Dinosaur Tracks

While searching around Google Earth we came across a picture of dinosaur tracks a few miles outside of SG. This was going to be a Cooper moment, not only could he see dinosaur tracks but he could touch them, something you can't do at the museum. We loaded the coordinates on our new GPS (I just finished a week long class on GIS/GPS, each person that took the course and finished it received a new GPS) and we loaded up the family. Along the way we stopped to set a home way point so we didn't get lost. This was our first 4x4 experience as a family. The kids loved driving through the deep sand and over the hills. Once we arrived there was a short hike to the tracks. Cooper did not want to leave!

Red Cliffs Nature Trail Hike

The hike started out very nice. Good weather and high spirits. We all had a lot of fun on the way there, but as we just arrived at the first pool the weather turned very bad. Black clouds, lots of thunder and lightning, finally came the down pour. We did our best to hide out under some trees and rock over hangs. When it started to let up we headed back to the car, 3 miles away. Half way there is when it really started to rain and hail. Within 10 minutes we were all soaked to the bone and very cold (52 degrees). We started back on the trail when it appeared things would not get any better (I said to the bunch "come on gang it's time to man up") and five minutes later 3 Sheriff trucks showed up and rescued us and the couple behind us. Oh by the way Megan had my shirt and hail does not feel good on bare skin! Not a shining moment for the Sparks family, caught unprepared for the weather. So much for that hiking and backpacking experience.