All American Man

So...we had a successful backpacking trip with Olive. We have been debating and worrying over how this trip would go for as long as she has been alive. We thought about leaving her with Grandma, but she is not a very good sleeper, and I just couldn't leave her. For a few days we talked about just going camping instead, but this is a trip I have always wanted to take. Since we have no idea what the next few years will bring...we decided to do it and bring her along. This meant that everyone else had to pack my stuff in so I could carry Olive. Josh's pack was the heaviest weighing in at close to 65 lbs. (that was before we added the water.) Everyone else carried close to 50 lbs.

The All American Man is a Native American hieroglyphic in Canyon Lands. My dad grew up in Monticello and is very familiar with the area. He has backpacked to it numerous times over the years. He took Jacob and Josh when they were probably 12 and 10. I also remember him taking my mom with some of their friends. I have always wanted to go, but he didn't think I could make it when I was younger. I have always been a little offended by that, but after having done it I can see why he would think that. It is 8 miles in and 8 miles out. The first few miles you drop 1000 ft. It was pretty intense going down, not to mention back up.

We were all very happy to set up camp on Thursday night. Olive was a trooper. She sang the whole way down the steep part of the hike. The last mile she was pretty tired from the long car ride, and the long hike. She was very happy to get out of the backpack and play on the tarp grandpa brought for her. We set up camp just as the sun was going down and the temperature was dropping. She fell asleep as soon as her sleeping bag was set up.

The first night was really cold. Grandpa and Josh made sure to pack extra pads, a wool blanket, and an extra sleeping bag to make sure that Olive stayed really warm.

The next day we hiked the rest of the way to see the actual hieroglyphic. Olive loved the flowers and most of the time was pretty content as long as she had one in her hand. She fell asleep in my arms for about hour in the beginning, but she didn't drop her flower.

We took a detour off the trail and stopped for lunch at an Anasazi ruin site. There was still gourd squash growing from the time that the Native Americans lived there. It was really neat. It was nice to take a break. Olive enjoyed being out of the pack.

We did finally make it, and I did my best to climb up the steep rock to get to it. Here are a few shots of the All American Man.

This post is gettting really long... we took tons of pictures and had tons of adventure. It was a very fun, exhausting trip.
This picture is to show how far we hiked. The furthest mountain you can see is where we started. The truck was parked on top and waited for us while we hiked in to see some amazing history that not many people get to see. Even though it was a hard trip, it was worth it. I hope that it always stays hard. My dad said that when he first started backpacking into this canyon, you could see some pretty amazing artifacts from this amazing time in Utah history, but people feel they can take these artifacts out as a kind of souvenir. I know it isn't much, but we did our part and left the canyon the same way we found it. If everyone took a little bit of personal responsibility what a better place this world would be.