The Rock Mazes and creek

On Friday April 7 it was nearly 80 degrees so it was the perfect day for a hike on Terry's day off. We planned to go to the Rock Mazes, have lunch, and then go to Dalton Lake. However, we discovered Boxelder Creek and stayed to play too long, even through lunch!

The last time we had visited almost exactly two years ago was a day I had to work later and we therefore didn't have much time to explore. The kids were excited to visit again. They wanted me to take pictures of them on every single rock they climbed. 

This is what the Rock Mazes look like when you first get up there.

Samuel wanted his picture taken a lot too. 

There's tons of spray paint "art"/graffiti up there. At least this one was legible. 

Noah loves climbing on rocks.

I tried to get in front of everyone so I could take a picture of their faces instead of their backs.

Snap was with us last time :(

We got to the southern edge of the cliffs and sort of wandered around. The sun in the pine trees made the air smell divine. 

Selfie smelfie

Evie in a crack

From the end of the rocks when we looked down the steep hill beyond them, we could see a shiny little creek. We decided to go down and explore it. 

It was so pretty!

It was also the border of someone's house so we kept our distance...

It was warm enough that Evie promptly took her socks off and shoes off and put her feet in the cold water.

Splish splash

She decided to try following me to the other side of the creek. I was the only one who didn't walk in the creek purposely or accidentally. Ha!

Evie on the first tufty little island.

Samuel was quick to follow her out.

And then Noah.

Samuel on the island

And Noah. I wanted to get all of them on it but Ezra didn't like the water.

A better view of our playground. It was such a perfect little place with all those rock islands. Also you can see Ezra sitting on the rock getting his feet wet, preparing to try to walk to the tufty island...

But he chickened out and came back...

I turned away to take a picture of Evie and when I looked back...

Ezra had slipped and fallen into the water and was balling. Terry hung his clothes on the bushes :)

Three of four each on their own rock.

Ezra amused himself by chucking sticks and rocks into the water.

Looking the other direction.

Evie said this was Grass Island. She named them all. 

Shortly before leaving Evie brought Luna out to the water. She wanted to explore the water just a little bit but Evie sort of had to drag her around. 

I think she just needs more exposure and then she'll like it. 

It would be fantastic if we could trust her off her leash and she could roam freer. 

Look at Luna's skinny little legs compared to the rest of her fluffy body! It was seeing this that convinced me it was time for her first haircut. Plus she was incredibly hot that day.

I love this picture.

Chillin

Ezra did a teeny tiny bit of exploring just before we left. It was too cold for him and he was too chicken to try to stay in longer to get used to it. 

Terry skipped around the islands like I had done earlier. Once he slipped in and got his feet all wet!

We finally left and climbed back up the extremely steep hill. We were all huffing and puffing and sweating. We discovered two or three of these little shelters. This was the best one.

Pretty fun.

We descended into the rock maze portion since we had kept to western outside rim when we started.

We remade our family picture from two years ago. It was nice that this time Ezra was much more independent. 

LOOK AT HOW FLUFFY LUNA WAS!

We drove across the road to Steamboat picnic area for lunch. We were all rather ravenous since it was like 130pm.

We played by the creek for just a bit before going home so I could make pizza dough for that night. This is the same creek we had played in, just further upstream.