We were scammed.
The park is best-known for its 250-acre, warm-water lake that provides a variety of activities, among which is swimming. The water for the reservoir enters through a canal and park officials are able to filter heavy run-off and flash flood water so they “only bring in clean water,” according to Huntington State Park manager Jonathan Hunt. “Our waters are some of the cleanest and warmest you will find,” he said. “Our waters also heat up much earlier than other lakes. On Memorial Weekend, our water temperature was 65 degrees and we are now nearing 70 degrees.”
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It took Holly and I approximately 26 hours to slowly ease into the frigid water.
And THIS was the cleanest water we could find. The shore and bottom of the lake were not sand, as expected. It can best be described as goo that was strikingly similar to zucchini bread batter with rocks acting as the walnuts. It felt just like this:
Huntington State Park has 25 campsites available, most of which will accommodate larger RVs, Hunt said. The campground has large cottonwood trees and green lawns all near the shore of the reservoir.
“If you are looking to rough it, this is not the park for you because our green lawns and restroom/shower facilities are in great shape,” Hunt said. “Let the kids play and don’t worry about them getting too dirty.”
This was true! The bathrooms and showers were nice and the campground was grassy and well taken care of, but they left something VERY important out. We found out our first night that there is an evil lurking in the area. It's the wind. And the bugs. But lets talk about the wind. The first night, the wind suddenly blew in and our fire blew away. The kids ran and stomped out the embers. We were grateful there was grass or the entire desert would have caught on fire, and it would have been Holly's fault. Cameron and I tried to get our things out of the tent that was blown completely flat so we could sleep in the truck. It took both of us and Jack to get our blankets out. It felt JUST LIKE THIS:
Only there wasn't snow. And we were wearing shorts.
This is how we emerged the next morning.
In 2013, park officials added a large trampoline and an inflatable water slide in the reservoir.
“These toys give families something to swim out to and have fun with,” Hunt said.
The park also has paddle boards and kayaks available to rent at the reservoir. And along with swimming and other water recreation, the lake is also a popular place to catch crawdads, the Utah State Parks website said.
This was true. Well, halfway. There was a slide, no trampoline, and the dock to get up to the slide didn't have a ladder. I hoisted approximately 1 million children onto the dock throughout the day. Halle's legs are bruised and beaten up from climbing up over and over again. I said with a smile to one dad in the water "If only we had a dad who knew some knots, maybe he could make a ladder!" He looked at me blankly, so I continued: "Or I could just stand here for the next few hours and hoist all these kids up here..." and then he walked away. THEN Big Mama hoisted herself up on the dock and went down the slide.
We rented paddle boards and kayaks too. They were affordable and the people were very nice.
Big Mama tried the paddle board with much success until I suddenly lost my balance and went dramatically overboard. I met the zucchini bottom up close and personal.
Despite all the hardships (Ha) we had a really good time. We played in the water for about 6 hours and everyone had so much fun.
Cameron treated us all to an awesome dutch oven dinner and cobbler which was really good. And Holly took some cute pictures of the kids. It's so handy to have her talents around!
The next day (Sunday) we headed out for an ADVENTURE! And it really was. I followed Cam down miles of dirt roads littered with cattle until we came upon THIS:
The Little Grand Canyon
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| Jack couldn't resist the urge to pee over the side. |
It was really remarkable. And terrifying. I was sure one of our kids was going to go over the edge to a certain death. We all survived and traveled onward. We saw Indian petrolyphs, and lots of sagebrush. After lunch, I decided to get a head start, back to the highway and went ahead without my guide.
Bad choice.
I took a wrong turn and we drove 50 miles out of our way on a dirt road. I hit a gorge in my daddy's truck and almost lost our cooler out of the back. I also nearly hit a cow in the road when I came over a hill. It was.....adventurous.
We had a really great trip and it just proves that if you have good company, and a good attitude, anything can be fun! Thanks Robinson's!
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