Camping rain dance

For Father's Day weekend we joined our good buds Tyler and Alene and headed out to camp at gorgeous Maple Canyon. It was a Root family affair, though we crashed it properly and added our rambunctious kids to the mix. Conglomerate pillars, worn box canyons, and sunlight shifting through the trees.


the view out our tent window

Bella's new friend

the gang setting up down below

hiking through the box canyon

with kids and dogs

we went under boulders

climbed over ten-foot ledges (handing small people up and down)

and stood above it all in the lushness, so proud to be rock-conquerors

At the end of the canyon was this 30-35 foot waterfall. Not much of a fall anyway, just a trickle with a soaked rope draped down its face at about an 80-degree pitch--steep. Tyler made the first ascent, stopping just short of climbing over the ledge at the top ...

... and I couldn't resist going after, while the kids argued about who would follow (naturally).

I climbed over the top, and then Jarom tried to follow me up. Jarom is a natural climber, willing and daring, and he loves it. But he's reckless (wonder where he gets that from), and got stuck halfway up. While I stood helpless, Tyler scaled up and eased Jarom down.

A different route to explore a ledge cave. The whole Root clan was insanely good with our kids, always helping them up and down to explore and keep them safe. Tyler and his little bro Bobby were particularly great.

boxed in

We stayed up late around a roaring fire, the sky clouded over. We expected some rain the next day, but went to bed and dry and warm. Yet--in started pouring sometime in the late night. And never stopped. We woke up to pouring rain, hoping to wait it out. The Root parents had a camp trailer with a small canopy, and they fried up a big delicious breakfast burrito fiesta while we stayed dry in the tent. We didn't bring real shoes for anyone, or rain-repelling jackets. The food warmed us up but our feet froze. We reluctantly let the rain win, and packed up all our soaking wet gear, folded it into a big pile and threw it in the back of the car. We'll be back to Maple Canyon soon, to round out the experience by hiking the three-mile loop up to a beautiful view and past the arch.


you can kind of see the dry spot where the tent had been

ready to warm up, after packing up

It's only an hour and a half from home, so we hit the rainy road and decided to spend it like a real rainy day--inside.


We showered up and got cozy for our cooler lunch we picnicked downstairs, while watching a classic we'd never seen, Time Bandits. I fell asleep (hey, it's Father's Day).

And then Amy and the kids surprised me with homemade sugar cookies spelling out their love for me. A sweet weekend's end and a perfect Father's Day together.