Our first full day in Utah was dedicated to exploring Bears Ears.
As the sun rose over the dome, a rooster crowed and the boys saw a coyote and a rabbit behind our dome. The temps got down to about 25 in the night, freezing most of the water on the dirt road. Getting out was a bit easier than arriving; however, we knew it'd be difficult again to return after the road thawed.
Bears Ears is about an hour away. We planned a hike to House on Fire, which would require a day-use hiking permit for Cedar Mesa. We couldn't just buy one online ahead of time because all permits must be validated by a ranger. I worried that the office might be closed since it was Easter, but fortunately they were open. After buying our hiking permits, Chris pulled over to the side of the road to let me take a picture with the... bear's ears. Something like five different Native American groups named this area all in different languages, but the names each translate to the same title: Bears Ears.
Be sure to plan ahead extensively before going to Bears Ears. There will be no cell coverage there to check on maps or details. I mapped out our directions with Google Maps before and took screenshots and also downloaded a map of Cedar Mesa. House on Fire is in Mule Canyon in Cedar Mesa. The closest ranger station is Kane Gulch. You must pay in exact cash for permits, and if you want to buy anything else (books, magnets, etc), they only take cards.
The ranger said the parking area and trail head was clearly marked, but there were so many cars that they must have been blocking the signs. We drove past the parking area for a good mile on a bumpy dirt road before deciding we had gone too far and turned around. The trail itself was pretty easy. It followed along a small canyon that we crossed a few times with some water at points. We dressed in hats, hoodies, and jackets since it was cold in the morning at the dome, but it quickly warmed up. Dressing in layers is the key, I suppose. We enjoyed checking out the interesting rock features and nooks along the way.
After a mile, we came upon House on Fire, known for the "ceiling" above appearing to be in flames when the sun hits it just right (around 10:00 AM).
Jack and Chris went on the trail a little more through a slot of sorts. It looked really fun, but Eliot excessively worried about rattlesnakes all day for some reason. After a lot of begging from us, Eliot pushed himself and went through with us. I'm so glad he did because Chris noticed some handprint art above us. I wasn't sure if we'd be able to see any handprints during our time in Bears Ears.
From there, we hiked back to the trailhead and had lunch in the car. Then we drove to another part of Bears Ears to see Newspaper Rock.
It was time to face the road home to the dome. The temperature had risen all day and we were concerned about the melted snow turning the road to mud even more. The owner of the domes said they had something like ten feet of snow rapidly melting and pouring down from the mountains. Ah. When we arrived back at the domes, the road looked more like a flowing creek and the owner (looking very stressed) was working to create a ditch to divert the water. He apologized again, but we made it to the dome and decided we wouldn't leave until it was time to check out the next morning.
After some relaxing, we hiked down the mountain behind our dome to play in the snow until everyone got wet socks.
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