Babylon

We took a day for a family hike, so after much debate, we settled on a destination. Just across the interstate was a little place called Babylon. An alluring name full of red rocks and sweeping vistas, it seemed like a place we should spend some more time. I had been out there once previously to some dinosaur tracks and a hike around Little Purgatory and Hell's Half Acre. This time the goal was to park out at Sand Cove and hike the Arch Trail to the Virgin River. The road was an adventure as I remembered. It was not in 4-wheel drive shape, but definitely high clearance. It was a bit nerve wracking to meet other vehicles to try to get around them without getting stuck in the ruts.

 Eventually the four of us got to the trailhead and we were surprised to see just how busy it was. There were many people out there for various reasons. I was hoping that everyone wasn't heading the same direction that we were. It didn't seem like they were as the hike was moderately busy. We didn't have it to ourselves but every now and again there would be a group coming up or down. We got a bit of a late start for January as it was already afternoon. The kids moved along nicely, though.

 First part of the walk was a hike along a road to what looked like a larger camping/parking area. From there, a series of trails led off, but we took the arch trail. It was red rocks all around as we found our way along the path. It stayed mostly flat at first but then began the descent. It wasn't too long before we found ourselves at the top of a very steep hill. We were not sure that we should take the plunge and go down to the Virgin River, because once we were down, it was going to be a lot of work to come back up. Finally we decided to go for it. It was fun going down and about halfway down, we ran into an arch. 

There were some young people taking pictures next to it, so we continued down to the river. This was a really nice spot along the river and we spent some time throwing rocks and playing battleship. It was just nice to be there for a bit. Then it was time to trudge back up. We took some time on the way back up to take some pictures and play around at the arch. Jacqueline was taking a lot of pictures as usual to document this experience. The lighting was really good with the red rocks on this January day. The rest of the day was spent just enjoying the hike. We really enjoyed this one as even though it was only a short winter hike with the daylight quickly receding, we still had a blast being out there. With other hkes still left for us to accomplish in the area, a return to the area would be worth our time.