Cedar Breaks National Monument.

 

 I had to work Sunday Monday night of labor day and Ben was right in the middle of soccer season for the first break of the school year. We knew that we did not have much time over the holiday weekend, however Ben and I decided it was the perfect amount of time to go visit Cedar Breaks and spent Friday, Saturday night in Brian Head. 

 We left Friday afternoon. It was a beautiful drive some of the leaves were even starting to change color. We made it just in time to spend a few hours at Cedar Breaks that evening. The weather was beautiful and it was not very crowded. We stopped at the visitor center first and looked at the breathtaking views of the Cedar Breaks amphitheater. Jocelyn got to adopt a Pika.

 The girls enjoyed the view as well. Bridget was a little nervous when Ben put her on the railing for a picture. I had repeatedly told her to stay close because I did not want her to run away, fall down, and get hurt. Bridget is terrified of falling right now and so she listened really well.

 Jocelyn loves bringing her binoculars to all our adventures and she did not forget them for this one either. It was so funny to watch her lean against the railing and poke her bottom out as she looked through the binoculars. This year Jocelyn has wanted to be an "air plane flyer," a ballerina, and this trip she informed Ben and I she would like to be an explorer.

 We decided to hike Sunset trail, just a paved two mile trail to a second overlook. The views along the way were beautiful. The girls enjoyed the hike. Jocelyn walked the whole way and Bridget did almost all of it until she fell asleep on Ben's shoulder the last half mile or so. The dogs were able to walk with us as well.

On our walk we saw three Mule Deer and even a cute, little Marmot sun bathing on the side of a cliff.

Once we returned from our walk we got some snacks from our car and walked back over to the viewpoint near the visitors center to hear from a ranger talk about the Bristlecone Pine. One our way back to the viewpoint Jocelyn spotted a Marmot near the refill station for water bottles. She was able to get pretty close. He was super cute and kept looking down at Jocelyn.

Listening to the park ranger talk about the Bristlecones was so interesting. Ben and I had no idea that they even existed up until that point. These trees are long-lived and highly resilient to harsh weather and bad soils. They have adapted to live in high altitudes, on cliff edges, sometimes growing right out of the limestone. These trees are the longest-lived life forms on Earth today. The oldest Bristlecone is not located in Cedar Breaks National Monument, however the ranger informed us it is more than 5,000 years. We were able to look through a telescope to Spectra Point and view a Bristlecone pine that is over 1600 years old. We really enjoyed our evening at Cedar Breaks. We finished it off by watching the sunset, then we headed to Brian Head to get some dinner at check into our hotel.