Our first week of online school had begun and it was weird. I created some math assignments, loaded them into Google Classroom, and then just let my kids do the work. Most of it was review thinking that we would be back to school soon. I spent most of my morning monitoring email and helping my own kids with their online school. It was challenging and confusing, but it left me with an incredible amount of free time in the afternoon. I was for certain going to take advantage of that. I could read books, play games with my family, but also get out on long runs and hikes. Not wanting to go very far, I just took advantage of Red Cliffs being right near our house.
The first day I tried this out happened to be my birthday. After school and office hours, it was time to hit the trail. I took the route under the freeway getting into Grapevine Wash This time I continued all the way up the wash as far as it would go.
I could move pretty quickly since I was still only 39 years old. Eventually the canyon got pretty nice and I was picking my way up washes and around obstacles until I came to a nice open area with a pass in between two peaks. This place was so awesome, but since there was no trail or route description, I felt like no one would have come here. In fact, there were not really any signs of people. This felt truly like being in the Pristine Zone. I had to negotiate some obstacles, but I made it up to the pass. The views from on top of the pass were remarkable with all of Red Cliffs stretched out in front of me. I followed it right through to the other side, which put me in Cottonwood Wash which I followed back to the house.
A couple of days later, I brought the family back. This time we were going to go check out the Peregrine Falcon nest I had found a week earlier. We went the opposite way this time going under the freeway on the north side rather than the south side. This got us to the nest quicker. It did not disappoint. The Falcons were out and about and we spent a good amount of time watching them fly and perch on the rocks above. I felt like we were disturbing them a little bit, but getting to watch them so up close and personal was pretty fun. The weather was just about perfect this time of year as it was so much fun to be out in the spring time.
We spent quite a bit of time hanging with the birds and then we continued on the prospector trail back to the other route under the freeway. The prospector trail was just as cool of an experience as it was a mix of red rock hiking and trail. We were really enjoying all of our extra free time. So much so, that we even went out together the next day. We went to Cottonwood Canyon to check out some rock features. Jacqueline was not a big fan of exploring with the kids but I convinced her and the kids had fun climbing up and over formations and checking out little nooks and crannies. Eventually we ran out of new area to check out though and the kids played in the sand instead for a while. There were always cool rocks to find and iron concretions. We could afford a day of play as there seemed to be no end in sight to this pandemic free time that had been forced upon us. Though it made for an unfulfilling end to the school year, it really wasn't all a bad thing for us as a family. A lot more time to spend together and a lot more time to get out and about.
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