Though we love our rootless life, there’s one thing really kind of sucks: We’re almost always far from the people we love. Last summer found us closer, but in the worst possible way. After our time in Florida, our family scattered once again, and our kids — all between 21 and 24 years of age — headed back to their independent lives. It was sad to see them go, and it occurred to us, then, that we hadn’t been together, just the five of us, in quite a long time.
Though we love our van life as a couple, we miss that low-key mess that is family roadtrip travel… and we really miss our kids. And so, though it would stretch our budget to breaking, we planned an October adventure: just us and our three young adult children exploring the Southwest.
Back in the day, camping and road trips were a way of life for our family.
We drove from Massachusetts to Florida every Christmas vacation for 23 years(!) Also, we took long, meander-y summer road trips, to Western Canada, Newfoundland, California, Washington, Montana, and Wyoming.
Our week with the kids was to be a little more organized than the usual, show-up-and-see-what-happens mode of travel we’ve grown to love. We made actual reservations for four of our seven nights together. We rented a car too, because our van, Stevan, can’t seat a family of five.
Las Vegas by Default
Though we aren’t crazy for the big, dry chaos of the Las Vegas area, we do enjoy the cheap flights and guaranteed warmth it provides. Also we camped in this area for two years running and knew of a few spots.
We booked two nights in Lake Mead National Recreation area’s Las Vegas Bay Campground, an okay spot that has the advantage of proximity to Las Vegas and the airport.
This was to be a budget trip: car camping, exploring, hiking, nothing too extravagant. We’d check out the strip (how can you NOT?) and then head out to wilder places.
After that, we’d play it by ear. The southwest US is a wonderful, wide-open part of the country and we expected that wherever we’d end up would be beautiful and wild.
Hot Times in the City
What we didn’t expect, was extreme temperatures… 95+ degrees worth of blast furnace heat. Forget all that nonsense about “dry heat”, camping in open desert in a heatwave feels plenty hot.
We explored Lake Mead National Recreation Area, climbing around on red rocks in the blazing sun, and then went for an impromptu swim at Echo Bay.
It was fun to explore these places with the kids, who pushed us to climb more, to jump into random bodies of water and, basically, to act less like the mature folks we know ourselves to be.
But, man-o-man… Just. Too. Hot!
While in Vegas, we went for a delicious meal at a Mexican restaurant, parked at the Belagio Casino, and cruised the famous Las Vegas strip. A few slot machines later, and down $30, we’d had enough.
This is the 3rd time Dan and I have tried to “enjoy” the scene in this city and the 3rd time we came away with …. Eh. Just not our thing. Turns out the kids felt the same way.
Icebox Canyon
The two hikes I’d planned weren’t going to work in the heat. Luckily, we discovered Icebox Canyon in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. A shady, though strenuous, climb up an increasingly boulder-strewn canyon.
The woman at the visitor center described the rocks we’d encounter in Icebox in terms of appliances. First there’d be toaster sized rocks, then microwave sized rocks, then we’d be climbing refrigerators. “Finally,” she said, “The rocks’ll be so big you’ll think you can’t climb them, but you can.”
Red Rocks Canyon is a busy place on the weekend. The visitor center was packed and the trailheads too. But once we were a good ways into the canyon, it was much less so. Best of all, it was shady and cool.
As promised, the canyon was strewn with appliance sized rocks. We climbed and scrambled and made our way to the end of it. Really, it was the perfect hike for our family on a sweltering day: Highly recommend!
Valley of Fire
As van-lifers, we’d been hearing about the wonders of Valley of Fire State Park for years. But we are cheap, and in the past, the high admission/camping cost at Valley of Fire pushed us to explore the free dispersed sites nearby.
With the kids, though, we splurged! In all, we paid $55 for entrance to the park and two nights of primitive walk-in camping. Not so bad for a family of five!
Our walk-in site turned out to be perfect. We were away from the general campground scene and shielded from the blazing sun for much of the day between steep red rock formations. We all stayed up too late reminiscing about life back home in western Massachusetts, and about all sorts of other things. We watched the moon rise and looked for shooting stars. It was exactly what we needed.
The next day, we took a driving tour of the park and then laid low through the extreme heat of the day. As the temperatures started to cool, we hiked the Fire Wave and Seven Wonders Loop, a terrific trail through the candy cane striped rocks and slick white canyons. And because it was so close to the end of the day, the trail was almost deserted.
We juuuust made it back before dark, which was part of the adventure, I guess.
On to Higher Elevation
The next day, was a little sad: We dropped our youngest off at the airport (he had to get back to work). Then we headed for cooler climes in Utah.
