Box Canyon Adventure

On Wednesday morning I was snuggling with Barry and his alarm clock went off and he tried to get up to get ready for work, but I just held him tight and said. "Please don't go to work today, stay home and let's go on an adventure." He said. "Ok!", and called in work and took the day off.

I was super surprised, because he's been soo stressed and busy at work, but we weren't going to argue.

 

We did an abbreviated session of school with the kids. It was so nice to have another adult there to help me. Then it was field trip time!

 

For our adventure, 

 

 We decided to try and find Box Canyon.

 

This wasn't our first time trying to find the place, it's pretty elusive and I haven't actually met anyone who's been there ..........but I've had seen pictures on the internet and I wanted to try.

 

 

After about an hour of driving around, some in the right direction, most in the wrong, we found it!

We'll we found a small parking lot with a sign that said Box Canyon. It was on the edge of a very large field and there was no canyon in sight. We started off down the trail very unsure of what we would find. The wind was whipping, but the kids were having a grand ol' time racing and galloping their imaginary horses. James had brought his backpack with him, which he informed me contained 1 bottle of soda, my water bottle, a metal rod he had found somewhere, a wooden stake, some Para cord. and My bottle of tums ;). It was heavy, but he didn't complain once. The crazy boy decided he needed to ADD to his rock collection as we walked and began stuffing his pockets with interesting rocks. We walked for about a mile before we could even see the canyon rim.

 

 

 

 

 WOW! a nice picture of everyone! Emma is "rearing" to go!

 We came to an overlook area. It was about a 200 foot drop down into the canyon and even with binoculars Barry and I could see no way of getting down to the beautiful water. The crystal clear water all comes from a natural underground spring and forms a very fast moving creek. It's an amphitheater canyon, so there is only one entrance into the canyon, and we were at the wrong end.

We decided to keep walking, I knew there was a way down,
because of pictures I had seen of people swimming in the cold cold water. I just hoped they hadn't repelled down. There were no signs to guide us, but we found a little trail(sort of) along the canyon rim. We followed it about another mile.
 

 There were eagles and Peregrine flacons soaring above us, they were pretty awesome to watch.

 AND then we found it! Someone had hooked a metal cable to some rock and had made a walkway down the canyon wall. (Sorry, no pictures) I was holding on to my children, camera, and sore pelvis for dear life. After a lot of scrambling we made it down into the canyon safely.  This is what we saw. :)

 The water was incredible! The park service at one time had put in a little platform and stairs by the waterfall, but that wasn't really close enough for the kids.

 Sorry! I might have got a little carried away, taking picture of the beautiful falls.

 Lauren, at one point on the trail, had face-planted it, and had given herself a bloody nose. Of course no Pate pictures would be complete without someone with a bloody nose.

 Where Barry leads, the kids follow.

 The spray from the waterfall was getting my camera wet, so I had to be careful.

 Emma was just so happy almost the whole time. She loves to be outside, and loves to scramble over rocks. The only time she wasn't happy was when she was being carried. "Let go, put me down Dad!" :)

 Perhaps, I should have cleaned off the lens.

 Barry and Em had left us and had walked further on down the path, I found them sitting out on a rock in the creek. Eating ALL of our snacks.

 You know those moments that time just seems to slow down and you know that you'll remember them forever. This was one of those for me. It was a little taste of heaven.  I love my family, I love that they are willing to take adventures with me.

 Watching falcons up on the cliff. No you can't see them. ;) One day, I will have a telephoto lens. :)

 Then Barry decided to stick his face in the water to see what he could see.  He said it was like looking through glass. I totally believed him ......the kids wanted to see for themselves. ;)

 Lauren did it too, but was busy holding too many things, included Emma, to get a picture.

 Time to head back home.

The kids were such good hikers. No complaints. Lauren walked the WHOLE way herself and Emma a ton of it. It's about 5 miles.  Barry rewarded them with strawberry milkshakes and chicken nuggets at the park. They couldn't have been happier.

 P.S. On the hike back, I found a way down to the inviting, but mysterious blue pools. It was very steep and there was no metal cable. I think I would probably have to scoot down on my bottom.  I don't think we'll be taking the kids that way for a few years, but we'll definitely we returning to beautiful, peaceful Box Canyon.