West Rim of Zions

The Tradition:  When Christian was a kid, it was tradition in their family for each of the kids to go on an overnight hike with their dad after they turn 8.

The Tradition continues:  Christian told me a week before our planned trip to Kolob that he wanted to take Brenten on his first overnight hike one of the nights we were down there.

The misunderstanding:  I thought....my kid is only 8 and has never really hiked so Christian will start at the cabin and hike for a couple of miles and then set up camp and then hike back in the morning.  I guess I was wrong.  When packing, I told Brenten to grab some shoes that are pretty worn because I wouldn't care if they trashed them at the cabin.

The trip:  The hike they really went on was the West Rim of Zions.  The other kids and I dropped them off at the top one night and then the next day we picked them up in zions.  My little Brenten carried his own pack on a 14 mile hike.  They did 9 miles on the first night and then 5 on the next night.  Christian didn't like the area where they were supposed to camp.  There was no shade and they were in sand.  He wasn't to go to the next site that he knew was better but Brenten said that was not what they were supposed to do and they had to follow the rules.  It was killing Christian but they stayed at that camp.  Brenten had a great time trying to catch lizards.  He also liked a part of the hike called Walter's Wiggles.  What he didn't like was waiting for Christian while he took pictures of Zions.  Brenten was really a trooper.  Christian was impressed at how well he did.  He said he didn't complain at all.