We woke up this morning before the sunshine. It was rough especially since I woke up at 5:45 to go to the bathroom. That was disappointing to see that it was already time to wake up. Capitol Reef still might be my favorite park, but after today Bryce is a close second or it passed it. Plus I think that today's trail was my absolute favorite.
We parked at Sunrise Point, and this was our first experience in any of the parks so far that we struggled to find a parking spot and that we saw a lot of people. Robby had to drop us off, but he easily found a park spot.
We joined the crowds of people on the overlook to look at the sun rise. We stood with them for a little bit, but then we decided that we would walk on down the trail. We started down Queen's Garden and walked down the steep decent. I think that it was even more difficult because the rain yesterday disturbed some of the rocks.
What was neat about this trail was that when we made it down lower, we were walking among the hoodoos. At some points, they even had to blast tunnels or almost doorways for the trail to go through. We eventually made it to the Queen Victoria (I think) hoodoo. I never really saw it, but that is where our trail changed to Navajo Loop trail.
Then we would have preferred to go up the Wall Street trail, but it was closed so we ventured up the Two Bridges trail. The kids were walking way in front of us, so they missed out on seeing the two bridges, but really, it wasn't much. Then we started up Two Bridges, and gracious it was a haul.
We caught up to Whitman on the ascent, and we were having to take breaks on each switchback. Once we made it up the switchbacks, we still had a climb to go. However, when you turned around and looked at the view, Sunset Point, it was breath taking. It almost made the climb worth it.
Now, once we made it to the top, we still had to walk a half mile back to Sunrise Point to get to the car. On this walk, Campbell convinced Robby to go and get breakfast. We had to drive to another town, but our stop at Rustler's Restaurant also made the hike well worth it.
Campbell had waffles piled high with m and ms, strawberries, and bananas plus some bacon. Keaton had m and m pancakes. Whitman and I both had the kids American breakfast with eggs, hashbrowns, toast, and sausage for me and bacon for him. I also had hot chocolate, and I know it was probably from a packet, but it was the best hot chocolate I think that I have ever had. Robby had biscuits and gravy (they even toasted the biscuits) and an egg. It was so, so good-or maybe we were just so, so hungry.
Now, I said that the view was breathtaking, but what we came back to in the camper was also breathtaking-but not in a good way. Keaton unlocked the door and was the first to say "I smell poop." Well, bless poor Marley. Her tummy was upset, but thankfully she was in the kennel.
Robby grabbed the kennel and got the hose, Campbell got Marley outside, Keaton took care of Bentley while I got the soap. Then Robby and Campbell washed Marley outside while Whitman hosed down her kennel. I was busy running around cleaning things inside and gathering necessary supplies.
We were just going to take an hour break, but this little fiasco took us a bit longer so we were at the camper for an hour and a half. We then made a risky call and left Marley in her kennel when we left again to see more sights.
We stopped at pretty much every overlook and point that we could. Bryce Point and Inspiration Point were definitely my favorites. Then we also walked through the lodge again and browsed a general store. We even went back in the visitor center to collect a sticker saying that we hiked more than 3 miles at the park.
And imagine our relief when Robby went in the camper first after our outing and gave us the thumbs up sign. Marley made it fine! We celebrated with a load of laundry, and while Robby was doing that the kids did school. It was nearly 5 when all of that was finished, and people were getting pretty sleepy.
We had to wake up Keaton and Campbell, and we even gave Whitman the option to go or not. He, of course, picked that he would stay in the camper and watch the dogs. We drove all the way through the park towards and ended at the last stop-Yakima Point and Rainbow Point. Would you guess what we saw at Rainbow Point? A rainbow. That was kind of neat; however, it is called rainbow point, not for rainbows, but for the colors of the rocks that you can see.
We then stopped at a few more overlooks chasing the sunset before we ditched our supper plans of rice bowls and ordered a pizza. We picked up supper and then quickly loaded the car in the sprinkling rain. Then we all ate and started on showers. Tomorrow we have a good bit of driving to do so we will need some sleep.
