One Small Happy Family: Hiking in Kings Canyon

We boarded the bus for our Outback trip at 6:00am. Ug. Then is was six hours of driving, through red dirt. In the afternoon we hiked in Kings Canyon, which was breathtaking. And mercilessly aerobic. We were the oldest and youngest people on the trip - because we took the "roughing it" trip, almost everyone else was a backpacker in their early 20s. But having done it a couple of times before that way, I feel it's the very best way to get a true feel for the Outback. Maybe next time I'll opt of the more luxurious trip. The hike began with "Heart Attack Hill", shown below. There is a reason this is at the beginning of the hike - you'd never want to do it at the end.

View of the Canyon from top of Heart Attack Hill.

Can't really tell that I nearly just keeled over.....

Damon makes it all look so easy.

Hiking through Kings Canyon.

This is my favorite picture from that day. Beautiful little tree hanging on for dear life in the middle of rocks in the desert.

View into Kings Canyon.

Stairs on either side of Canyon that allow you to walk down into it and up the other side.

This is the "Garden of Eden" in the valley of the Canyon. At some times during the year, there is a beautiful swimming hole here where you can cool off, but there hadn't been any rain.

Stairs on the other side.

Climbing out of the canyon.

Cody and Trevor looking over the edge.

They had a pretty good time. The heat wasn't too bad, since it's the middle of winter. The flies were a nuisance (actually, I swallowed one), but nothing nearly as bad as they can get.