One of Utah’s lesser known parks is Capitol Reef National Park. This park boasts of all the beautiful red rock of the southern part of the state but without the crowds of visitors that you often find at the other national parks. We spent the weekend at the park, hiking the different trails among the golden sandstone and stopping by to say hello to the petroglyphs. But the best part of our trip was the hike along the Grand Wash trail where the rocks were covered in pockmarks along the face of the stone. Some of these were big enough for us to sit in-which to Tessa was the greatest experience ever. We spent hours while she sat in every hole she could, tried putting her shoes in different holes, and tried to climb with the holes as footholds. She would pick up rocks and try putting them in the hole, then in her mouth, then back in the hole. She laughed at being able to fit in the hole in the rock and loved to run as fast as her little legs could carry her down the trail. While we loved the different hikes we did in the park, seeing the absolute wonder and excitement of a child over the rocks was a completely different perspective on the park. It really brought us out of seeing the park in its grand sweeping views and instead focus on the gentle beauty of the rocks themselves. When we slowed down and let her explore how she wanted, we saw the details of the trail so much more. This was the first time that we let her out of the pack while hiking and let her decide where we would go and what we would see on the trail and it was a powerful lesson for us as parents. It took us a good part of the day to go along a pretty short trail, but seeing the trail from the eyes of a little girl was absolutely worth it. To this day, Tessa loves to pick up rocks and collect them filling multiple buckets with them. But at least she doesn’t put them in her mouth anymore.
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