We could see our wagon circle down there!

Lone Rock.

Makayla is standing out there but her orange and green clothes blend right in!

This, my friends, is why you never go hiking in the dark in the southwest! It's slightly terrifying how hidden this massive hole is!

     Michael and Emily choose to stay at the campground on the last hike but Makayla was determined to go even though no other young children were. Well, Ethan did but he dozed in the backpack a good part of the way. We enjoy hiking but hiking with friends takes it to a whole new level!