South Willow Canyon Overnighter

Still back blogging for July.  After our trip to CA we knew we needed to get the grandkids' Canyon overnighter planned.  Last year we missed it because of summer going way too fast, and we didn't get it planned before school started.

Rick drove the trailer up to one of our favorite spots in South Willow at the Boy Scout campground.

It's the first slot in and is really large with lots of room for the kids to run and play.  While Rick drove the truck and trailer up the canyon and started preparing camp, I drove all of the kids up from our house to the canyon in the ranger.  It was a fun ride with the boys screaming with excitement in the back seat.  The girls were just a little more calm:)  It took us about forty minutes to get up to the campground.  I love living so close to such a beautiful canyon.  When we got to camp the kids immediately started exploring the area and playing in the water.  They mostly spent their time making "dams" in the stream.  They each built their own with hopes that they could trap and catch some fish.  I encouraged them in this knowing that "trapping the fish" would probably not happen:)  They had lots of fun!

Next, we roasted some hot dogs in the fire pit and had a small dinner.  We were trying to hurry because darkness was quickly coming and we wanted to ride up to the loop to find some deer.  We counted 15 deer between both the night and morning rides.  After our ride up the mountain we came back for some s'mores and some campfire songs and stories.  That didn't last long cause some of the kids got a little spooked.👀

We went inside and the kids played UNO while we got a movie and treats set up.  

The kids all slept soundly that night:)

Next morning we had some cold cereal and then went out for a drive in the ranger again.  We stopped at the cave and did some "quartz mining", and the kids were happy with what they found.

We also stopped at the stream swing, and all of the kids had a great time on the swing and exploring the area.  Then it was time to check out and head back home.  What a great tradition that we have made with these five oldest grandkids.  We'll keep it going each year as long as we can.

Here are some random pictures of our time there.

The last picture is so cute.  We wore Charles out with all of the excitement.  He fell asleep halfway home in the ranger and then continued to sleep a few more hours after he got home.