Adventuring with kids in our National Parks
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#3-OUr favorite parent and kid memories of Arches National Park

2/26/2016

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By Abby McAllister
So, we are in week 3 of our 5 week countdown to our Utah guide book launch party.  While it is available already on amazon we are going to have a little celebration that may include a sweet deal on the book...more on that later.  Anyway, we are using these 5 weeks to take a trip down memory lane as we remember out favorite moments in the 5 Utah parks that stole our hearts.  One memory from a parent and one from a kid.  Here they are-memories of Arches National Park!
By Abby McAllister
Picture of hiking in Arches National Park
Even the smaller arches are amazing
Picture of La Sal Mountains from Arches National Park
View of the La Sal Mountains
​I feel like such a cheater but I just can't pick one most memorable moment in Arches NP.  I guess maybe instead of a memory from our trip,  I have a favorite feeling that Arches brings me.  When I visit Arches I am overwhelmed, many times, with a feeling that is hard to describe.  I feel like my chest is expanding beyond what I can sustain.  I feel at once tiny like an ant and enormous like I might fill the space all around me.  I am significant and simultaneously superfluous.  Sometimes it happens in a wide open space like the time we all were walking across a huge sandstone fin with the desert landscape stretching away all around us.  It also comes over me in tiny secluded box canyons where we discover an arch that seems it had been waiting just for us for ages!  I felt it when we were crossing from one group of sandstone to another across a desert prairie of bunch grass waving in the evening breeze.  Or even along "Park Avenue," surrounded by other visitors, as we stare in wonder at the cliffs soaring above us.  I want to say that maybe it is a desert thing but the fact is, I haven't felt it as strongly or consistently in any of the other Utah desert parks.  Additionally I have felt the same feeling sitting on a beach in the Dominican Republic, staring out to sea.  I can't explain it but I crave that feeling.  I seek it and when I find it I revel in it.  I felt it in Arches in my teen years and many years later, in my adult life, I was still longing to go back.  I was thankful that the feeling still found me all those years later.  I'm not sure I can name it.  Can you?  What is that feeling?  Where have you felt it before?  Tell me so I can go there too!
By Logan McAllister (10)
​One of my favorite times in Arches is when we went to see one of the arches and the path was sandy. It was about a quarter of a mile to the arch. You could see the arch from the path and when we got to the arch there were two slopes, one on either side of the arch. You could climb to the right or the left of the arch. I enjoyed being up by the arch but then had to leave. There was a little side trail that my two brothers and I followed. It was a long little trail but it finally bent around a corner and we saw a huge cut out in the cliff we were following. We searched and saw a bunch of snake holes. We searched around a little more to the left and found a little cliff. My brothers and I climbed it. Then our mom took pictures of us then we climbed and hiked back to the car and left.  
Picture of Double Arch in Arches National Park
It is a short walk to this amazing arch, and there are lots of places for the kids to climb and explore.
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#2-OUr Favorite moments in Canyonlands National park

2/21/2016

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So we managed to fly right past our intended post date of Friday (maybe some of you can imagine how busy our family of 6 is!).  Anyway, we are excited to be sharing the next set of favorite memories from our Utah parks as part of our countdown to our official book release celebration.  Here you will get to hear from Harley and Tavin McAllister as they share their favorite memories from Canyonlands National Park.  They didn't even consult with each other prior to writing but you will see that some of the same moments deeply touched them both.  

Canyonlands NP is an interesting park that is often overlooked.  It is within an hours drive of the much visited Arches NP.  It has three very distinct regions that you cannot access internally but rather must travel long distances around the outside of the park to go from one region to another.  Two of the regions are rugged and remote beyond the abilities of many families but one of the regions, the Island in the Sky region, is very accessible and worth the visit.  Find out more in our guidebooks described elsewhere on this site. 

With no further introduction, here are Harley and Tavin...

Finding connection in the desert

By Harley McAllister
Picture
One day in Canyonlands we were all feeling pretty tuckered out due to all the travel, but there were a 
couple of hikes that we knew we had to check out to include in our book, so I volunteered to head out 
and tackle them.  I asked for volunteers from the kids, and to my delight Tavin said that he'd accompany me.  Thus began about a 2 hour excursion with just he and I, and we really made the most of our one-on-one time together.

We started off by hiking to Upheaval Dome, which is a fantastic and bizarre formation that no scientific 
theory has yet to explain.  We simply don't know exactly what caused it.  There are multi colored rock 
and dirt formations in grey, tan, and red located in the bottom of a gaping opening in the ground that 
loosely resembles a huge natural amphitheater.  The side you approach from terminates in steep, 
rugged cliffs that drop several hundred feet, with some natural rock precipices that you can stand on.  
Upon seeing this, Tavin's imagination immediately took him to the climactic scene in the Lord of the 
Rings trilogy where Frodo throws the "One Ring" into the lava to break its hold on all who possess it.  
As we tried to recreate that scene with photos, Tavin walked out to the precarious edge of the 
precipice and held my wedding band out over the chasm, giving me at least two good reasons for the 
lump in my throat to rise near the top.


