Kaibab car camping

 So, our truck is still in limbo...to repair or total?  We wanted to get away for a little camp out and decided we could do it in our Pirus but only on a great dirt road not too far from the paved road.  We knew the right spot and got the tent and all of the other needed stuff packed up.  It was a full load.  We left Wednesday morning and drove to Cameron Arizona to start the trip off with a Navajo Taco (we split one) for lunch at the Cameron Trading Post.  So delicious! After lunch we drove over to see the Little Colorado River Gorge where we visited the different viewpoints. It is so deep! Then we drove back to Jacob Lake (with a stop at Lonely Dell Ranch - no fruit ready to pick there) and after some ice-cream and cookies we went to get our camp set up.  We found a great spot just off the road a little ways near the Murray Lake Trailhead of the Arizona National Scenic Trail.  We actually camped right next to that part of the trail.  It was a great spot with no hazards for our lowrider car to get there.  It has been awhile since we tent camped!  We thought about just camping under the stars but it was a little breezy so we decided to put two cots in our tent and use our air pads on top of them along with our down backpacking quilts.  It worked out well.  It was a full moon night, so it was good to be in the tent to make it a little darker!  It was cool and quiet.  We played some card games in the evening until bedtime.  In the morning it was pretty cool, so we stayed snuggled in our beds for a little while.  When it was time to go, we stopped in a Jacob Lake and then headed home through Kanab and then Zion.  We stopped off in Kanab to see their new reservoir.  It's a nice lake that has a trail all the way around it and lots of different sports activities along the side.  Zion was as breathtaking as ever on our drive through.  Paul still can't walk too far, so we only did a little walking during the whole trip.  Soon he'll be on the mend and we'll be able to do more!  This was a great little get away and we needed it!  Someday we'll get our truck back or get another one.  

First Campout of 2026 - near Mamoth Cave

 

We put this one together pretty quick.  I did housework and Paul got the other stuff ready. We tried to go up camping by Oak Grove, but no dispersed spots were open.  Then we looked around on Cedar Mountain, but there was still too much snow.  Then we decided to get lower in elevation to the Ponderosa pines and found a great spot over by the turn off to Mammoth Cave.  It was beautiful and not crowded at this time of the year.  Because we've had so little snow and rain, it was dry enough that we wouldn't get stuck. We had a simple but delicious dinner of clam chowder, grilled Swiss cheese  sandwiches and fresh pineapple with candy bars for dessert.  We saw more antelope - 13- than we've ever seen in one group.  They were skittish and hard to photograph.  I can't say I had a good nights sleep, but I did enjoy seeing the stars when I got up several times to pee!  The next morning we  had a great walk and saw lots of wonderful family camp spots.  After that we drove down to Enoch/Cedar and dropped off Hawaiian chocolates and birthday gifts and picked up Bean.  We  had lunch with Bean in Cedar and then drove over to see Mammoth Cave and picked up our trailer.  Then it was time to head  home.  I'm glad we could get out and have such a beautiful campout - weather was wonderful and the camper heater kept us nice and warm.   

Colorful campout

We wanted to enjoy the leaves up close, so we went camping up by Cedar Breaks.  It got a little crazy when the electrical parts of our camper weren't in working order, but we got by and had a great dinner with the help of the propane stove.  We had our lanterns to see by.   We took a nice evening walk. It got cold and windy, so we were glad to be snug inside even without the heater being in working order.  It wasn't the best night's sleep, but still, we were warm and out there.  On the way down we drove up to Brian Head Peak to see the progress on the restoration of the CCC building up there.  They are doing a great job and have all the stonework portion done.  Sorry, no pictures.  I didn't actually get out to see it up close because the winds up there on the peak must have been blowing about 50 miles per hour.  Stuff was flying everywhere.  On the way down the mountain the truck started having problems shifting and it was pretty slow going on the way home.  We had to take the truck into the shop.  So, despite lots of things not being in good working order, we did enjoy the leaves and a great dinner!  Ended up having to get a new gas pump.  Very expensive.  Found out we had read the charged gauge wrong on the battery, and it was NOT charged as we thought it was.  

Cedar Mountain Campout - a sticky situation!

