On Sunday, the day before Summer's birthday, Kris and I decided to travel out to Red Rock and do some sight seeing and maybe some hiking. We had never really been there before to just look around and we it had always been a mystery and a thing we would do "one of these days" so on this morning we woke up early and decided to check it out. We woke up normally but because the temperature was going to be over 100 we wanted to get out there early and get back home. We arrived to the gates of the canyon by 8:30 and it was already 88 degrees out. We stopped at the first hiking/scenery area and decided to walk down and have a look. We hadn't planned on really doing a lot of hiking but somehow we ended all the way down to the bottom of the canyon. Of course the walk down was easy, we had no problems getting down and around except there was a lot of lose gravel so we really had to keep a tight hold on Summer and assist her so she didn't slip. The area at the bottom of the canyon was really nice and there were trees and big rocks and because we were so close to the canyon wall it was actually a lot cooler and shaded. We saw lizards, acorn trees, birds, some neat branches and a lot of cool rocks. Summer was enjoying the "hiking" but we really had to keep a hold of her arm to keep her from falling and she tired out pretty quickly. The pictures of her in the canyon were amazing and it was worth worth hiking around with a huge camera strapped around my neck.
Overall it was a great hiking experience for all of us, we did a lot more hiking than we expected to do and did fine until we tried to get back UP to the car. We somehow made it up, Kris and I both had to carry Summer up and even without carrying her and lugging an extra 30 pounds we felt like we were going to die. We weren't really prepared for the hike, at least I wasn't, I mean we did bring plenty of water and had sunscreen but I had on shorts and was worried about scratching my legs. At one point during the hike we saw this neat 5 or 6 foot overhang that Kris suggested I climb up to get a picture. I am such a baby when it comes to climbing however I did end up climbing up and sitting there hanging on for dear life while he snapped a quick picture.
It really doesn't look so scary does it, and it really wasn't scary, yet I still managed to bang my knees together when I jumped down and end up with two ugly bruises. Only I would do something like that ... well Summer got hurt too, she had a small scratch on her leg from one of the times she slipped on a rock but she never indicated she was hurt so I guess it wasn't a bad scratch.
By 10:00 am we were back in the car heading home. We had a very productive morning and the temperature had already reached 98. The road through Red Rock is 13 miles and we had hiked at a path off the first stop which was a mile in so we had a nice drive to exit the park. I think Summer fell asleep around mile 3 or 4 so I know she was exhaused. She woke up before we got home and still took a nice long afternoon nap.
We went back the next Sunday with Cliff this time and did not bring the camera. Actually we were going to and I decided at the last minute that it was too much trouble lugging around that big thing when we were going to be doing some serious hiking instead. We did not bring the camera and of course there were some awesome photo opportunities that we missed, several opportunities, several really cool things, we even saw a baby bat! That just means we have to go back and take the camera next time, even if it is big and clunky and hangs down around my neck while I am trying to maneuver myself over the rocks. We plan on making Red Rock a weekly thing, we love being around nature and Summer did so much better the second week, she seemed to know what she was getting into and enjoyed herself more. Papa had a hard time and vowed never to return but we may get him back again because he did like the scenery. On the way back from our second adventure Summer ate an entire McDonald sausage burrito during the 11 mile trip out of the park so I guess the second trip made her hungry. I wonder what she will do next time?
I still have several posts to update and I will get to them, just be patient and enjoy having something to look forward to. I was afraid when I restarted this blog that I would run out of things to talk and show about but so far that hasn't happened (yay) so until next time ...
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