Southeast Utah with Kids

Our first stop was a popular hike in Bears Ears called House on Fire. 

After that short hike, we headed over to Natural Bridges National Monument. The only real hike we did was down to Sipapu Bridge. 

We chose it particularly for the fun ladders and rock scrambling required. I should mention, for this trip, we had 9 kids and 4 adults. The way people reacted to all the kids running by was entertainment in itself. One concerned hiker stopped us at the beginning of the hike to warn us of all the ladders our kids would have to climb up and down. 

"I know," I replied, "We love ladders."  

My kids conquered Sulfur Creek, I knew they could navigate ladders with ease. In fact, my boys navigated so well, they were down the ladders and out of sight before the rest of us even got to them. (And they say they hate hiking.)

At the Sipapu Overlook

Under the bridge

We rested in the shade of the trees, played in the dirt, and then headed back up.

 As the kids were climbing up a ladder and running on along a ledge, to get back to the car, another hiker coming down asked, "Are these kids all yours?!" 

Taking note that one of my friend's kids was also up ahead, I replied, "No."  

He sighed and said, "That's good." I didn't feel the need to mention we were only two families.  Later, my friend laughed and said I should have told him they were all mine and still had more coming up the trail.  We got a good laugh, and were also grateful most of the time we had the place to ourselves.

Goodbye Sipapu Bridge.

It was pretty cold and the days are shorter in the winter, so we opted to just do the view points of the other two bridges.  Someday, I would love to come back and hike more. 

After Natural Bridges National Monument, we opted to take the long way back, by way of Moki Dugway. While I don't have pictures of the actual road, I highly recommend Googling it.  It's pretty epic.

Once down, it's only a short drive to Gooseneck's State Park.

Visiting here brought back memories. We used to live just beyond those rocks.

And while Monument Valley is an international bucket list destination, for a couple years, it was our home. As you can see from the setting sun, there wasn't time this trip to go visit.

Monument Valley in the Distance

Another place we didn't have time to visit this trip, but is worth a stop, is Bluff Fort in Bluff, UT.