Spring Break out West

Well, this series of posts is going to be big because we took a big trip! Eleanor got the National Park Pass this year for 4th graders - the Every Kid Outdoors program - so we decided to plan a National Park trip! I will give a broad overview of our trip here and then post individually (just because there were too many pictures) of each stop. I'll try to link them back here. 

First the cast of characters:

- Chris "I'm staying flexible" Stratton

- Katie "Pause for a picture" Stratton

- Eleanor "I'm staying positive" Stratton

- Jane "I will help!" Stratton

- Ben "Hulk Smash" Stratton

- Rosie "I don't need your help" Stratton

Grand Canyon - Amazing to see! We went in the night before with great weather and then it snowed 3 inches overnight. The next morning when we went back it was freezing. (4.73 trail miles)

Zion - Incredible. It made everyone's lists for their "top parks" that we visited. Great hiking. I think if I had to pick only one park to go back to, it would likely be this one. (7.34 trail miles)

Bryce - really cool geologically. Unfortunately for us it was so deep in snow that we could only do the rim trail. We couldn't go down into the canyon, but definitely worth a return trip! (1.88 trail miles)

Capitol Reef - we weren't planning to stop here at all, but when we didn't have much to do at Bryce because of the snow, we pivoted and headed here. I'm so glad because this park also made everyone's "top" lists and had great hiking and really cool rock formations. (3.77 trail miles)

Arches - the arches here (obviously) were so unique. The hiking wasn't as challenging after Zion and Capital Reef, but we all loved this park and felt like we really got a lot of time here to adequately explore! This one was really fun. (7.86 trail miles)

Canyonlands - I felt like we barely scratched the surface of what this park has to offer. We stayed in the Island in the Sky district, but I think without kids, the Needles district would have been cooler. Definitely worth a return visit to explore more. (1.79 trail miles)

Rocky Mountain National Park - we basically made it to the entrance. We arrived the night before in Estes Park and then it snowed something like 8 inches overnight. We drove down the Bear Lake Road a ways but then decided to turn around and skip this park. The lakes were obviously frozen over, visibility was very poor, the roads were dangerous, it was below freezing, and we just didn't feel like the experience would have been worth it. (0 trail miles)

We flew half way across the country, drove 1,682 miles, hiked 23.37 miles in national parks (and more walking otherwise!), and had a great time exploring part of the country that none of us has ever seen. It was a pretty incredible trip!