8th Annual Hassey "Goat Vacation" - Utah!

[Nanno]

Sputnik the Sandstone Warrior.
   

Check out that yellow! Just above Finn's nose you can see some holes in the rock that looked like part of a Moqui ladder but I believe it was just a couple of natural indentations. 
   

Diving boards!
   

Mini bacon burger? 
   

On the return trip, Sputnik informed us that he was feeling left out of the packgoat experience. He was right. I pulled the pack off Finn and let Sputnik carry it back. Proud goat!
   
   
   
   

It was hard going in the canyon bottom. That soft sand was brutal on tired calf muscles. 
   

[Nanno]

It doesn't matter how tired you are or how late it is... there's always time for a goofy photoshoot! Phil discovered a pile of bleached bones and... 

"Water! Water!" 
   

I remembered this grand pedestal from our last trip. Phil stood up there and made muscle poses with yearling Finn. 
But was the rock still sturdy enough for the two of them? Finn's a little bigger these days (and Phil might be too)! 
   

Satisfied that the rock was sturdy, off came the shirt. Finn eagerly bounded onto the rock at Phil's call and gave us his most magnificent pose. 
   
   

I think we need a different kind of NAPgA Calendar next year...
   

How Sputnik felt about the whole thing: 
   

Sputnik eventually mastered the nipple concept, but he dribbled enough Gatorade to take on the tile of "Bluebeard."  
   

[Nanno]

And now it's my turn to show off. Remember the big stone beehive we passed in the morning? Well it was still beckoning to me when we passed in the late afternoon. Sometimes discretion feels like the cowardly part of valor. 
   

I had to climb it. It looked steep but doable.   
   

The goats disagreed about the steep part. "Easy peasy!" they said. 
   

Just below here my nerve almost failed me. It was a looong way to the bottom and my boots were slipping. So I took them off. 
   

Barefootin' it. 
   

Whew! I made it! I wasn't sure I wanted to look down. I was sitting on a very narrow perch with a very steep drop on three sides. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to climb down. Gravity can sometimes be too helpful in these cases, and I possess a lot more gravitational pull than I once did. 
   

Was it worth it? Well, not so much for the view or for the hoodoo. It was cool, but no cooler up close than it was from the ground. What made it worthwhile was the ability to from now on say, "I've been up there," and to satisfy my curiosity. They say curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. 
   

The goats wondered what the big deal was about. 
   
   
   

[Nanno]

Next morning we packed up and headed out. Our detour in Death Hollow had given us a wonderful extra day of vacation. We drove slow and enjoyed the view on the way home. A wildfire somewhere was drifting pinkish smoke across the mountains. 
"Goodbye Utah!"