"I can be strong..." Moab part II

On the second day of Moab, Eva sang to me ...

Click on that. It's worth it.

Compared to Isobel, Eva's not really a singer. She doesn't come home from nursery or preschool singing that day's songs, she almost never sings along with even her favorite bedtime songs, and she rarely sings in public restrooms.

But on this trip, Eva picked a new song every day, and sang the heck out of it. She only knew about half of one line, usually, but she latched onto it, belted it out, and let it propel her up the rock.



















She didn't get this song from me, that's for sure. I had to ask Isobel where it came from (Disney's Hercules). But it sure seemed appropriate as she grunted her way up the slot canyon, belting, "I can be strong. I know every mile." Here are the real lyrics. Her line goes, "If I can be strong, I know every mile will be worth my while."

If anybody wants to go to this place, it's a few miles off SR 128 in Onion Creek, about 20 miles northeast of Moab. I'm not sure how far we drove in on this dirt road, but we stopped at a little pullout just beyond the road bridge that's about 100 feet or more above the creek. The pullout was near a confluence of two tiny creeks that probably only have water from March to May, and occasionally during the flash floods of July and August. We followed the left fork to a 20 foot sheer face and climbed around it.

That's when Isobel had to go. She's great at doing her business in the woods (Eva's pee is still "scared of the ground," but that's another story), but this was number two and we had no shovel or TP. So we ran, then drove back to the campground we stayed in the night before.

That gave Eva, who stayed behind with Devin, a good, long chance to explore some of her very favorite parts of hiking:


Sitting.
Waiting.
Eating Snickers bars.
Drinking from a Camelbak.
Pushing sand.













Then we continued around the drop-off and up the canyon, which got narrow and steep, and fun, after that. Then it spread back out and climbed, steeply again, to a ridge.

This is me, spreading out a little pillow for Eva's head and a jacket for her stinky bum right at the top.

I am sooooo glad that she is now potty-trained.

This is also about the time she started her daily fit (much worse on top of a ridge with only scary, scarier, and scariest ways down).



Here's a nice view from the top. (Devin took all these pictures.)













And here's Isobel, victorious. Listen to that audio clip again. You can hear Isobel blowing by us in that steep, narrow, rocky canyon: "UH! Hi Dad."

I tell you, the girl can scramble.












Part III: "Nobody SHOUTS! Not in my castle on a cloud."