Dan, Colby, Carson, and I drove two cars to Utah so one could stay there. Leah flew to Utah from her conference, and we picked her up at the airport. Paige stayed behind because she was starting an in-person class for her Master's Degree, and also she works two jobs.
Outside of Flagstaff and down 4 miles of dirt road, there's a giant hole in the ground created by lava 700,000 years ago. We scrambled over lots of rocks and down into the hole. There were four people coming out as we went in, but for the rest of our hike, it was only us in that hole.
It was one mile deep. And then we hiked another 45 minutes to walk that same mile back. My legs were shaking by the end, and my muscles were sore for days. Sometimes one of us would be so focused on walking through the rocks, we didn't notice the ceiling got shorter and we'd hit it with our heads and yell. Sometimes I landed wrong and my ankle would hurt for a while. This was such an interesting hike, and it was great to freely explore instead of being on a cave tour where you can't touch anything and have to walk slow with the group. It was also eerie to be in there all alone, but not positive we were alone until we walked the whole length back and didn't see anyone else. It felt like we were going to run into a creepy person just sitting alone somewhere in the cave waiting for us.
Again, look how smooth the ceiling and walls were - in contrast to the rocky ground.
We made it out! It was a steep climb back up to the hole.
