"Where the Devil is Hanksville?"

Hanksville is located in Wayne, County Utah at the junction of state routes 24 and 95 near Lake Powell. It is the closest town of mention to where we spent this past weekend. Marni and Paul had invited us on a family trip to Southern Utah for some hiking, canyoneering and camping and we gladly accepted the invitation. When we arrived Thursday evening, there was plenty of daylight left so we decided to go through a slot canyon. We went through the east fork of Leprechaun Canyon, which was both Jeff and my first jaunt through a slot canyon. The daylight didn't last so it was quite the adventure going through some of the canyon in the dark. Most of our second day was spent exploring Goblin Valley State Park. As you will see, the name is derived from sandstone rock formations that are fondly referred to as goblins. We started our second slot canyon of the trip mid-morning on Saturday, and this time we made sure to bring our camera along. Our expedition group included the majority of Paul's family, amongst them a seven year old child and a dog (you'll see why that is significant as you browse through photos).  This time we went through the East Fork of Leprechaun Canyon, which was even more of an adventure than the first. It proved to be quite a challenging canyon, what with the long stretches of slots less than a foot wide, pools of chest-high water and a lot of sideways shimmying. Keep in mind, the group toted along a couple of younger kids and a dog through all of this. After about 9 hours in the canyon (a couple of those in the dark) and a lot of improvisation to help each other out, we made it to the intersection where the canyon opens up and hiked back to camp. It was quite the bonding experience and we all agree it was an adventure we won't soon forget.