Our First Family Camping Experience

Once upon a time, a family of four decided that it was about time they had their very first ever camping experience. They had been weekend hikers for several months and knew it was time to take the next step and sleep out in God's green earth. They chose Bluff Springs as the location for their first camp-out but chickened out when the week brought rain storm after rain storm to the area. They then decided to camp in the desert location of Dog Canyon, but realized partially through a hike at Three Rivers that Dog Canyon was going to be too hot, no matter how much it had been raining. Luckily, this fearless family can go with the flow and change plans several times in one day without too much fretting. Since they were already hiking at Three Rivers and found the area to be beyond beautiful, not to mention not too cold and not too hot, they decided to stay the night at the campground right there.

This family of four arrived at the Three Rivers trailhead in the early afternoon and began their hike. The entire trail is 13 miles round trip, but the family decided to let the kids wander here and there off the path instead of trying to make it anywhere near the end, or the middle for that matter. Mother Moore saw this big tree a bit off the path and insisted that everyone go up to admire it. It was surrounded by tall, straight, very thin trees, so its size and shape really made it stand out in the forest. She felt it would fit in better in a magical storyland. Father Moore, Brother Moore, and Sister Moore were not quite as impressed.

Brother Moore and Sister Moore left the beaten path time after time during the first mile of the hike to explore the small ponding areas. One might think they are desert dwellers. They particularly enjoyed watching the water bugs and their fascinating shadows. There were often large dragonflies darting here and there near the water. The family was very surprised to learn that Sister Moore is allergic to dragonflies. She would cower when one got near her, but when assured that they are harmless, she let the rest of the family know that she is, in fact, allergic to them.

After hiking for several hours, seeing signs of elk everywhere, an elk carcass, but no live elk (or any animal larger than a squirrel), the family decided to head in to the campground to set up their tent and have some dinner. They chose Space #12 solely based on this view. Father Moore was kind enough to position the tent so that this would be Mother Moore's first view upon rising in the morning.

The children searched near and far (as long as they were still within eyesight of Mother and Father Moore) for wood for a campfire. They often returned to camp with a giant, 3-inch twig in each hand before returning to hunt. The campfire may not have been large, but it warmed their hearts and their food just fine.

Sister Moore and Brother Moore were eager to help Father Moore set up the tent borrowed from Grandmother Daves. They each had a role and were pleased with the finished product despite these written instructions (really, punctuation and all!):

1. Draw back zipper, take out tent is it in ground, take out two fibre pole.

2. Draw frankly to tile at first pave out and link the pole, interlock each other insert it in the interior hole of the plastic. glue mouth

3. When being heavy one light cloth, four lightiron .with is it insert four another hole of foot to produce hook of suit wind ,so as to play a regular role.

4. Dry in the shade pile flat, can reuse after ,using up

Brother Moore and Father Moore worked together for admittedly longer than expected to light the "easy light" charcoal. It did indeed light at last and worked wonderfully to cook the vegetarian version of hot dogs that the family brought along. After hot dogs were cooked, the various twigs gathered by the children were added and found to be rather wet from recent rains. That led to quite a bit of smoking before they dried out enough to catch fire. Once the camp fire was going strong, or at least as strong as it was ever going to be, marshmallows were roasted and smores were created and enjoyed. It was interesting to see the amount of mess that resulted from one child eating one smore, or maybe two, since Mother Moore was being quite generous with the sweets after the long hike. Mother Moore does not think that smores are really the best camp food item since camping also usually means a lack of places to clean one's self properly.

Sister Moore has not yet been told that "smoke follows beauty," but the smoke was certainly in her eyes much of the time. She also did not figure out that it would be best to move her chair out of the line of smoke for best results. Mother Moore likes the picture below because it shows a line of Sister Moore roasting her marshmallow, the tent set up behind her, and the sought-after view behind that. It sort of sums up the trip in one picture.

After eating 14000 or so calories for dinner and dessert, Mother Moore felt like doing a little more hiking. The others decided to join her, even though they seemed less worried about the caloric intake of gooey marshmallows atop melty chocolate bars atop graham crackers. The family followed another trail to the top of one of the lower ridges. Along the way, Brother Moore would have made his Granddad Daves proud with his spotting of an actual bear print in the dried mud. Sister Moore was not to be outdone and saw one of her own during a hike the next morning. Unfortunately, the family did not see the owners of the prints. That may be fortunate, however, because they did not take the time to read the sign about what to do in case of a bear encounter until all the hiking was over. Their plans were not exactly the same as those suggested by the forest service.

After a night of sleeping as well as one sleeps in a little tent on the rocky ground with an elbow in the nose, a blanket thief, a young boy's watch alarm going off several times, and an overactive imagination, the family ate some donut holes and fruit, packed up their camp and headed out to do some more hiking in the area. They set out to hike the same trail as the day before, in hopes that they would wander off less and get farther. However when they saw a sign for a different trail up "Dry Canyon" one mile in, they decided to follow that for a change of scenery. It was good they were again so willing to change plans at the last minute. The Dry Canyon trail was more difficult than any other hike the family has done to date, but they all felt it was worth it. Sister Moore may argue here, but she generally gets prodded along in the hopes that "one day" she will know how much fun all this hiking and climbing really is. They all panted a bit more than usual and stopped for water and breathing breaks now and then, but the trail was so rugged and forested that they really felt like adventurers.

Snack breaks were really important to especially the youngest Moore. Craisins and pistachios hit the spot after miles of hiking and thousands of feet in elevation gain. Snack breaks also let them slow down enough to notice the tiny snails hiding under nearby rocks.

Sister Moore left her mark in one of the clearings in the manner of an animal trap built out of rocks. There had been no animals trapped when they checked it on their way back down, but she has high hopes for it in the future. To sum up this hiking/camping adventure, Sister Moore let Mother and Father Moore know several times that they should return to this campground lots of times, starting with next Friday.