We finally made it to The Swell! I can't believe we've never gone there before. We drove Jake's Jeep with the trailer and Zack drove his Jeep. Thus we were all happy because we were able to split up into two cars and take more stuff. Win-win.
We started off doing a hike in a slot canyon. It was really pretty and a different kind of hiking than what we're used to. The kids loved it. Then we headed to Goblin Valley. We can finally say we've been there. It was super cool, but the wind was insane. The title of this trip could be wind. It was so windy every day. And wind plus sand means you're basically getting sand blasted all day. Super fun.
Next we headed on a jeep ride. Jake knew it was going to be on the long side, but wasn't sure quite how long it would be. Let's just say we left at like 9am and got home at like 9:30pm. Long is an understatement. I think we saw most of the swell in a day, in our jeeps. It was really pretty. But when you've been in beautiful for a long time it stops looking quite so beautiful. On the way to the actual jeep trail we saw some petroglyphs and a cool old cabin. We finally made it to the jeep trail and right after we started, realized something was wrong with Jake's jeep. Of course. Because that's what happens when you go jeeping. Turns out both of his shock mounts broke off. He and Zack spent 2 hours laying on their backs, fixing the jeep. I spent 2 hours being somewhat helpful. The girls spent 2 hours sitting in the car. Did I mention there were crazy gusts of wind? Crazy wind. It was the kind of situation where you start to think maybe God hates you. But He doesn't. But it felt like it. I also need to mention that we were freezing. We assumed the day would be nice and hot, so we dressed accordingly. Then it wasn't nice and hot. So not only were we getting blasted by the wind, laying in the dirt, sand blasting into us, but we were also freezing.
Despite the poor conditions, Jake and Zack worked their magic and got the jeep fixed. So of course we continued on the jeep trail rather than turn around. It was actually a pretty cool trail. So many beautiful things to see. At the end of the day we found ourselves on the top of a ridge with lots of big obstacles to get over. Jake made it through. Zack was struggling. At one point he had only 2 tires on the ground. I had to look away because I didn't want the image of Zack rolling down the mountain locked in my brain forever. Amazingly he made it through. A sign that God does not in fact hate us. We made it out and got back to camp in the dark. Exhausted. If you're wondering why we jeep, so am I. Just kidding. It really is fun, we see so many beautiful things off the beaten path, and we definitely have a lot of adventures that we get to talk about for years to come.
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