Picture of upheaval dome in Canyonlands national park
Upheaval Dome in Canyonlands NP
Picture of ancient Puebloan ruin
enjoying a cool spot while imagining the past
image of child on cliff edge preparing to throw the
Throwing the "one ring" into the abyss
Next we headed off to Aztec Butte, a short drive away.  This hike is less frequented and we basically had the place all to ourselves.  We chatted about various things as we found our route through the sandy washes and up over the butte to the location of an ancestral Puebloan granary hidden in the rocks.  This created a cool sense of discovery as we imagined the lifestyle of the people who built this structure, and then we continued on to the next location which was their dwelling.  This part of the hike got a bit more challenging, involving more route finding and scrambling up some fairly steep rock faces and outcroppings.  Tavin eats that sort of stuff up, and I got a kick out of watching him tackle the challenge.  


​We soon crested the mesa and found the ancient rock walls of the former dwelling, complete with 
sweeping views of the surrounding area.  With our mission accomplished we headed back to the 
trailhead, eager to rejoin the rest of the family for the evening meal.  Looking back I do remember the cool sights that we saw, but most of all I cherish the time spent together with Tavin.  In our hectic world it is rare to find quality time like that - time with no interruptions, no smart phones, no internet, and no 'connectivity' other than the connections you are building between father and son.

Imagination takes over

By Tavin McAllister (12)
Last fall I went to Canyonlands National Park (along with a few others in Utah) and went on some fun hikes.  Hikes are fun, and where you are going is usually better, but, my favorite part is being creative about where you hike and what you see. I went on a fun hike with my dad after a day of looking around the rest of Canyonlands, and we went on a trail called Upheaval dome. It was really cool because it was a big dome, that fell in on itself. First we saw it from one overlook and then we hiked a little bit and got a better view. Okay creative idea time. I saw a ledge sticking out over the pit and got an idea. I told my dad my idea, and he said I could do it. So I walked out on to the ledge with his gold wedding ring on my finger and stuck my had out like Frodo Baggins in "Lord of The Rings". My dad snapped a picture and then we hiked back down to the car laughing. This is what I like about hiking and looking at things a different way because sometimes you can see a good way to make the activity, or hike even more fun.
Picture of 12 year old hiking in the desert Southwest
Exploring the Desert is fun!
Picture of playacting the Lord of the Rings
Nooooooooo!
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We begin...by looking back

2/16/2016

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Well, here we are...at the start of the blog.  Seems like a momentous moment.  Words fail...wait, that's bad!  Our purpose is written up on the side bar so we are just going to jump right in.  We are starting off this blog by looking back.  We are going to do a series that looks back at one single moment from each of the parks in Utah that we cover in our guide book-our most memorable moment.  Not only are Harley and I going to share (which we do a lot) but we are dragging our kids into this one with us.  For each park one of them will be writing up their favorite or most memorable moment.  We hope you will enjoy reading these but even more, we hope they inspire you to head out on your own national park adventure!

Zion National Park

"Surprised by Unexpected Beauty"
By Abby McAllister
Picture
Picture
​Although Zion National Park offers stunningly deep canyons, famous peaks and terrific hiking, canyoning and climbing, my favorite moment came one evening after dark.  It is probably my favorite because it was totally unexpected.  I like to be surprised.  I like a moment when my breath is taken away by unexpexted beauty.  When that happens, it feels like a special gift.  When it occurs in nature it feels like I am blessed beyond measure to be in the right place at the right time to take in a sight that will never be repeated in exactly the same way.  In Zion I had one of those once-in-a-lifetime gift experiences when we came out of the lodge after the evening ranger program.  It was late, the baby had fallen asleep on my lap and I was just expecting to head to the car, get all the kids buckled in and head back to the campground.  As we exited the lodge and walked across the big lawn towards our car we happened to look up.  Directly across from the lodge the full moon’s glowing light was reflecting off the sheer cliff walls that make up the peaks of (insert mountain names).  They seemed to be the face of the moon dropped in our laps.  They rose dramatically into the black night sky that is only found so far from cities.  We all stood mesmerized on the lawn that dark fall night and just drank it in.  Somehow the dark of the night and the light of the moon had transformed the peaks that seemed so rooted, so grounded each day, into something ethereal.  I don’t know how long we stood there but I remember I never wanted to leave.  We tried to capture the majesty with our camera but all attempts failed.  Sometimes you just have to be there.  I guess that is why we go to national parks, why we take our kids.  Photos in books and online, videos and movies-none of those can compare to being there.  

"Feeling like a Stunt Man"
By Kaden McAllister, 14
​The most memorable part of Zion NP for me has to have been the hike to Hidden Canyon. This particular hike took us along a cliff wall. The trail was carved out of the rock or sometimes followed a narrow ledge.  In some places chains had been drilled into the rock wall for you to hold on to, so you wouldn’t fall down the few-hundred-foot drop. I remember looking down and being glad of the chains. It made me feel like I was in a movie or something, hiking along that precipice. At the top of the mountain, the end of the path, there was a ravine with boulders that you could scramble over and around. We spent hours jumping over and crawling under the boulders. I also loved the view from the top. You could see all the way back to the trailhead, and see all of the people, as small as pinheads along the trail. It really let you see how far you had come. Going down was fun too because I didn’t have to work as hard as I had coming up.
Next up...Canyonlands National Park!
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    Author

    We, Harley and Abby, are the parents of 7 boys and 1 girl whom we regularly drag into any and every national park we come near to.  We love our parks and know that the only chance we have of keeping and maintaining this priceless resource is to give our children a love of them too.

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