As the summer rolls on, it’s becoming harder and harder to hide in my cute little office and work. There are exciting things to do, things to see, and I might be a teensy weensy bit stir crazy. When the crazies set in, it’s time for a change of scenery.
This weekend that drive to adventure took our family up Big Cottonwood Canyon to explore the Mill B area. What’s great about this spot is that the water from the river cools down the canyon floor making it a welcome break from the summer heat. There are stunning waterfalls, comfortable short hikes, and plenty of rocks for the kiddos to scramble around on.
On a recommendation from a family member, we found Hidden Falls which is marked only by a tiny sign. It’s not even a hike, but rather a climb up the side of a hidden stream that leads to a lovely isolated grotto. The kids had a great time climbing and traversing the stream on half submerged rocks like a real world “floor is lava” game, and I was thrilled to get them away from their screens for a while.
To finish up the afternoon, we hiked Mill B South which is also a short well-maintained and nearly flat trail that leads to a larger staircase waterfall at the end. It’s a perfect place to bring a picnic and get away from things.
A lot of this area is what I imagine the dramatic canyons and mountains in Stonebearer’s Betrayal to feel like. There are steep slopes and hidden gems just waiting to be found. Maybe if I go far enough, I’ll find an immense castle occupied by magical immortals.
Hey, a girl can dream.
What are your favorite outdoor activities?
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If you love fantasy and super immersive experiences, I have a place you might love. Located in Pleasant Grove, Utah, Evermore Park is a “fantasy European hamlet of imagination.” Inside the gorgeous grounds you can find adventure, quests, dragons, music, and of course, tasty treats.
My family went to explore Evermore Park last week with the hopes of embarking on an epic adventure that might mimic the quests found in popular video games like Legend of Zelda, or for me – Witcher. The park itself did not disappoint. Good money has been spent in the building and landscaping of the different beautiful buildings scattered around the grounds. Had I been going by myself, I would have spent my time wandering around just to soak up the atmosphere and maybe curl up in a cozy nook to watch and daydream.
Guests coming to the park are welcome to dress up and be part of the fantasy. I was surprised and amazed at how many visitors came dressed in elaborate European fantasy garb. The people watching was incredible.
A magical mix of eerie and beautiful
The residents of Evermore feel as if they’ve walked out of the pages of your favorite fantasy book. They wander around carrying clues and totems to give to questing visitors. Successful quests earn visitors “gold” coins they can turn in for prizes.
I wanted to love this idea so much. As a fantasy writer, this should have been a wonderful immersive experience that would both inspire and light new creative fires. For my kids it should have been a magical place where they could pretend and play and come away feeling like they did something both different and cool.
In reality, there were lots of things that we learned the hard way. When we were admitted into the park there were no real instructions or even a vague idea of where to go or what to do to start our journey. While there were a few characters interacting with visitors in the entrance, because we weren’t sure if they were visitors or residents we didn’t know what we were supposed to do with them. It wasn’t until later when we learned that residents wear a special lighted pendant to indicate they work for the park.
When we finally found a character to talk to, she was wonderful and gracious and did her best to get us started on our way with a special quest to find a princess who had forgotten who she was. Terrific! Each of our kids received a little charm that was supposed to remind this princess about her true identity and a few clues as to where to find her.
We were on our way!
The first place we checked, she wasn’t there. We asked around and given another clue to go look somewhere on the other side of the park. Determined to find our princess, we trekked over there, getting distracted along the way to explore the eerie mausoleum filled with creepy vampires and a demonic spider thing. By the time we reached our missing princess’s new location, she had already gone. We were directed yet again to seek her over by the entrance, on yet a different corner of the park.
She wasn’t there either. See a trend? Two hours had elapsed without success in our first quest. Along the way, we talked to a few other characters to help us, doing everything we could to keep it lighthearted as the kiddos were starting to get frustrated. Finally, we learned that she had just barely moved to a new location.
We rushed to find her. My daughter was too shy to talk to her so I tried to remember what we were supposed to tell her, (remember, we had now invested over two hours) hoping that she would fill in the gaps and make this a magical moment so our experience would have a lovely pay off.
Nope. We gave her the charm that was supposed to remind her of her true identity and she just kind of took it with a shrug and said thank you. It was awkward enough that I didn’t want to pursue it further.
Statues so real I thought it was going to jump out at me.
We did have fun learning to be rangers and hiding behind residents and what not, but it was dark, we were tired, and if the first quest took two hours of frustration, we weren’t super eager to try again on another one. We got a super yummy snack and wandered a bit more without bothering trying to interact with other characters, and then called it a day.
For our family, while the park itself is amazing, the learning curve was simply far too steep to truly enjoy the experience. And at the cost of over $100 for the five of us to participate, we didn’t feel we got our value out of it.
If you love LARPing, this would be your dream come true and I’d fully recommend it for you.
However, if you are even in the least bit uncomfortable interacting with people in costume, or are bringing children who want to complete quests to get prizes, this venue might be super frustrating.
On a positive note, they didn’t blink an eye when my 7-year-old wanted to try archery, so kudos there.
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Jodi L. Milner, Author 