Kaibab National Forest–Closed!?!?

Oh Kaibab, we love you!! We spent one and a half weeks alone in the beautiful ponderosa trees of the Kaibab National Forest. And then the plan was that Mike’s parents and Mike’s sister and her family would join us for another week. We had a perfect campsite and the weather was perfect too-much cooler up at 8500 feet. They all arrived and got set up and we played some games and enjoyed the afternoon and evening. The next day we got up and got ready to go for a quad/jeep ride to the rim of the Grand Canyon. Before we left, I headed down to the spring to fill up our water jugs as we had done all week before. While there, I happened to talk with the camp host that was there at the cabins. She let me know that they were closing the entire national forest the next morning and that we would have to leave. I asked if there was a fire–NO, just extremely dry conditions. For fire prevention they were closing the national forest and apparently all the other national forests in Arizona. I went back to camp and shared what I had learned. We decided to go on our ride and worry about that later when we got official word.

The drive was so beautiful. The wildflowers were in bloom. We love riding in Beauty (the Jeep) instead of the quads or side by side because we did not have to breath in the dust and we had heat or air conditioning. It was awesome.

The views of the grand canyon were spectacular and the best part was that there were no crowds at all at these out of the way viewpoints. Unlike the North Rim and South Rim visitor areas. It was very often just us or maybe on other vehicle. So cool.

When we got back to our camp in the late afternoon, a Forest Service FireFighter came by and let us know we would have to leave in the morning. I felt really bad for Cami and family because it was their one week of vacation and they had just driven from northern Utah two days before and now we had to drive somewhere else. DANG!! It was so perfect. Oh well, life goes on.

The next morning we packed everything up and headed out. We decided to head through Kanab and go ask at the BLM office there about any closures in Utah. Well in Utah we must value people being able to use their public lands, so there were no forest closures, just heavy fire restrictions/ban. So we decided to go up to Duck Creek for the rest of the week of fun. That was a great decision. Duck Creek doesn’t have the great big Ponderosa pines, but it is still really beautiful and we found a great spot to camp. We had a blast!

We visited the Ice Cave. It was pretty amazing because even though it was a hot summer day, down in the cave, the floor was covered in ice. You had to climb down in while holding onto a rope. The entrance was also icy and slippery so it was a bit precarious. But all who wanted to made it down in and spent a little time looking around. It is a small cave, but really COOL- Literally. We didn’t stay down there too long because it was chilly.

Around camp, the kids had fun playing with Mike’s little nephew who came up for the day with his dad and grandpa. Mike’s niece got super excited when we found a horny toad together. She loves snakes and reptiles. Her older sister enjoyed holding the horny toad too (maybe?).

We went on several quad/jeep rides and when Mike’s brother, his son and grandson came up for the day, and we went exploring the area. The area was very volcanic at one time and fairly recently when measured by planet time. Though there is no volcanic activity today, it wasn’t that long ago that the area was very active as evidence by the old lava flows and cinder cones found in the area. We found an amazing view below and three generations of Mike’s brother’s family got to enjoy the view together. Actually we had four generations, but great grandpa wasn’t in this picture but he was there too.

Another day we decided to go for a hike, so we went to the Navajo Lake area and did the Cascade Falls hike. I was so excited because I love hikes with waterfalls. It was also a really cool hike along the edge of a fairly steep canyon. Really cool hike, but a bit disappointing when we reached the end and found that the falls were completely dry. We are in an extreme drought in Utah and this was one clear evidence of the drought. The lake has gotten so low that the water doesn’t even flow down this crack to make the waterfall anymore. Our changing plant. Hopefully we will get water so that these beautiful falls will flow again.

Then it was time for Mike’s sister’s family to leave. Sad day. My in-laws stayed with us for a day or two more. We went for a lot of drives in the area and explored a bit more. Very near to where we were camping was a cinder cone which is basically a leftover volcano. It was really interesting although it has recently be used as a gravel pit of some kind. It was quite large and interesting how the whole hill is volcanic rock.

We also visited another cave called Mammoth Cave. It is a huge lava tube. Much of the cave was closed because it was the bat mating season and the bats that live here are unique and there are not a lot of them. We hiked into the cave that we could go into. It was great for me because I am so short. I could just walk through, but Mike and my father-in-law had to stoop over the whole time. Luckily we had some kind people point out the bats to us or we wouldn’t have found them. They are really small. Smaller than the palm of my hand, but there are a lot of them and they are really cute and furry. I know some people would disagree because bats freak them out, but I thought they were super cool!!! Watch the video and see if you agree.

Then it was a very sad time because my in-laws left and it was just Mike and I at the camp where we had all been parked.

We had to dump, get more water and do laundry, so we went to Strawberry Creek near by and stayed one night at the Pinewoods Resort. It was a nice stay. We had dinner in their restaurant and was able to get the laundry done and everything. That was on June 29th and with the 4th of July weekend fast approaching we wanted to get back out boondocking and claim a camp site before all the crowd started to arrive. We found a nice spot closer to the highway with much better signal so that Mike could work.

We had some fluffy and slightly noise neighbors move into the area for the next week as we continued camping here. But they were nothing compared to the holiday crowds that showed up over the next few days. The 4th of July weekend was absolutely crazy with side-by-sides and quads every where we looked. The dust clouds that were in the air because of them were something to behold.

We stayed up at Duck Creek for another week until July 7th and it was great. It got warm, but nowhere near as warm as when we were in the valley. Speaking of the valley, we had to run down for a quick overnight trip to Hurricane to pick-up some things we wanted and go to church in our own ward on the 4th of July. We also ran down to Cedar City at the end of our stay to get a screen protector for my Apple Watch, do laundry and pick up some groceries.

All in all, we absolutely loved Duck Creek at that time of year and will likely come back again and stay. The temperatures are great, the area is beautiful and the signal is strong enough to work. A great combination.