If you're lucky enough to be in the mountains, you're lucky enough.

(me on Mariah's horse chica)

Pretty much the whole family (about 40 of us) decided to gather at my grandparents house for the 4th of July. It was so much fun seeing everyone and playing baseball, volleyball and watching the kids play. The time went by so fast! The week after the 4th my Aunt Kathy, cousins Rachel, Bethany, Mariah and I went on a wagon trek put on by one of Grandpa’s friends.
There is no way I will ever be able to describe the simple amaizingness and fun that this trip was. No one except perhaps my Aunt Kathy (who was my partner in all of this) will ever understand the wonder and beauty. Therefore I will not even try to describe the whole thing and stick to the facts so you can get to the end of this marathon post.

Day 1: A bunch of us drove a few hours into the middle of nowhere Wyoming on dirt roads until we finally found camp 1. That night there was a special “banquet” at a nearby (crazy in the middle of nowhere) lodge in honor of my grandpa. We had a great meal followed by games and then we split into our cabins for a cozy nights sleep.

Day 2: Aunt Kathy, cousins Bethany, Rachel, Mariah and I all joined up with the wagon train for a week of fun while the rest went fishing and back to Grandpa's house. Kathy, Rachel and I weren't to keen on the horse idea so we took our trusty metal stallions instead.

(The brave women in a "before" shot. Notice how pale I am.)

The first day was beautiful. We were up in the mountains and the temperature was perfect. There were lakes and trees and flowers everywhere. The only problem was that it was all up and downhill. I've been trying to get into shape and I love riding my bike, but I was ill prepared for the steep hills and did a lot of walking the first 6 miles. The last 6 miles were ALL downhill and we couldn't have spent more than 30 minutes getting from our lunch spot at the top to our campsite at the bottom.

(Rachel and I enjoying the downhill)

There were 4 main groups.

The wagons: 4 wagon teams brought by people who spend their vacations driving their horses and wagons to places like this and then going on trips with other wagon enthusiasts.
The horses: people from all over who either brought their own horses or rented some from the
Hampton's, and rode the whole way. They were all horse enthusiasts.

The cowboys: The Hampton's own a ranch and so they brought a lot of their hired help and cousins to come shuttle trucks, cook and just help out.

The bikers: Us. People there for the outdoors and camping but not so much the horses.

Here are a couple shots from my tent the first day. The colors were just amazing everywhere, we could have taken a picture every step of the way and had fantastic scenery in each one.

(view of camp 1)

Tuesday night there was a big thunderstorm that came in and so everyone was huddled under the big tent. This gave us all a chance to get to know each other and I think the friends I made that night really made the rest of the trip. My personal favorite was Kathy the postal worker, she was about 60 years old and just went around living her dreams. At that moment it was to learn how to ride a horse and and use a lasso. We had a great meal of steak and potatoes which was wonderful after the 13 miles we rode that day.

(one of the few pictures of us both, thanks to photoshop)

Day 3: Woke up at about 6am then ate eggs and ham for breakfast. The biking on this 9 miles was great. Kathy and I would always leave before everyone else so the bikes wouldn't spook the horses. We made it pretty far before the trucks caught up, and ended up getting to the campsite at the same time as them due to some road troubles. Instead of sitting around the rest of the day we decided to go explore. We climbed around and goofed off and then got back to camp a few hours later when the horses started to arrive.

That night some of the cowboys where messing around and teaching roping, they knew all sorts of tricks and were fun to watch. It was really windy that night but somehow I slept better alone in that tent than the last 16 months in a bedroom with Alex. Of course we had steak for dinner.