This part of the trip was totally unplanned. We looked at the maps and picked a general area in the Dixie National Forest. We hoped to do some dispersed camping and then hike among trees the next day.
The drive was beautiful. But–as often is the case– it took longer than expected. We found a spot to set up just before nightfall, among piney trees at 9,000+ feet. It was tucked into the forest, and cool….. well, cold actually… Too cold!
Autumn weather in the southwest is such a challenge. We love this area, but every year, we (unsuccessfully) attempt to thread the needle between sweltering and snowed in. This trip was no exception.
We ate oatmeal for breakfast, bundled up and headed out for a hike.
We’d intended to hike a bit of the Virgin River Rim trail, but somehow ended up on an unnamed trail from the same trailhead. It was awesome anyway. We climbed a steep rise and looked down on an “amphitheater” of peach colored hoodoos, with views all the way to Zion National Park to our south.
Then we headed for somewhere a little warmer.
Paria Canyon in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
After a few fruitless hours searching the back roads for a dispersed site, reachable by both the van and rental car, we ended up at a familiar place: White House Campground. Dan and I had overnighted here on the way to Vegas to meet the kids. That time, we’d hiked to The Nautilus, a cool, curvy sandstone form down a short trail.
This time, we’d hoped to hike a bit of Paria Canyon, one of the most dramatic and iconic canyons in the area.
We set up the tent and van and made dinner, all in perfect camping weather. Yahoo!
But morning found us watching the sky. Heavy clouds gathered in the distance. Uh oh. Paria is a narrow canyon with towering walls — not a great place to get caught in heavy rain.
We called Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and got the bad news: they didn’t advise hiking the canyon due to the possibility of flash flooding.
That capricious autumn weather had struck again!
Alright then. We drove to the nearby visitor center and asked about safer adventures in the area. The volunteer ranger advised a couple short hikes and one that sounded great… but it was 14 miles down an unpaved road.
“Would the road be okay in the rain?” we asked. He said the rain wasn’t due until later, and that if it started to rain, we should head back right away, before the road got saturated. “But it takes a while for the water to sink in, so you have time.”
Okaaayyy.
I put on my “brave mom” face and we piled into our rental, and headed out. The road was gravel at first, then dried mud and clay, then heavily rutted dried mud and clay on the edge of a steep hill, then heavily rutted dried mud and clay between close growing willows along a dry river bed. The clouds grew more ominous, and I grew more uncomfortable. If we were a few miles into our hike, we sure as heck wouldn’t be getting out before the road changed to gumbo.
Finally, the Mom in me overruled the crazy brave adventurer, and I called it. We made our way back not sure what to do with our last bit of time together. After way too much discussion, we decided to hike a short ways into Paria, turning around before we got anywhere near the narrow areas. And that is exactly what we did.
We explored the broad river bottom and surrounding areas, climbed the hillsides, and found lots of cool stuff: petrified wood and flakes of agate and one beautiful pottery shard (which we left right where we found it). It wasn’t a “hike” per se, but it was a lot of fun just the same.
That night, the sky threw everything it had at us: immense gusts of wind that flattened the tent, thunder, lightning, and sharp little raindrops that blew sideways and worked themselves inside the back door of the van. None of us slept great. And we woke to near freezing temperatures once again.
(Van)Life as Usual
It was a long, cold drive back to Las Vegas. We stopped to take showers at the rec center in St George, introducing the kids to one of the “pleasures” of van living, set up again in Las Vegas Bay Campground, and had one last meal together. Then we said our goodbyes.
We’ll be seeing the kids– along with our extended family– over the holidays in Florida.
What a busy week! Dan and I were sad to see the end of it, but we were also a bit exhausted(!) We restocked the fridge, cleaned up the van, and did our laundry. Then it was back to (van)life as usual.
A New Tradition
It was so good to share our van lifestyle with the kids, to ease into a few days of quality “hang time,” and to revisit the joys of all those past family adventures.
Why did it take so long to organize a family “vanlife roadtrip?” We have no idea!
We dipped into our savings to make the trip happen. But, as with most of our crazy/brave choices, we choose the NOW. The future is a black box, and we’d rather have a stock of experiences than a pile of money… or comfort… or even security. That’s just how we roll.
And we’ll do it again next Autumn…. but maybe not in Vegas
So glad you got to be with “the kids” for this latest adventure..Great photos!!
Thanks Maddy. I guess “kids” isn’t quite the right word but we haven’t come up with a better one yet. Hope you and Bruce are doing well and that we’ll get to see you in Florida this year.