The weather report says it will be getting cold soon, so we headed out to Zion for another hike. This time we went through the tunnel to the area Elora has been wanting to explore. The kids were so excited to go through the “Echo Tunnel”. Oh, and look! Peter Pan joined us on our hike.
Marion was excited to discover “Big Pine Cones!” and picked up a few to take on the hike.
The kids found a hideout among all the sticks and trees and played here for quite awhile. I kept asking them if they wanted to hike, but they just kept finding new hideouts.
Marion found a Juniper tree and decided to pick some berries. All of my kids can recognize Juniper trees, and love the berries on them. Elora gets especially excited since her middle name is Juniper.
Oliver was quite the explorer and found a lot of neat rocks to climb.
We were hiking in a wash, but it had some really nice big boulders in it. Elora decided to lounge on this rock. Comfy!
The kids climbed up this rock wall and proclaimed themselves the kind and queen, and held their scepters high in the air for a photo.
Seriously, Oliver is a mountain goat. He just climbs up walls until I tell him he needs to stop… And now Marion wants to climb the walls too so she can show she is just as tough as big brother Oliver.
Elora is always finding nooks and crannies to hide in. I think that is her favorite part about hiking. This turned out to be a pretty cool hike. We started in a wash, but the walls got higher and it turned into a little canyon.
We stopped for a snack, and Oliver noticed that he could hear a bird making noises. He pointed out to Marion which tree he thought the sound was coming from.
Now, let me point out that we never actually saw the bird. But Marion would not leave this spot. She just kept pointing to the spot where Oliver said there was a bird. Elora and Oliver went on ahead while I stood with Marion trying to convince her to move on. But she kept making such cute excited faces that then I stopped trying to move on, and took a ton of pictures of her.
So cute! I love this cute excited girl! She was so happy about the invisible bird! Even after it stopped chirping!
Elora found these beautiful trees with golden leaves on them, and called this one “The Tree of Life”, which she spent some time hiding in. You wouldn’t think the kids could camouflage themselves in bright yellow leaves, but I seriously could not see them when they hid in this tree. I could just hear giggling and could not figure out where they were until I got really close and saw the leaves moving. In this picture we had been playing by the tree when I told the kids it is was time to head back – and Marion took off running down the wash saying, “Birdie!”
Marion pulled this moss off the rocks and brought it to me saying proudly, “Fungi!!!”
Elora found a nice hollow spot in the rock walls where she and Oliver stopped for some pictures.
I asked the kids if they all wanted to take a picture with Baby James to show that he actually came on the hike. Everyone was so excited about taking a picture with their brother! Then we headed back to the car where we ran into a hiking couple who said, “Wow! You have your hands full. But you are out doing it! That’s great!” It was sort of funny, but I am glad that I have been able to spend time hiking with all my little monkeys. It is not always easy, but our time in Zion has been some of the best days we have had this fall. And there is nothing I like to hear more than little Marion saying, “Marion go hiking again!”
