July 22, 2010. I remember the date because this is the day Braxton and Becky's baby Eli was born. We were receiving texts and updates the whole time we were out.
Tabernacle Hill is located in Millard County, Utah, it the middle of nowhere. The roads are dirt and the signs are confusing, but we found it and it was unreal. Although, I DO NOT recommend going in the middle of July at high noon. There is nothing around for miles...not even trees. It was hotter than Hades and no shade, water, or porta potties for miles. Oh, and bring 4 wheel drive. Minivans and Camrys were not the ideal vehicles for this road.
On the way there, the road curved around this huge sand dune. The sand was white and very fine. We had left a little before the Condies, so we thought we'd stop and do some exploring...while I found a geocache.
Shortly after we stopped, the Condies rounded the corner and got out for a bit to enjoy the dune. We found huge beetles, unidentified footprints in the sand, and lizards.
The boys got busy chasing and catching lizards. We decided it was time to get going to our real destination, so we hopped in the car and travelled towards Tabernacle hill. The road was very bad. It had huge pointy rocks bulging out of the washed out dirt road. We went as far as we felt safe and then ended up walking the rest of the way. It was nearly a mile from our parking spot and tabernacle hill.
On the way, we diverted from the road to explore the Lava Tubes. Some were very small and insignificant, although the thought of a huge cavern under our feet at any moment put a few chills up the spine of this mother as she watched her kids run across the land.
We saw more lizards
And we even found a bat inside one of the cave-like lava tubes.
Some were large enough to explore, so we did....every. single. one.
This was the largest one we found, right at the base of Tabernacle Hill. This tube went on for about a half a mile.
By this time I was pooped carrying Brynlee around in the desert heat for hours, so I was happy to sit in the only shade I could find. It was cool inside. The tube was only covered for a short while. It then opened up more like a valley and continued on. Most of the group explored that, but I stayed with Brynlee and Jaeda in the shade. I was worried about them getting heat stroke. Their cheeks were so red.
Rick, being the wonderful husband and father, stayed with us.
I love this picture of Rick and Jaeda. I was able to capture Rick doing one of the things he does best...point out wildlife and details to us. It amazes me how he can identify most any bird we come across.
Of course I didn't get a picture of Tabernacle Hill, but after I was sure we would all die of head stroke, I climbed it all by myself while waiting for the other group to return from exploring the big lava tube. I thought it would be a quick jaunt, but wasn't, of course. The other group returned, they left me a bottle of water under a rock and began their return trek to the car before I was able to reach the top. But I did reach the top, and I did find the geocache, and I did make it back to the car just about the moment I was out of water and started to feel woozy.
We had a cooler full of ice water that was a heaven-send that we refreshed ourselves with, had some lunch and returned home to clean up so we could go to the hospital to meet our new baby nephew, Eli.
1 comment:
Lizards and lava and "head stroke" (which is a much more fun way to describe heat stroke), oh my! That doesn't strike me as fun, but it does strike me as something you would think is fun, so I'm glad you got to do it!
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