May 25, 2026

Woke up early, packed up, and hiked the 3 miles out getting to the car at 7:45. We thanked our past selves for the hike yesterday to get us closer.

A stop at the BLM office for a bathroom, McDonald’s for food, Beaver for gas ($5.00 a gallon - eek), and JCW’s for a late post backpacking burger and we made it home. It’s crazy to think this morning we were hiking out of Paria Wash and this evening we’re home mowing the lawn.

What a great backpack! We were able to make it a relaxing, beautiful adventure while covering 30 miles.

May 24, 2026

Guess who was up and at it about 6:30 this morning? The ravens. It’s awesome. 

I love a warm night in the tent. We were way off in our guessing of temps but I’ll take the warmth. We both slept quite well for backpacking. And the stars last night were cool as they shone bright in the sky above the two towering orange cliffs. I like our campsite we’re close to water, there’s some privacy, we’re above the trail, we have orange cliffs surrounding us, but it’s wide enough that it’s not claustrophobic.

Spent a little of the morning finding some desert scriptures (Isaiah 40:3 and Numbers 22:24) and finding an arch thanks to the sun on the side wall. I named it Raven Arch because, well, the yelling ravens. We added “we’re running with the shadows on the night so baby take my hand we’ll be alright” to our Anne Murray “Shadows in the Moonlight” song.

This place! WOW! We hiked to Big Spring (about 4.5 miles) and the whole way was spectacular! The walls, the meandering, the alcoves, the river, and just all of it was so beautiful. Around every bend my jaw would drop. At one point I got a little teary as I was overcome with the beauty and I thought how blessed I am to see this place.

After a good rest and lunch at the spring plus hiking a bit farther to another huge alcove, we hiked back to camp with shoes full of sand and water and camera roll full of pictures.

We decided to hike out some and camp under the cottonwood we saw coming in so we don’t have so many miles in the heat tomorrow. It was a good campsite and we enjoyed the evening eating dinner and relaxing.

May 23, 2026

Kanab put us in a great spot to pick up our permit and hit the White House Trailhead.

The 4.5 miles in the sand was tiring but the seeing the canyon walls get higher was cool. The confluence was also cool. This place is awesome. Even the boring part had some windows and flowers. 

Slide Rock Arch WAS cool. Thought it might not be as cool as pictures looked but it was - even without water around it. Also loved the peregrine falcons chasing each other and talking. 

Stopped after 8.5 miles. Ate lunch and listened the ravens yell, watched the frog, and filtered the water. Sigh. I love this part of backpacking. 

After resting we headed up Buckskin for a bit. It was typical Buckskin - some green and some skinny and amazing. We didn’t go very far before coming back to camp. But while we were in a narrow part of Buckskin, a raven flew through the narrow part of the canyon not far above our heads and we could hear its wings flap. It was amazing! I also watched some canyon wrens. I am digging the birds here. 

We had dinner at a really cool spot. Just eating between towering canyon walls. The ravens are still going strong. Yappity yap yapping. 

I like our camp.  Chilling at the low flowing river, the view of the stars between the tall walls, and even the loud ravens were enjoyable.  Packing our chairs was a good choice.

May 22, 2026

I’ve been cautiously optimistic that the weather would cooperate and we could do our Paria Canyon backpack. The time came and it is happening! We stayed in Kanab which is always good. We like K-town. We ate at Rooster’s which was good. I didn’t see me ordering chicken fried chicken but I did and it was delicious. Would order again. Then we walked past some shops and stopped at an art gallery before going back to our hotel. 

May 21, 2026

I went on one of my favorite late spring hikes. Pine Hollow to Willow to Ridge to Pine Hollow. No traffic, the green (many shades of green) , plus 3 deer and only 1 person made for a good morning. 

May 20, 2026

Handed in my work stuff for the school year. It’s kind of hard when you’re good at something and you only get to do it some of the time. Got to see Darren there and then I got to see Sadie at work - both good things. And Darren and I survived valiant activity. Yes, it’s feels like a survival thing. 

May 17, 2026

Met little tiny kitten Mango.