Ding Dang Dome

We had a pretty hectic summer this year which had us running all over the place. One of things I missed most was our annual camping trip. Since it's a bit late in the year for our little ones, I jumped at the chance to head south with the scouts for UEA. Our trip this year was to some fun slot canyons next to Goblin Valley - Ding Dang Dome and Little Wild Horse.

We left yesterday morning and spent most of the day driving. Man, there's nothing like driving for 4 hours with a bunch of 13 year olds. Let's just say that body humor is always entertaining! We arrived at Little Wild Horse and got on the trail around 2:30. The canyon was a lot of fun, only we went a bit further than expected. I thought we'd only go up and down in Little Wild Horse; however, once we got to the top we decided to do the loop down though Bell Canyon. All in all we ended up walking 9 miles in a bit more than 4 hours. Everyone seemed to do pretty well, but Cory, our skater boy, realized that skate shoes aren't always the best for hiking. Still, he persevered and made it back to the car.

We woke up early today and headed back to the valley. This time we hiked Ding Dang Dome. I've been here before, but it was 4 years and a few pounds ago. Still, I was very excited to get back to this area because "bouldering" is awesome! We had a few interesting areas, mostly involving drops of 10 feet or more. The best area was "stemming" across a narrow ravine that had a watery bottom. We got home a little while ago, none the worse for wear - but a little tired. Nothing a few ibuprofen can't take of!