Saturday my husband got a long time wish fulfilled when he got to take his family camping. The week before I must have gone to R.E.I. four or five time to get new gear – including a 3 person tent and new mummy bags – all specialized stuff for ultra-light camping, which is what Pere wants to get into. So this weekend was kind of training for longer future trips.
We were trying to “rough it” and only bring what we would be able to bring with us if we were doing ultra-light hiking. We had to fudge it a little because we don’t have frame packs yet.
We picked up Pere’s sister, Tante, who was not in on the whole “roughing” it thing and had brought a nice fluffy pillow that I was jealous of.
We got to the camp site in a couple hours and dropped off the fire wood we had bought at the ranger station and then drove out to the trailheads. At the trailhead we were warned of ticks, rattlesnakes and mountain lions. The whole tick thing really got into Tante’s head and she was pretty freaked out about it. I can’t really say anything though since I have a spider “issue.”
We chose the Bell Canyon hike which was the longest but had the least elevation. Z was properly attired in long lightweight pants, t-shirt, hat and hiking shoes, the rest of us wore about the same uniform in plain colors so as not to attract bees. But soon our sweat was attracting lots of flies which made it hard to sit still to eat our “rations” at lunch time. About two and a half miles up the trail ended and we decided to go off trail for the return trip. Nothing too dangerous, just a dry creek bed that we had seen followed near the trail and that we knew crossed the trail.
It was more fun but it was a lot harder. I had to hold Z’s hand most of the time to keep her from tripping on the rocks and we had to do more climbing up and down rocky areas to bypass parks of the creek that were not to dry. We jokingly accused Pere of wanting one of us to break an ankle so that he could use the emergency kit he had brought. But nothing worse that Tante submerging one foot in the creek happened.
We saw lots of bird, bugs and lizards. When the river bed crossed the trail again we got back on it and soon I saw a lizard about 12 inches long, it was an alligator lizard. Being the good Mommy that I am I caught it for Z and let her hold it for a bit.
We were all pretty tired by the time we got back to our car. We stopped at the first restroom to clean off. I took off my clothes to take a shower and stepped into the stall and had something small, slimy, and grey jump out at me. I screamed. Tante asked me if the water was too cold but I told that no, my shower was already occupied by a frog. He was a good frog though and didn’t bother me while I and then Z rinsed off.
part two coming up
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