Day 3: Saturday, June 30, 2007

We were up early today to beat the heat and hike one of the trails into the canyon. The 2 mile hike down was narrow and had many switchbacks. We walked an hour down to "Hat Shop", an area where large rocks were balanced upon tall spires or "hoodoos". The walk up took 1 1/2 hours and was much hotter. By now the temperature had reached around 90 degrees and the air was extremely dry. In the afternoon we rented quads and had a guided private tour into Casco Canyon. This is the canyon that Butch Cassidy and The Hole in the Wall Gang ran in the early 1900's. Our tour guide filled us in on a lot of history and gave us a fantastic 4 hour tour. This was a busy, fun day.


Dan and Jake contemplate the long winding trail.


See the trail in the distance? We walked all that way!


The trail was steep and narrow.


The Cracas boys!


"Hat Shop"




Casco Canyon. The hole is where Butch Cassidy and his gang escaped through, hence the name "The Hole in the Wall Gang".


Dan and Karen following the guide. The ride was 12 miles into the canyon. Scott and Jake followed on one quad. Go, Mom!


Quading was a blast! Here we are at the end of the trail getting ready to head back.

Day 2: Friday June 29, 2007

Our destination for today was Bryce Canyon with a stop along the way at Alta Ski Resort. Dan and Jake got to see a "real" mountain for snowboarding! The mountains were beautiful and we managed a quick hike before climbing back in the car. We arrived at Bryce Canyon in the early evening and drove into the park at dusk. The mountains here were breathtaking and we stayed in the park long enough to see the moon rise over the valley. What a view!

The mountains along Salt Lake City are huge!

Alta Ski Resort: a view from the hiking trail. (lower trails)

A quick hike across from the ski resort. The wildflowers were beautiful.

The tunnels were built in the 1920's.

A view from the Rim Trail at dusk. It was amazing...

Thor's Hammer

We saw the moon quickly rise at dusk over the canyon.

Day 1: Thursday June 28

Day 1: Our flight to Salt Lake City was without any problems. We had a great view from the plane window and enjoyed watching the topography change as we traveled west. We met up with Dan and Jake who had spent a fun week with their grandparents Tom and Kay Cracas seeing the sights around Yellowstone. Our hosts for the evening were Tom and Joyce Cracas (Tom's cousin).