Fossil Springs

This weekend we went camping/hiking at Fossil Springs. Friday night we camped just outside of Payson. Notice our ghetto tent, made with metal bars all not connected... Probably took the guys an hour+ to figure it out. haha. Once that was done we built a fire and had smores and talked with everyone.We were so lucky it didn't rain on us while we were there, otherwise we would have been washed away. Nobody really slept that great because we were on a slight incline, which caused us to slip towards the bottom of the tent throughout the night. Who really sleeps well when they are camping though? The next morning we had some cereal and the boys played in the creek. Silly, silly, silly... Not long after, we drove out to the trail head to begin our 4 mile trek down to fossil springs. While chatting down the trail I noticed a brown rock that I was about to kick was moving. It was not a rock, but a TARANTULA!!!! In my WHOLE life I NEVER thought I would see a real tarantula, except in cages, and here it was!!! He wasn't as harmful as I was expecting. Brad picked him up with a stick and we all got a good look at him, before throwing him into a bush.Finally we made it down to Fossil Springs!! The last mile of the hike was so pretty walking next to the creek. The water was kind of cold, at least to me, I've been so spoiled with a 90 degree pool all summer. Getting used to the water was difficult. We jumped in off a small ledge first, then swam over to the cave. It reminded everyone of the cave from the Count of Monte Cristo, not as blue, but still pretty cool. We could climb up on the sides look at the clear water.
The biggest adventure was the ring of death. From the main flow of the spring you can swim underneath the rock and into this whole, pictured below. First Jordan and Brad swam through to check it out on the other side. As soon as they climbed up they told us all not to swim through because there was an old man stuck in the pool. There is a rope you have to climb up, and this guy had fallen too many times and had lost a lot of his strength. That kind of scared us all from going through, but as soon as that big crowd left we decided to do it, and just have the guys go through first to help us up if necessary. I thought it was SO much fun swimming through. You could see the light coming through as you go. Then you hit a wall of bubbles, because the water fall is swirling the water constantly, but you keep going and the water clears up again. When I did it I instantly saw the rope and grabbed it, I didn't want to get stuck in there. Then easily climbed up to the top. Of course the trip wouldn't be complete without jumping off of the waterfall! Kind of scary just cause you have to really push yourself off at the top to clear the jutting out rocks, but definately manageable.

The whole gang... Brad and I, Jordan and Julie, Kelsey and Joey, Stephanie and BenI had to put this on becuase these guys are too goofy and such good friends.We started our hike out just to stop again at this rope swing. :) Tons and TONS of fun!!This trip was incredible, minus the hike UP. We all left the top with one waterbottle, so on our way home it was basically one waterbottle per couple to share. We were hiking at 3 o'clock in the sun, all uphill. We were a little dehydrated to say the least. Alas, we all made it back safe and sound. What an awesome trip! :)