(Me and Sam (grandpa's friend) and the trail boss of the whole thing)
Day 4: Woke up at about 5:30 when all the wagon people got up. Had steak, ham and french toast for breakfast. We weren't sure we would be able to make it into the hole in the wall after all the rain. There had been a lot of storm and the roads kept getting washed out. The night before a grader had gone in to fix the road for us, but it was still pretty rocky. I was very glad to be on a bike this day because the hills were insanely steep which would have terrified me on a horse, and the roads were in terrible condition which would have sucked in a wagon. This was by far the most beautiful day. We were riding along 'the wall' the entire time. We rode along side a herd of antelope for about 50 yards, and had multiple run ins with cows.



These long horns (and about 15 more) were standing in the middle of the road when we rode up. I'm not afraid of cows, but when you are in the middle of nowhere on a bike and those things are staring you down, you get a bit nervous. Luckily a truck drove up in the nick of time and herded all but these 3 away. It was a moment where you wanted to take a picture of the beautiful things, but at the same time didn't dare put your guard down or move at all.

Here is a shot from camp the last day looking toward the hole.

So let me clear something up about the "Hole in the Wall". The real Butch Cassidy hole in the wall is in Wyoming where we went, not in Utah. The red cliffs that run for about 23 miles are called "the wall" and the only place you could get trough to the top of the wall was "the hole" therefore the hole in the wall isn't really amazing at all, just a significant place in history where Butch Cassidy and his gang lived for a bit and would hide from the cops.

(Cousins and such at the wall. Notice how my tan face blends in with the rocks. The arrow is pointing a bit left of the actual hole)

We got to camp around noon and offered to help set things up but Sam refused to let us help and instead threw a couple sleeping mats under a tree in a small ravine and told us to take a nap. We did. We woke up just in time to catch the wagons rolling into camp and ran down the hill to hitch a ride. Once everyone got settled we decided to set up our tents, but before we did Grandpa, Uncle Mark and all the cousins showed us, a day early!!!! We were pretty sad that they were there, we didn't want to leave. I think they were a bit surprised because they figured we would be DYING to get home and run to the car. We convinced them we had to go climb the hole first and so everyone but grandpa came along.

(cousin Mariah and I)

It was quite the climb to get to the top, but the view was one of the best i'd ever seen.

(This is what we climbed up)

(Aunt Kathy and I)


It took a bit of begging and promising, but Grandpa let us stay for dinner so I was able to get a picture of the whole group. No one really wanted to move, so it took some prodding just to get them all gathered together. I didn't have the guts to tell them to all go stand somewhere completely different, so the faces are a bit dark.

These were some of the people I got to know the best. Since we had so much down time where there was nothing much to do but talk, I sat down and pried all the crazy stories out of just about everyone, and learned all about catfish fishing, nascar, the postal service, trapping bobcats and mountain lions, wagons, draft horses and their harnesses, and Alaskan fishing boats.

(Mariah and I by the "hole")

(Kathy and I hanging out in the wagon)

(One of the 4 wagons)

I think this was the highlight of the trip for Kathy. One of the greatest things about riding our bikes, was we were right there in nature. We got closer to deer and antelope than you would be able to on a horse, wagon, or car, we were just right there. Well, while riding along we saw a handful of these little dung beetles. They were all over the place rolling up little balls of manure and going who knows where with them. There were usually 2 to a ball, and they were just rolling them along. It was such an odd site and so humorous.

We drove back to Grandpa's house that night and enjoyed a nice hot shower. It was sort of sad to leave all the great people and the simple trouble free life. I was very excited to see my family though, and although Alex didn't really recognize me at first, she has since warmed up to me. The toughest part was going from taking care of only myself and doing whatever I wanted, when I wanted, to being a full time mom and wife again. It was a great experience that I would love to take my family on sometime, I got a lot time to think and ponder and figure out the truly important things in life. In all we rode our bikes 34 miles in 3 days.

Sam Hampton ( they guy who set it all up) had quite an interesting mother. They are making a documentary about here and you can check it out at www.wandathewonderful.com the headline is "she had 4 husbands, but only shot one of them". Sam is actually interviewed in the trailer, and we got to hear all his stories about her first hand.