Oh, the places you'll go! ...SLOTS
Damon & I love a good adventure. We both love the outdoors, I get a little more antsy then he does just being home. Not that he is an invalid, he is just the kind of person who is content no matter where he is. So, while we dated & after we got married we made sure to have an adventure planned so I didn't go crazy. He is my favorite adventure buddy!
A while back we went down to Dame's parents house for the holidays and found about a ten year old gift card from REI Damon had been given for his birthday. No idea why it hadn't been used, but thank goodness his parents hung on to it. We were able to get super nice Camelbak's! Turns out the card still had a ton on it. Has been a huge help in our expeditions.
We most recently went down to Escalate in Southern Utah and went through the Grand Staircase's slots. My Co worker mom, April, took me last year with her family & we went again with her this year. TIP if you decide to hike these slots go in the fall! So much nicer & easier to chug along than in the summer! Really pretty too with all the leaves.
While we were in the canyons we saw a group of people who had roughly 15 little kids under the age of 6, some even in baby back carriers and only 6 adults! NOT SMART! Baby packs won't fit through the slots. I'm all for taking your kids with you on adventures, well we actually don't have kids yet...but sometimes we'll be hiking along and comment on how much our kids would love this hike....then remember we don't have kids yet haha! oops. One day... Anyways, when we went to the slots we had a 7 year old in our group, but that was with rope to help her over the hard parts and 6 adults to help her out when needed. Don't drag along your kids when they will be miserable the whole time, making you miserable PLUS soo young that they won't remember it.
Rant over.
In between each slot canyon you have to hike through the desert before you hit the next canyon. It's pretty much just vast dry desert that seems to go on forever. I have no idea who found the slots but whoever did hats off to them because they are such a neat find in the middle of literally nothing.
The campsite we stayed out is super nice too. Has showers to wash off all the dirt, a really neat reservoir and nice clean bathrooms.
The road out to the slots we went to is called 'hole in the rock rd' It goes on FOREVER as we found out this last trip. It's a really crude dirt road full of washes and pot holes, slick rock and dangerous climbs. I would not take a small car on this road! The reason it is called 'Hole in the rock' is because.....
THIS is the hole in the rock. Standing there and seeing how steep and daunting it looks I can not even imagine sending wagons and livestock down that! It was really neat to be able to see this, however I would never do it again. The drive out was just too long and rough!
And those are our shadows siting on one side of the gap, being reflected to the other canyon wall. Made my head spin to stand on the side of the cliff and look down the 'hole.'
Another really cool thing about going down to Escalate is Calf creek. We've only ever hiked to the bottom of the falls but there is a higher trail you can take as well. This is a really gorgeous hike, surrounded with trees and wild high canyon walls. It ends with a beautiful waterfall. It was spraying and a little bit freezing on the cool fall day so we didn't sit and enjoy it as much as we did when we hiked to it in the summer. But again. I would go again in the fall every time. You enjoy everything so much more when you aren't dying of thirst and heat!
Last summer we even swam in the water. It was the coldest water I have ever been in, my lungs quit expanding they were so freezing! Although after getting out of the water, within about 10 minutes we were dry and dying of heat again.
So gorgeous! While you hike in you can even see some old Indian wall paintings on a Canyon wall. Tried to get a picture of it but my little camera phone couldn't do it :( We were all thinking of cowboys and Indian's when we hiked to the falls.
And that was our Slot adventure!
A while back we went down to Dame's parents house for the holidays and found about a ten year old gift card from REI Damon had been given for his birthday. No idea why it hadn't been used, but thank goodness his parents hung on to it. We were able to get super nice Camelbak's! Turns out the card still had a ton on it. Has been a huge help in our expeditions.
We most recently went down to Escalate in Southern Utah and went through the Grand Staircase's slots. My Co worker mom, April, took me last year with her family & we went again with her this year. TIP if you decide to hike these slots go in the fall! So much nicer & easier to chug along than in the summer! Really pretty too with all the leaves. 
We trekked through "scary" & "peek-a-boo" slot canyons. The Stone walls are so gorgeous pictures don't do them justice. Lots of twists & turns, spots that you have to take off your pack and suck in your gut to shimmy through. There are drops and climbs, just challenging enough to not need equipment but still make you sore the next day, get a couple of scrapes and use all your muscles.
In between each slot canyon you have to hike through the desert before you hit the next canyon. It's pretty much just vast dry desert that seems to go on forever. I have no idea who found the slots but whoever did hats off to them because they are such a neat find in the middle of literally nothing.
The road out to the slots we went to is called 'hole in the rock rd' It goes on FOREVER as we found out this last trip. It's a really crude dirt road full of washes and pot holes, slick rock and dangerous climbs. I would not take a small car on this road! The reason it is called 'Hole in the rock' is because.....
And those are our shadows siting on one side of the gap, being reflected to the other canyon wall. Made my head spin to stand on the side of the cliff and look down the 'hole.' 
Another really cool thing about going down to Escalate is Calf creek. We've only ever hiked to the bottom of the falls but there is a higher trail you can take as well. This is a really gorgeous hike, surrounded with trees and wild high canyon walls. It ends with a beautiful waterfall. It was spraying and a little bit freezing on the cool fall day so we didn't sit and enjoy it as much as we did when we hiked to it in the summer. But again. I would go again in the fall every time. You enjoy everything so much more when you aren't dying of thirst and heat!
So gorgeous! While you hike in you can even see some old Indian wall paintings on a Canyon wall. Tried to get a picture of it but my little camera phone couldn't do it :( We were all thinking of cowboys and Indian's when we hiked to the falls.
And that was our Slot adventure!
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