I'm Chicken of the Chicken of the Woods

This year we have spotted a lot of fungus in the woods, and the largest one, we spotted today.  After looking it up, we realized it was edible and often said to "taste like chicken", thus it's named, Chicken of the Woods.  The orange color and large size were definite and distinguishing characteristics and although I am still "chicken" of eating wild mushrooms (besides the standby morel) it did leave me considering trying a bit of this curious looking fungi.  I may have done so if I was not currently pregnant. Maybe next year?

What about you?  Have you ever tried it?  Is it worth adding to our list of things to try?

Chicken of the Woods Fungi

Great Friends, New Experiences and 80 Acres of Land

This winter has been a pretty mild one, and the sunshine and mild temps have allowed us to spend a lot of time outside.  Today, we took our adventure deep into the woods, on a hike on some private land that is for sale.  I've been wanting to find some land to build a house on, or even find a house on a decent sized piece of land with all my desired checklist of items, but so far we haven't found the right spot.

Derrick wasn't interested in hiking 80 acres, and I didn't feel it was the best idea for me and my kids to go trudging through the woods alone (especially since this location has a bit of tragic history with a dynamite bunker blowing up two teens in the early 1980's), so I called a great friend who is always up for an adventure outside with her kiddos, and we geared up for an adventure.  Prepared for a rough hike through uncharted territory, with our babies on our backs and our older kids in rain/snow boots and their hiking packs, we set off to see if there was any reason I should talk Derrick into making an offer on the parcel of land.

We were very curious as to why the screening was around the base of these large cottonwood trees?

These kids LOVE it when we have to cross streams!

Working together, they all made it across.

I even decided it would be easier to take the high road rather than slosh in the creek.

Amanda and her girls built a little bridge to cross the creek below.

It worked!

I had an aerial map of the property and with the GPS on my phone, we hiked over to the area where I thought I'd like to build a house if we were to purchase the property.  As we hiked up there, I got the feeling that this wasn't the piece of land for us, it was WAY too marshy and wet and too many areas that were too difficult to hike through, but it was a lot of fun exploring and it was a great day to do so.

The kids thought it was neat seeing a deer skeleton.

It was still slightly smelly, so we kept our distance.

  

It was a bit more noisy than I would have expected in the upper clearing,
and the amount of brush to work through was almost overwhelming.

In the clearing there was more evidence of deer.

One of the best parts of the hike was finding evidence of beaver activity and a beaver dam.  The kids and us moms thought it was pretty interesting, although it posed a problem of us crossing, so we had to make a small detour over a fence in order to get back to where our vans were parked.

  

Is this leading to the underwater entrance?

Pretty cool to see it up close.

On our way back, we stopped to check if the critter we had first spotted in a dead tree was still there.  It was, and after letting the kids toss mud balls, moss balls, and sticks and not getting much movement from the critter, we headed back to the vans, exhausted from our long hike.

The critter we spotted was WAY up at the top of this dead tree.
Everett tried to reach it with a long stick.  No success.

Ethan got really close on hitting it with mud balls, but it barely moved.
Here you can see it's grey ear.

From this photo, when it moved a bit, we concluded it was most likely a raccoon.
Obviously, he/she was needing a nap more than needing to check out some silly kids and two curious moms.

I am loving this weather, it's great to explore the wild outdoors without all the deep snow and freezing temps, but I'm a bit sad that this wasn't "the spot" for us!  I'm sure Derrick will be happy to hear I'm no longer interested.  :)

Yant Flats near St. George, Utah

We arrived in Utah late last night, after a busy day of visiting the Moab area along the way.  Goblin Valley and Little Wild Horse Canyon were our favorite hikes overall yesterday, and Canyonlands National Park and Capital Reef National Park were interesting to see and add to our list of National Parks we've visited.

I will say, though, it is nice to be here and great to stay put for the next week.  I'm not a fan of all the driving time, miles and miles in the van, although I love seeing the beautiful countryside and checking places off my list, but the kids don't seem to mind too much as long as they get to climb something along the way and play their electronics once the sun sets.  

This morning, we decided to wake on our own time, grab some groceries and then figure out a local hike to stretch our legs and enjoy the sunshine.  When we picked the hike today, we didn't think it was going to be exposed the majority of the way and I didn't count on the last 1/3 mile uphill in sand, but even with the heat, it was an impressive hike and made an impact on the list of cool places we've explored.  

Yant Flat Cliffs promised to be a unique experience and an amazing view and in a few places was called "The Wave" of St. George due to the red and white swirls of sandstone along the cliffs.  This, combined with a few reviews that said their kids loved climbing over the rocks and making up their own trails once they got to the open area, encouraged me to try this hike.  

The directions started out a lot like the directions when we started our hike at Painted Canyon in Mesa, California... "follow a dirt road (4x4 is recommended but in dry conditions other vehicles will be fine) until you reach the coordinates, as there is really not a "trail" marker for this hike".  What would be an adventure without the suspense in trying to figure out where you are going and if you are lost or in the right place?  Right?  

We stopped a few times, sitting once at the top of a narrow gravel road on a hill to gain cell service, while a few dirt bikes scooted around us, as we checked our coordinates again for the "unmarked trailhead", but we finally found our location.  Once we arrived at the coordinates, we were still skeptical until two gentlemen pulled up next to us and we discovered they were going to hike the same hike.

With written instructions, a few bottles of water, a couple hiking sticks and eager kids, we started off.  The hike was 1.3 miles to the flats then off-trail hiking to explore the area.  The first portion was flat and pretty easy, but in the heat of the day, we still had a few complaints.  I made everyone wear pants since I thought we would be scrambling over rocks once we reached our destination, so the heat was a bit more than we anticipated.  

The view was impressive, and the different desert plants and scurrying lizards we spotted along the way kept us interested and eager to see what was ahead.  Once we got to the last portion, possibly the last half of the hike, I was feeling the burn in my legs and Elliot was really turning on his "this is tough" meter.  I really didn't expect hiking uphill in deep sand, like you'd find on the beach, and I was thankful we were only hiking 1.3 miles and not 3 miles, as we would NEVER have made it.  

Elliot, although not happy about the difficulty and heat, toughed it out, and pretty much exhausted, we all made it to the top.  

That view, and the cool breeze that met us, was very much worth the trip.  We sipped some water, sat down for a bit, then set off exploring the area.  I had a hard time keeping up with Derrick and the kids as they scrambled over rocks, partially because I needed to keep myself safe, occasionally stopping to snap photos and maneuvering over the "slick rock" or sandstone while carrying Eli on my back, but their shouts of excitement and heads that would pop up every now and then, kept me moving in the right direction.

Every area had an amazing view and a few areas made my stomach flip-flop with the drop-offs and steep slopes.  

We made it down the slope, to a lower area, and decided to sit in the shade, drink some water, cool down and have a snack before heading back up to the trail to the van.  Eli, not being allowed to run freely because we were on the edge of a cliff, sat at my feet and enjoyed tossing sandstone rocks into the bushes, watching them explode on impact, while his brothers fetched more and kept him entertained.

  

The hike back seemed to be less difficult and soon we were emptying sand from our shoes and heading back down the gravel road to town.  

If we ever come back to St. George, this would be a hike I'd do again, mostly because of the view and also because of the different areas that we didn't explore once we were able to explore off the trail.  I believe there is an eastern exposure we didn't even get to see and I'm excited to explore that side the next time we are here!