Fossil Creek has been on our bucket list for awhile, but we had been warned parking was limited and you had to get there first thing in the morning or you wouldn't get a spot. It is about an hour and forty five minute drive for us so we hadn't made it there yet. This year, they changed the rules and you have to get a permit/ parking pass online ahead of time.
I booked our permit online and just found the only parking lot that was available the day we could go. (I wish I had seen the above map before I booked it.) I thought all parking lots were created equal. Wrong! We hiked from the Homestead parking lot all the way to water fall and back to Tonto Bench parking lot (4.85 miles). The kids and I found a shady spot to sit and wait while Shawn ran the rest of the way to the car and then drove back to pick us up.
The kids were troopers and didn't complain at all! They seriously walked so far. Iva and I had learned the pioneer children walked and walked song the week before in primary and she sang it the whole time for us. Very fitting. The kids loved stopping at all the swimming holes along the way and having snacks.
We made it to the main waterfall and saw lots of people sliding down it and jumping off of it. Charlie thought it was awesome. We just watched people and swam up to the waterfall. I didn't get any pictures because while we were swimming, we saw someone using a selfie stick drop their phone in the water. I didn't want that to be us.
We had a great trip and definitely plan to go back, but we will have a better game plan next time and be better prepared.
