On the second day of our trip, Dad, Valerie and their crew arrived at 7am. I had gotten up early and went for a run (I’m working on being able to run a 5K in November!!) and when I got back to camp, they were there. After getting the rest of camp set up, we decided to hit the ground running and go exploring. Valerie grew up near the Canyon and wanted to show us some caves she used to explore when she was a kid. We drove a short distance from our campsite to an area of the canyon known as Timbercreek Canyon. We started our hike out to the caves, which I have since discovered are called the Catarina Cave system. It is near the Spanish Skirts– which you can see in the following photo. The shadowed ridge at the top of this image is where we wound up on our hike. There was a cave at the very top (the dark spot in the middle of the shadow), but we were unable to make it all the way up there. I actually took this photo with my iPhone when we were horseback riding– it was the best angle I could get of this area as you couldn’t really get the full picture from the hike. Side note– I wish I would have brought the dSLR when we went horseback riding. 🙁
Starting the hike, the kids were full of energy and took off running. Since Logan’s been going to the local rock climbing gym a couple times a month, he thinks he’s an expert climber and was so excited about going to the top of the little hills that were along our way.
I hiked with Lorelei on my back and an umbrella to try to keep her in the shade. The last thing I wanted was a sunburned baby.
I think that peak in the distance is known as Triassic Peak– or Sad Monkey Mesa. Up close, the rock formation at the top looks like a primate.
Along our hike, there were deep cracks in the earth that opened up into a cave system. You could apparently travel up the system of caves, but we stayed on top except for when we would drop down into them to explore.
Another view of Sad Monkey Mesa–or Triassic Peak. I actually think they’re the same thing, just different names.
Climbing the last little bit… and then the view from the top.
We rested at the top in the shade of the ridge for a little bit before heading back down. I will admit, hiking up is way more fun than hiking back down–especially when carrying an extra 25 lbs of wiggly baby on your back!
On the way down, we took the opportunity to explore the cave system a little bit more. In parts of the cave, it was completely dark. Luckily, we had brought along our flashlights and head lamps. Shining the light we were able to see hundreds of Daddy Longlegs Spiders hanging out on the walls. Gave me the heebee jeebies!!
On our way out, we spotted this six-lined racerunner hiding below a tree. Getting a photo of him was a group effort, with half of us trying to scare him into Chris’ frame, haha. 
When we got back to camp, we took the kids down to play in the creek for a while. I need to get the photos from Valerie because we didn’t take our camera down there. At some point in the afternoon, Spencer and I decided to take the bikes out. Now, I hadn’t been on a mountain bike in at least 10 years, but for some reason I decided that going out on the bike trails at the Canyon was a good idea. I made it up the first big dirt hill and on the way down, I tried to ride the brakes because I was scared of going too fast. The bike had other ideas and threw me off into a patch of Prickly Pear Cactus–kinda like this one:
I had several huge spikes hanging out of my arm as well as a ton of little ones. It’s been almost a week and I still have lumps under my skin where I can only assume that I have embedded cactus needles that we were unable to get out. In case you’re wondering, I eventually got back on the bike and tried again… and didn’t fall off, haha.
Later that evening we went back up to the rim of the canyon to get a couple shots… and so my snapchats could load, of course.
I hiked down and sat on a little scenic overlook area. It was so quiet and peaceful at dusk.
That night we were able to grab a couple of night sky photos. Unfortunately, we were so tired that we couldn’t stay up late enough to photograph the Milky Way rising above Sorenson Point. I’m such an old lady… when the sun goes down, I’m ready for bed!
And my SnapChat story from day 2: