Kodachrome Basin Day 2

Day 2 was much better . . . . although it started way too early. Why do all my nieces and nephews wake up so early. My dad would be so proud:) Andrew was awake at 5:30am and ready to party. It is quiet hours in the campground until 7am. That boy has the loudest morning voice ever. Not really but it seemed loud when we were trying to be quiet. Finally I told him to grab his jacket and that we were leaving the campground and not coming back until 7. We hopped on our bikes and rode around and explored for a little while.

 Despite the early hour it was a beautiful morning.

 We biked through the park and I let Andrew explore and climb on rocks as well. He could be as loud as he wanted once we were away from people.

He read the signs about all the different wildlife. That may have been a mistake because he was very worried about scorpions and rattlesnakes after that. We hung our until after 7am and then headed back to camp to eat and get ready for the day.

Adventure #1 Hike Angels Palace. This is a 1.4 mile loop trail. One of the things I loved about the hikes was that they were all super easy. This was great since we had Andrew with us.

Hannah brought the cutest little hat for Andrew and I almost dies from his cuteness.

 This hike was fun because it gave us great views of the park and we could walk to it from our campsite.

 We were following the red arrows all morning long.

 Andrew is such a ham.

This little steep section was the scariest part. Andrew did great.

 We took one little break but that was it. It was a nice morning hike and it was definitely starting to heat up.

On the way back to camp we saw the nature trail and so we did that too. It is a little 1/2 mile hike with signs about the different nature you see in the park. It was an easy walk.

By the time we finished both hikes/walks and walked to and from camp we needed to give the little guy a break. We went back to camp and had Mac and cheese and grabbed all our stuff we needed for the day.

Our next adventure was Shakespeare arch and the Sentinel loop trail. This is a 1.6 mile hike that is rated moderate. It really isn't hard but there was a little more up and down than what we did in the morning. It was now quite hot so I wasn't sure how Andrew would do on this hike. Honeslty he did AMAZING!

There was not really shade and it was a lot hotter than the northern Utah weather we are used to.

Shakespeare arch collapsed in April so we were really there for the hike. It was really pretty and hot. Moki rested in all the shade she could find.

 Andrew posing with me.

 We took a little break in the shade.

 This hike was great. When we finished we knew we were done until the evening because it was so hot. We drove out to see Chimney Rock and then we headed into town for some lunch and ice cream.

Andrew started with ice cream since he had eaten lunch earlier. He earned every bite.

 Hannah and I got some food at a BBQ place. It was very average. Andrew decided he needed some nachos too. They had a cool wall where you could sign your name.

We hung out at the lunch spot for a long time. We were enjoying the AC and were in no rush to leave. Once we felt we had wore out our welcome we headed to the park to rest. We all took naps in the shade.

 The park was right across the street from the ranger station. I decided to head inside and see if they had any recommendations for the area. The ranger told me about an easy slot canyon hike. It sounded fun and so Hannah and I decided that would be a good evening hike. Andrew was in denial that we were still expecting him to hike. Poor Kid was tired and ready to be done.

We hiked the Willis Slot Canyon for our final adventure for the day. This included a long drive on a dirt road to get to the trailhead. Andrew whined a little on the way but once we got there he hopped out and did awesome. It was a really cool hike. We hiked just under 3 miles. Andrew had tons of fun.

 Slot Canyons are amazing to me. They are so beautiful. Andrew loved walking in the water. It was awesome that it was extremely flat.

 A group picture!!!!! I never get enough of these. Just enjoying our hike. Don't mind my crazy hair. I was tired amd hot.

 Andrews little sandal feet are so stinking cute.

 Andrew LOVES hannah. She makes everything so fun!!!! It is great to have her with me when I am hiking with him because she does a great job of encouraging him.

 Another group picture

 Once we got a ways in Andrew started what I though would be a meltdown because he was so worried about how far we would have to hike to get back to the car. He did a good job of controlling his emotions. We hiked a little further, took a break, had a snack, and then tried to go faster and beat our time on the way back. We beat it by like 15 minutes. We hiked out sooooo fast.

 This was a spot where he could touch both sides of the wall.

 He climbed back into the waterfall.

 I was copying him without him knowing it in the picture. He thought it was hilarious.

 This was my favorite hike we did on this trip. I think it was Hannahs and Andrews favorite as well. The evening temperatures were amazing and the scenery was too.

We got back to camp soooooooo late. We built a fire, took showers and let Andrew have smores. He fell asleep so fast, but it was 11pm. Hannah and I hung out and enjoyed the fire. It was a beautiful evening. One of my favorite things about this trip was the night sky. It was gorgeous. We slept with the fly off the tent and the stars and moon were beautiful. We ended up hiking a little over 7 miles including our walking to and from hikes. That is a long ways for Andrews little legs. It was a great day and I was really proud of him.