Upper and Lower Calf Creek Falls

Once upon a time I was driving down a highway when all of a sudden I saw a turkey cross the road. Fortunately for him, I saw him, otherwise he may have became my supper. He was a really handsome turkey, but I have no idea what he was thinking in that little bird brain of his when he crossed the road.

Hours passed, trails were hiked, and I was once again driving down the two-lane highway when all of a sudden I see a large herd (20 +) of Elk standing in both lanes of the highway. I immediately thought of the movie "Leap Year" and wondered if we'd have to get out and push them away somehow. Elk are much different from cows though. As I slowly drove closer they all got out of the road and went down the hill.

Shortly after nightfall, we were merrily making our way down the highway when a rabbit ran across the road. It only took me a split second to realize that there was no point in trying to avoid him. He was a goner. And so it was. The rabbit met his demise by the speeding (60-70 mph) grey mass. He probably saw my bright lights from the side of the road and said, "Sweet, I can see the other side of the road now! Run for it!" He didn't even know what hit him. He hit the front lower left of the car and proceeded to go under the car for a little ways.

I hardly had a chance to recover before one of Mr. Rabbit's friends had the same bright idea. He was a lot quicker though and thus escaped his potential fate. Now, because Mr. Rabbit's friend made it across, another one of Mr. Rabbit's friends decided to do the same thing. It was his lucky day! I bet they both had a party on the other side of the road. Good for them.

About 15-20 minutes later, out of no where I saw a deer standing in the next lane. In the 2 seconds it took to come up to him and pass him, I silently pleaded with him to stay right where he was-DON'T MOVE, DON'T MOVE! If he'd ran into my lane, I think I would have been a goner! I hope he got out of the road before the cars coming his way came, for their sake and his. For the next several miles I hallucinated deers running across the road, but fortunately that never actually happened.

This morning I checked my car to see what damage Mr. Rabbit may have caused to my car. How much damage can a little bunny do?

It's impossible to really see in the picture, but there were little bunny hairs in that dent and on different parts of the bottom of my car where it hit. One of my first thoughts after hitting the rabbit and after seeing the damage was, "My brother is going to kill me." He'd die if this happened to his car. It just makes me laugh to look at it. I will never forget this adventure with that kind of reminder. It makes me smile every time. I am incredibly grateful for whatever angels were watching over me to prevent that deer from moving or being in my lane for that matter. Seriously. That would have been much worse.

Upper and Lower Calf Creek Falls are just outside Boulder, UT, which is about 4.5 hours from Provo. Three friends and I left early in the morning to be sure to do both hikes. The first hike we did was to Upper Calf Creek Falls. This one was rocky and had a steep decline at the beginning, which made for a more difficult return trip, but overall I really enjoyed it. My favorite part of this hike were the views of the area and all the possible places to explore. I kind of wish I'd explored more, but I knew we had the second hike to do still and I wanted time for that. Both the top and the bottom of the falls had pools of water that were really pretty. At the top, we took off our shoes and relaxed for a bit. It was exactly what I needed during this spring break! Hiking and sitting close to waterfalls just soothes my soul. I love it.

Bottom of Upper Calf Creek Falls

Top of Upper Calf Creek Falls

The hike to Lower Calf Creek Falls was 3 miles one way on a very sandy trail. It was like walking in beach sand, imagine that. So much sand in our shoes!! The red rock cliffs on either side of the trail were beautiful! That was probably what I liked the most about this trail. The trail wasn't marked as clearly at one point, so we went the wrong way for a little bit. Actually, it's more like we weren't looking and we missed the sign that said which way to go. :) There were lots of places to explore along this trail that were very tempting, so next time I go I want to check those out. There were markers along the way with numbers which corresponded with a trail guide we had, but we had fun making up our own interpretations instead. We saw a cool Indian pictograph on the wall, too!

Indian Pictograph- Three Warriors

Lower Calf Creek Falls

Lower Calf Creek Falls

Whitney, Jared, Lela, Michelle

This was the best way to start the hiking season! I am hoping to do a few more trips down south this summer in addition to the hikes I do around here. Only 39 days until summer begins!!