Derek and Melissa’s Family
Our adventures, stories, and ramblings.
Adventures | For The Family
Snow Canyon Adventure
by Derek—2004.09.18 @ 1048
Last week we headed off to Snow Canyon State Park to spend time as a family and hike some familiar hills. Snow Canyon is very close to St. George (~10 minutes) and is a small, sand-stone canyon. All growing up, Snow Canyon was a free park where we frequently went to hike on the hills, camp as Boy Scouts, or drive through on a Sunday afternoon. Now, entrance fees are $5.00 per vehicle and activity is severely limited. It is such a small canyon, in fact, that you can really see most of it as you drive through. Some of the hikes take you to hidden cliffs, and the best hikes are actually outside the park, including the Johnson's Arch hike (for some reason, Park officials ignore the "arch" and title this hike "Johnson's Canyon Trail," perhaps to divert attention away from one of the most spectacular formations in the canyon).
On the day-trip, we arrived at the Park right after a cloud burst. The red rocks looked spectacular with the glistening water rippling down the cracks and seams. Lightning was still striking near by and the echoing boom highlighted our stroll over the petrified sand dunes (or so they are called).
Camping Out
After spending a day with grandparents Ron and Marie, we decided that it might be fun to come back and go camping in one of the available areas. Jason and Amanda decided to come with us for the afternoon but would not sleep over. Only "GraMarie" decided to stay the night with us in the Park.
The Park Ranger guided us to camping spot #26, a beautiful little campground nestled back by the red cliffs. Besides being away from the main road, the Ranger said this campground was below some ancient petroglyphs. It was promised if we hiked just a few feet up behind the campground we would spot them.
Setting up camp was fun, but I was still amazed at how much "stuff" one must bring for an over-nighter. Our car was stuffed full of blankets, sleeping bags, and our own firewood. Jason also brought some cooking gear, camp chairs, and other miscellaneous supplies. We cooked our tinfoil dinners on the open fire and enjoyed the usual burnt-offerings that accompanies outdoor cooking (actually, our food was very good and only portions were "crisp").
Missing Petroglyphs and the "Rock Police"
Taking the advice from the Ranger, I took Elise up behind our campground to find the petroglyphs. There were two little "canyons" behind our camp; Elise and I took the one nearest our site. The canyon wasn't anything more than a slot in the rock wall, but regardless, there were not petroglyphs to be seen. We did find a small "D" carved in the rock, but it looked too modern to be worth the effort. Was this some park joke? Jason later joined us with his daughter, Emma. Together we decided to go up the other "canyon" just around the corner.
As we hiked up the empty stream bed and across some of the flat sandstone mounds, I noticed an older couple walking up the road towards our campground. I gave it little thought, for the campground was full of RV's and other campers. As we hiked higher on the mound, we saw Marie and gave a wave. Then we heard a shrill -- but deep -- yell: "Hey! Get off those rocks!"
What?
This older couple was yelling at us. "Don't climb on those rocks!" the man yelled again. I felt my blood stirring. Who were these people and what were they doing? My inner voice became audible and I replied, "why?!" Obviously, we weren't doing anything wrong or dangerous, but the couple was persistent. We agreed to go back down and talk with them and find out what the problem was.
The couple was dressed ordinarily casual -- as a couple does when they are out for a walk. Nothing official about them except for their persistance that we should not be climbing on those rocks. What was the problem? They said that two people died in the past year from climbing on those rocks and it is not permitted to climb on the rocks here in the campground. I was stunned and my blood was boiling -- but I was determined to keep as cool as possible. I replied that I had read no such warning in the material we were handed. In fact, the pamphlet (which I had read) said only that "scrambling over rocks" was dangerous. I insisted that we were not doing anything wrong, in fact, we were being extremely careful -- we had our 3-year-old children along side us!
Children or no, the couple was unmoved. I left them in a huff (they still wanted to argue, but I was done) and headed back to camp. It was discovered that on a photocopy paper I was handed upon check-in, a paragraph did in fact say "please do not climb on the rocks behind the campgrounds." The old couple told us we wold get fined if we were seen by the Rangers.
The night was all but ruined. We dubbed this couple the "Rock Police" and for the rest of the night we wondered if they would come and talk with us again. Luckily they didn't (however, the Park Ranger did drive through camp later and looked suspiciously up at the rocks).
Stars
Night was beautiful. Once the kids were in bed, Melissa, Marie, and I stayed up watching the stars and talking. Watching God's creation from this vantage point is always inspiring and we pondered on the beauty around us. I counted the sattelites and watched the stars move slowly across the horizon. Although Snow Canyon is close to St. George, we were far enough away to get a clear view of the heavens and the amazing Milky Way.
In the morning I was determined to strike camp quickly (my camping adventure was still a little ruined by the Rock Police). As I was packing, Marie came back from the restroom with some news: the "Rock Police" from yesterday were seen in uniform this morning -- apparently they were the camp wardons! My pace quickened.
Luckily we didn't see any more "police" for the rest of the day.
Once packed, we picked a hike and drove off for the adventure. Since we had seen most of Snow Caynon before, I picked a trail on the extreme north end of the park. The hike was moderate and fun, and we enjoyed climbing all over the rocks -- without anyone to look over our shoulders.