Lindsay Family

Now that the girls are getting older, and sleeping through the night, it is a lot easier to go camping. We were able to make it to Moab over spring break this year. We learned about some dinosaur tracks that we hiked to. It was really cool to talk to the girls about dinosaurs and tell them how the sand turned to rock over time and preserved them so that we are able to see them today. I leave the explaining up to Brad. You would think that he would have all this geology jargon in my head by now, but for some reason, it doesn't all stick.

We stayed up Oinion Creek. We kept driving and driving and driving our van up the canyon. All of the campsites were taken. The canyon is called oinion creek because oinion creek meanders down the canyon. The road crosses it several times. Lets just say, we were the only ones driving a mini van in that canyon. We got to the last "official" campsite and it was taken. It was getting later, we were hungry and tired, and we really didn't want to go all the way back out. (Side note: A couple of years ago, 5 to be exact, Brad and I biked the Kokipelli trail with our current bishop and his family. Lets just say that it is one of the hardest things I have ever done. It gives me a little anxiety just thinking about it. It is a trail that goes from Grand Junction, Colorado to Moab, Utah in the beautiful mountains and hills that run next to the Colorado River.) We knew that the further we drove up the canyon, the closer we were getting to our Kokopelli Trail campsite. We decided to try and find that campsite and stay there. When we pulled into the campsite, it looked very different to me. I didn't remember the rock next to the site being SO big. The kids instantly loved it. It turned out to be a wonderful place for us to stay. We were alone, the kids could run around wild, and there was nothing to worry about. Except maybe that they might fall off the rock. There was a tree growing out of the top of the rock and they made a tree house in it.

We cooked dinner, set up camp, and ate in the dark. None of the flashlights seemed to be working and we didn't think to figure it all out before the sun went down. April in Moab is quite dangerous as well. It is really hot in the daylight, but things change in a matter of minutes when the sun sets. I was scrambling through the tent, in the dark, trying to find warm clothes. Camping always seems to be an adventure.

Being married to a geologist definetly has its perks. If you have been to Moab and seen the beautiful red sandstone formations, which I have learned is of the Cutler and Moenkopi formations, then you can picture how amazing Oinion Creek is. We were driving up the canyon enjoying the incredible views when things instantly changed. It was like our car was lifted out of the canyon and we were dropped in a not so pretty place. I was thinking to myself how ugly things had gotten, and Brad was pulling out the camera fascinated by our surroundings. When we decided to go for a hike, I was thinking somewhere in the red sandstone and Brad wanted to go right into the heart of that ugly area. I have now learned that this area was formed because salt beds were buried by layers of rock. They are less dense than the rock deposits and rise to the surface. The salt squeezes upward and intrudes rocks where they are weak. This happens at faults and fractures. It bends and moves the overlying rock which causes really neat things to happen on the surface. So, I trusted in the instincts of the geologists and we started up the canyon. Olivia loves rocks almost as much as her dad does and this canyon had it all. She was finding lots of fascinating rocks and minerals. Brad was enjoying himself as well. I had to put number restrictions on how many rocks we would be taking back with us. We were walking up a dry river bed which was getting slightly damp the further up we went. We felt that we were greatly rewarded when we climbed up a small rock face to find ourselves in a small, damp, cool room with a spring seeping out of the rock. The girls absoluetly loved it!