My Life Changing Trip To Southern Utah

When I was younger, every adventure felt epic. Every sunrise, every sunset, every mountain peak. However, over the years, somehow the trips all started to feel the same. I think the truth is that I changed. I think I knew that those adventures, that that feeling, it was still out there. But if I'm being honest with myself, I stopped searching for it. But there is something really special about Utah. Maybe it was seeing the wonder in the eyes of my daughter as she saw the pink sand for the first time. Maybe it was seeing the excitement in my son as he explored his first slot canyon. Maybe it was that feeling that you get in these really awe-inspiring places that remind us how small we are. Whatever it was, there was something truly special about this place. This trip changed everything for me. This is Utah. Welcome to Southern Utah. Here, the landscapes are vast and impressive. From the brightly colored red rock cliffs, to the pink sand dunes, to the massive canyons that will truly take your breath away. This place is home to countless natural wonders. In a lifetime, you would never be able to see it all. But on this trip, we chose specifically a trail that runs through and alongside the East Fork of the Virgin River. My dear friend Ryan and I have been talking about doing this trail for quite a long time. And with the threat of its possible closure looming in the distance, we decided we better get to it before it's too late. The trail we are on is the Upper Barracks Trail. And this first section took us through a heavily forested area and some thick Utah sand. We encountered a few minor obstacles, but nothing a four-wheel drive with some good tires and a little clearance couldn't handle. We made our way through this section of trail, and my excitement started to grow as I started catching glimpses of the canyon that we were getting ready to descend into. The views were getting more breathtaking by the minute, but so was the risk of taking your eyes off the trail. This trail can be done in two ways, and we were about to come face to face with the reason we chose to come this direction. Reminder, we are in some thick Utah sand. We chose to work with gravity on this one. Over the past two days, the kids had spent so much time in the truck. Their eyes lit up with excitement the moment they saw the river, and they were so excited to get out and go play by the water. Before I started to set up camp, I took a second to just take it all in and enjoy this moment. Man, it is so good to be back in Utah. Come here, stand on that. All right, we're doing some pasta, keeping things easy. I actually recently did this, um, and it's just, you heat it up, that's it. So that's what we're doing, and Henry wants to make dinner, so he's gonna help me make dinner. All right, you can pour it. All right, you ready? Pour it. Atta boy. All right. Okay, now hit this button right here. Can you push it? This way. Ready? One, two, three. Woo! That was daddy's fault. Good job. Now we wait. I haven't talked to the camera at all this entire trip so far, and we are a full day into this trip already. We left last night, so Friday night, from Orange County, California, around eight o'clock. We camped 45 minutes or so south of Las Vegas, and then we made the trek up to basically the Zion National Park area. There's a trail called the Barracks Trail, and that's what we're on right now. That's what we did today, and we've set up camp in this amazing place. Now, I did do quite a bit of filming on the trail today, but I didn't do any, like, talking to you guys, and so, you know, sometimes I get kind of carried away with that side of things, and so hopefully that turned out well and you could see just the amazing day that we had out there. I was a little bit slow to get to the camera today just because I was exhausted this morning after getting, like, three hours of sleep last night, but then also once we actually got out here, I got really into it and just was having a blast on the trail. I was having a blast filming, and so, you know, the day kind of got away from me, and now all of a sudden, you know, we're about to sit down, eat dinner, wrap up our day, and this is the first I'm kind of checking in with you guys, and so the day's been amazing, the trail's been amazing, Utah's amazing. It's great to be back out here again with the kiddos. What's up, dude? Your flashlight? Sure. Here you go. Here you go, bud. So, it's really good to be back out here with the kids and give mom a break. Mom's home with the baby, and so I've got Brooklyn and Henry, my usual team members on these trips, and then obviously out with Ryan and Lexi again, and we're just, we're having a blast. We're all tired. We're all probably gonna sleep really good tonight, but it is amazing out here. The barracks trail has just been phenomenal, and it's been years since I've been out to Utah. I think the last time I was in Utah was three months before my daughter was born. Did a really long road trip out here with some friends, and that's the last time I've seen the area, and it's just great to be back and see it in a new way, and so really excited about that. Now, I'll be checking in with you guys. We're going to be here for another day, but I'm going to get to dishing up dinner for me and the kids, kind of wind things down a little bit, and take a breath from the long exciting day, and I will talk to you guys later. After I got the kids to bed, Ryan and I spent some time around the campfire, like we always do. No matter where I'm at, spending time around the campfire with my buddies or my kids is always my favorite part of the trip. Over the years, I wouldn't be able to count how many great conversations we have had around the campfire together, but life is about to change a lot for all of us, and I'll probably be able to count the rest of them, but more on that later. We were in no rush this morning. In fact, we slept in a little bit to recover from the past two days of travel. I spent the morning enjoying watching my kids playing by the river, and admiring the massive red rock walls that surrounded us in this beautiful canyon. These massive places really humble me, and really help put into perspective how small we are in comparison to the vast world around us. The morning views were absolutely incredible, and if that wasn't enough, we were about to experience something that is quite unique, and just happened to be there at the right time to see. Man, this, this is Utah. This has been just an absolutely amazing trip so far. We have just spent the morning hanging