Scouting Area 5A

 We left yesterday morning after seminary and drove a couple hours North to scout out Hyrum's hunting grounds. The area available for hunting is not very expansive, and is broken up in patches surrounded by private land. We found what looks to be the largest patch, and found a spot along the road to set up camp. 

 It's very different terrain from where we normally camp and definitely had its own sort of beauty. We didn't love all the pokies or lack of trees for hammocks, but the kids really loved exploring the sandstone formations and as we hiked around we found some really fun hidden nooks, mostly along the dried up creek bed. We saw oodles and oodles of animal sign. There was lot's of poop and so many tracks. We roasted hot dogs over a fire and had s'mores for dinner. Hyrum scared us by wandering off in search of Dad, but luckily we found him just minutes before nightfall. Once it was dark, we tucked into our sleeping bags and watched a silly Halloween movie on Matthew's phone.

This morning, after eating breakfast and breaking camp, we went on a hike along the far side of the area. While the kids were a bit grumpy about it at first, it ended up being a fun and interesting adventure that included a set of really distinct bear tracks, evidence of a dried up waterfall, and a fair amount of scrambling over rocks. We got home mid-afternoon and were able to get all cleaned up, and even worked on a couple of projects. It was a fairly quick trip, but it was good for Matthew and Hyrum to get a feel for the area, and it's always nice just to get out of the city for a bit.