Rock hoppin

Spencer had Monday off and Caden was out of school (which doesn't happen often), so we decided to do a little family hiking. We loaded up the grubs and packed a few snacks and headed just east of Superior to Queen Creek Canyon. After our recent storms, the waterfall on the north side of Highway 60 was running nicely.
Once we parked I thought we would walk roadside along the path up to the bridge and enjoy the sights. Instead we hike down to the creek and Caden rock hops a little with Spencer and Daisy around creek.

From there we start to work our way up the creek instead of back up the trail and over to the easy path. About half way up the creek, and carring Paxton over select rock hops, my lack of balance that comes from being almost 7 month pregnant, I looked up the creek to see that it only looked to get a little more challenging. I decide and Spencer concurs that we will now head up the hill side and finish on the path. It was another challenge in itself. Larger rocks at first, some easily gave way. Caden did well mostly on his own, with guidance from Spencer who was also carring Daisy. I did alright & pushed and guided Paxie up. Then we get about 15 feet to the top and its all loose rock/gravel. At this point we were fortunate that a couple was walking the path and offered their help. We pushed the kids up one by one to them, then we followed. Whew, glad that part was over.
The girls and I took pictures of the boys as they crossed under the bridge for a close up of the waterfall.





Now on to Devils Canyon, where we hiked again only this time with ease. The trail is basically all old highway, so daisy could walk on her own. We crossed an old bridge, saw an old foundation of some sort, saw an old wrecked truck and the kids were most excited about finding little patches of snow here and there.


And we've got a little snapshot of each little grub kickin it under a large oak tree. They loved this tree and finding all the fallen acorns below it.











Here we finished up our hike with a small picnic and then on to Superior for a stop at Dairy Queen before heading home!