Duck Creek Day

Friday we decided to explore the many things around the Duck Creek Area. It looked like it was going to start storming early, so we hurried and got going.. Above is Navajo Lake. At the far end of the lake is a huge field of Lava Flows...I didn't get a shot of them, but they look pretty incredible. They stock this lake and there are kayaks and boats for rent.

Here is an outside shot of the cabin we stayed in. It was pretty rustic, but it kept us dry and warm!

The first adventure was Bowers Cave, you would walk right past this opening if you weren't looking for it....

Here's Gunnar climbing up an old tree branch to get out.

Poor guy went running after his Dad in the dark (Dad has the flashlight) and ended up running cheek first into the cave wall. Good thing he's tough.

Here's the opening of Mammoth Cave....I used the shot with G to show just HOW HUGE it is. Unfortunately the environmentalist tree-huggers were able to gate the cave opening below to protect some stinking bats....and hadn't reopened it in April like they were supposed to. Don't get me wrong, we're tree-huggers, but we actually think PEOPLE should be able to explore PUBLIC lands!!

It wasn't a total loss however, we came upon a horny toad that kept our attention for about a half hour. The kids were enthralled!! Fun stuff!

Shortly after that it began to POUR, so we headed back to the cabin for lunch and resting. When we ventured back out the roads were MUDDY, we encounterd this 8 ft x 10ft puddle.

We parked the car before it and were prepared to hike it the rest of the way, fortunately that was only about 100 yards....not that we knew that though!

This was the 3rd cave that day, and the coolest. Or should I say, COLDEST. That's snow at the entrace of ICE CAVE. The floor is coated in a sheet of ice, and there were some pretty cool formations inside.

Next stop, Cascade Falls:

We were pretty excited about this hike, so when we saw this we pretended we hadn't. We don't need no stinking trails, we're BUSHWHACKERS!

THIS was the reason for the trail closure, it wasn't a big deal...

The camera just couldn't do the waterfall justice, it's so beautiful, just cascading out of the rocks. You can hear it from a mile away!

I think the Sierra Club built the trail, look at those steps! This has to be one of my favorite trails, it goes along the rim and overlooks the whole valley with evergreens, aspens and redrocks throughout (see the pic on our blog title).

Good and muddy after all the exploring and hiking that day!

We were glad we had brought our crockpot and came back to the cabin for pulled pork sandwiches, ready to be eaten!!