Duck Creek Vacation

Our family went on a biking trip down to Duck Creek in Southern Utah with my family.  We biked around Brian Head, Navajo Lake, Red Canyon, and other locations near Bryce Canyon.

On the way down there we stopped at Navajo Lake for our first bike ride.  This is a ~12 mile ride around the lake.  The dike in the lake recently broke and the lake is draining, so it was nice to see this beautiful place before it disappears.  I only rode the first half of the lake while Sophie stayed with Grandma and Uncle Kevy.  Then I switched while they rode the second half.  Sophie and I walked the trail with the backpack to meet the others.

We stayed at a fun cabin in Duck Creek Village.  Sophie enjoyed lounging with her uncles, spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, and going up the stairs constantly.  We also played with bubbles, which Sophie was fascinated by.  And learned that Sophie has a completely irrational fear of teatherball.  Any time my brothers and sisters started playing, Sophie would start crying.  Weirdo.  We also let Sophie wear her super cute camping PJs.  She didn't like the matching hat, but it was cute enough without it.

 

We also went on a short hike to a waterfall.  At first Sophie didn't like the backpack, but at the falls we switched to having Mama carry the pack and everything was fine after that.  She even fell asleep a few minutes before reaching the car.

 One day Isaac and some of my family did a longer mountain bike ride while Grandma, Kevin, Sophie, and I biked the paved Red Canyon trail.  This was a really nice 5 mile trail that we could take Sophie's bike trailer on.  We only rode the trail down the canyon, so it was very peaceful and beautiful.  

On the other hand, the trail Isaac did was very challenging.  We biked it years ago when we were engaged, but Isaac didn't remember much of it.

We also rode a ~16 mile trail from Brian Head Peak down to some store.  I thought this ride was a blast!  It was a really steep, technical, and rocky downhill ride which is just the way I like it.  I don't like rides with lots of steep uphill sections.  This one was challenging, but fun because we could still go really fast. 

On the way home we stopped at Big Rock Candy Mountain and biked ~8 miles along the paved trail along the Sevier River.  It was really hot and I was exhausted by this point, so this would have been more fun as an evening ride when it was cooler.  But overall it was a great trip.  We are grateful to my family for watching Sophie some of the time while Isaac and I biked harder trails.  But it was also great to be able to take her along in the bike trailer and baby backpack.  We are looking forward to a lot more trips like this.