out with the kids all day long. They've been playing out by the river like they've been doing since they got here, and really just kind of slowing the trip down after a blitz of a day yesterday, and just enjoying where we're at. Utah is such an amazing place. These big giant red rock walls contrasted with all this green is just such a awe-stunning place. I can't believe it's been six years since I've been here. I definitely will not be making that mistake again of waiting so long to get back out here. I truly love, I love this area. As you guys can see here, the cottonwoods have been snowing on us all day long. It's just been amazing. The trucks are pretty much ready to go. We're going to be heading out of here and continuing through the barracks trail until we get out of here. There's a bunch of water crossings, and so the afternoon should be a really fun time finishing up this trail, and as we get out of here, we're going to be doing a little bit more exploring in the Knob area. Now there's a slot canyon called Peekaboo Canyon that we're going to try to find this afternoon and go check out. It's supposed to be a lot like Antelope Canyon if you've ever been there. It's one of my favorite places that I've ever been, but it's something that you kind of have to do a guided tour through, but just a stunning slot canyon should make for some great photos and stuff like that, and the kids really want to do a little exploring of their own, so it will be fun to get out there and see what else we can find this afternoon. I don't think we could have asked for a more perfect day for an experience like this. Of course there was nothing challenging about this part of the trail, but there was definitely something special about it. As we made our way through the lower barracks trail, we had the privilege of being able to cross the east fork of the Virgin River a little over 20 times. This was late spring, so the water level was not high, but nevertheless I could hear the excitement in my kids' voices as we approached each crossing. Though I don't agree with the mentality of closures that we are seeing everywhere, I certainly understand the interest in protecting places like this. I hope we can find ways to work together to protect these amazing places while still leaving them accessible for the next generation. Kids, you had a pretty good time? Well we're gonna see what else we can find out in Kanab. We were about to make our way out to Peekaboo Canyon that is just up the highway, but first we wanted to make a quick stop at a cave we had heard about near the entrance of the barracks trail. Well we stopped off to check out the cave. Let's go check this out. This is a man-made cave, also known as the belly of the dragon, which was originally made for water drainage. The kids definitely thought it was cool, and I would say it's worth a stop if you've got little ones. After doing some research, there is also a 20-mile backpacking trail that also starts in this area. From what I read, some claim it to be much more difficult, but just as beautiful as the Narrows hike in Zion National Park. I may need to look into this more one day. That's a dark way. Dad, look at that. We can't have nice things. No, no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no. After our quick little hike, we headed up the highway for just a few miles before we reached the trailhead of Peekaboo Canyon. Once again, not a difficult trail, but this was some of the thickest sand I had ever been in. We had a blast driving the section of trail, but four-wheel drive and a good set of tires that are aired down are an absolute must. On our way out, we met some international travelers that were missing one of those things. Okay, here we go. Apparently our new friends have been stuck for quite a long time, and we're incredibly happy that we came through. So we had some people stuck in the car, actually back here, but Ryan just had them air down their tires, and they actually had Ryan get behind the wheel and give it the old-fashioned pedal to the metal. The sand is very, very thick and very, very dense, and the guy was aired up to 40 psi still, so it's no wonder. I probably would have got stuck too, but Ryan had them aired down to, what, 15? 15, and he's good to go. So we're gonna continue on our trail. So we are at the entrance of Peekaboo Canyon and really excited to go see what's inside the slot canyon. It already looks pretty cool. Go, go, go! What do you see, honey? Let me see. I have always loved a good slot canyon, but there was something really special about sharing this with my kids. That same wonder and awe that used to drive me to want to explore and discover, I was seeing come to life in real time through the eyes of my kids. One of these places that I just had no idea was here. I don't come to Utah very often, but even then, I would just expect that a place like this would be a little bit more well-known, more popular. Pretty breathtaking. What'd you think, buddy? Did you have fun? Yeah. Would you come back? Yeah. Yeah? After our fun and fulfilling day of adventure, we all had the desire to go back to the river and spend the afternoon cooling off. As the evening came, I once again found myself in complete awe of my surroundings and in a deep realization of the moment that I was in. This had been one of those trips, the ones that you spend your time reflecting on over the years. I would say this trip was life-changing for me. It reminded me of what I fell in love with so many years ago. That wonder and awe that I hope to capture in my photography and my videos and what I saw this entire weekend in the eyes of my children. Utah. What a special place. Every time I leave here, I leave inspired, changed, and hungry for adventure. But big life changes strangely seem to follow my visits here as well. As this trip comes to an end, so does the season of life. I feel like one chapter is ending and yet the page turns. There was the season of chasing adventure with my friends as a young man. That chapter ended when my daughter was born, and since I've been in the season of going camping with young kids and a few good friends. And now as the page turns once more, I find myself at another crossroads. The next chapter I hope will be filled with lots of adventure with my family, but I'm sad to say there will most definitely be some empty chairs next to our future campfires. It's a hard thing we go through in life, but we all go through it. As we get older, we build families of our own, and yes sometimes we move away, but eventually the busyness of life pulls us in different directions.