 We knew we wanted to get out even though it had been or might again be raining.  We were deciding between Jacob Lake area or Cedar Mountain.  Jacob Lake is lower and might be warmish, even if it was raining.  Cedar Mountain - cooler, greener and oh so beautiful!  We went back and forth about it and then with a final weather report saying the rain wouldn't be there, we took the road to Cedar Mountain planning to go to a camp spot near Cedar Breaks where we had camped in the rain last summer and loved it.  When we got there the road was not looking good and the clouds were looking like rain.  Then the road got worse right as we were ready to turn to the parking spot to camp...and we weren't moving, were sloshing back and forth trying to get traction, putting sticks under the tires to try to move forward or backward, and then finally, one back tire of the truck was just too deep...stuck, stuck, stuck.  It was getting late, it was raining/hailing a little bit intermittently. We were tired and done, so we set up the camp trailer and went inside to stay the night and figure it out more in the morning.  We had a great dinner of homemade chicken soup, toasted sourdough bread, and pineapple/strawberry salad.  We had hot chocolate and toast for dessert.  It was delicious!  We played games and then it was bed time.  We put the big backseat floormat outside the trailer door so you didn't have to step in big mud puddle when you went outside.  (I actually peed in a container and didn't go outside all night).  Sorry, but it was raining hard for most of the night and I just couldn't get out there very well to get it done.  In the morning it was looking even more wet, but beautiful.  We put the trailer away, got all of the stuff we wanted to take home out of it, and hiked down the road to where we could get cellphone service...about 2.79 miles, pretty much all the way back to the main highway to Cedar Breaks.  We got hold of Bryan and he said he'd take us home but would have to have Brady come and get us while he was having a meeting for work.  Brady came and we rode back to the campsite, keeping a good distance from the sticking spot, and carried all the stuff that needed to go home to his truck.  Then we went down to Bryan's office and he brought us home.  So nice of them to mix up their day to help us out!!!  So grateful!!! That was Friday.  Today, Saturday, it was looking good on the weather report for no rain, so we got with Brady and took our BIG truck, lots of plywood, scaffold planks, tow rope and chain and picked him up and drove to the campsite.  There was still lots of mud/water everywhere, but Paul came up with a great plan and with the help of a big jack and smart thinking and driving by these two guys we got the truck out of the hole, the trailer hooked up and pulled them both out backward until we could hook them up frontwards and until it could be driven out!!!  We made it clear down Cedar Canyon and then suddenly one back tire on the trailer blew out!  Paul was pulling it with the big truck.  Thank goodness we had a spare...but the bolts holding it on were rusted and we couldn't get it off!!!  So we left it and drove the other truck to Lou and Bryan's house where Brady got it loose with some tool he had there.  Then we went back, picked up Bean, put the spare tire on, and then took Bean to a wonderful lunch at Park Place.  Then Paul and I drove the trucks home with NO MORE INCIDENTS ALONG THE WAY!!!  It was fun to visit with Bryan and Brady in the process of their rescuing us.  They are wonderful people and we love them even when they are not in the process of rescuing us!  It was still beautiful up there today, and it was looking like rain...and we wished that we were staying there to camp out!  

Beaver Campout

We had a great campout!  It's later than we probably would go camping up at Beaver because it's getting pretty cold now with Fall in the air.  But, since we have our little camp trailer and can be inside if we need to and stay warm, we went.  It was wonderful because almost no one was up there camping, except in our favorite spot, at Round Flat.  We went just a little down the road to another favorite spot which was great.  There were no 4-wheelers screaming around.  It was in the low 50's during the day.  We got there and got set up just in time to make a delicious dinner and ate it inside because it was getting pretty cold.  It's so nice to have the option of cooking inside.  We had clam chowder and grilled cheese sandwiches and fruit.  Later we had hot chocolate and a cherry turnover for dessert.  We played some games, listened to a book and hit the sack.  

In the morning we lazed in bed some until the sun was full up and then we drove up the mountain to see if we could see any of the mountain goats.  We hiked around a little and then a lot to look for them.  We saw some picas in the rocks.  It was a sunny but windy day, but with coats on we did just fine and had a great hike...but saw no goats.  We hiked to within a mile of Delano peak looking.  We had no water with us, so decided not to go all the way to the peak this time.  By that time it was time to head back and get the stew cooking.  It turned out really well and it was early enough that we ate dinner outside with the sun shining on our backs.  It felt so good and was so peaceful and quiet and beautiful.  

After dinner went down and took a walk to the dam and around LeBaron Lake.  That day we had seen a crew clearing the edges of the road with a cool remote controlled wood chipper machine.  We had seen lots of evidence of their work all along the road up.  They left lots of great wood all cut to size for people to pick up.  We saw people loading it up along our drive back to camp and put several pieces in to take home for firewood this winter.  Our dinner was again, so delicious.  We had the stew and yummy bread and fruit and then hot chocolate and the rest of the cherry turnovers for dessert.  We played games and went to bed.  

In the morning stayed in bed until the sun was up and then went for a walk and saw some deer.  In the night we had heard some coyotes yipping and early in the morning heard some elk bugling.  We didn't see any unfortunately.  We came back and got things packed up.  Then we drove down to Cedar and took Bean to lunch and then we went up and saw the new Visitor's Center at Cedar Breaks.  It's very nice.  Then it was time to head home and put it away.  At least it was only 96 at home.  Pretty hot after our mid 50's respite.  There were leaves just starting to turn up in the mountains.  Fall is on it's way and we are looking forward to the cooler weather coming.  

Last Campout before back to school - Cedar Mountain

 We love our little trailer more all the time!  We decided to do one more campout before I go back to school on Monday.  Cedar Mountain was our destination and we had a wonderful campout.  We left Thursday after getting work done in the morning and getting ready.  We found a great campsite just as it was about to start an afternoon mountain rainstorm.  We were snug and dry in our little trailer!  It was so nice to enjoy the storm without being in a tent in the mud.  We took a nap, played games and cooked a great dinner all inside.  We had pork chops, gravy and potatoes and some salad.  Later we had hot chocolate and donut/cinnamon roll to dunk in it.  It had stopped raining.  I had sort of a hard night with some leftover colposcopy issues to deal with, but thankfully it wasn't raining.

Friday morning we got up to a beautiful morning crisp and cool and the air so clean from the rain. We decided to hike down to Stud Flat along the trail to Ashdown Gorge.  It was so beautiful...and steep.  But we made it the 3.5 miles down and then back up!  We only saw one guy running down on our way back out.  Then we looked at the new Cedar Breaks Visitor's Center that's almost ready to open and visited the temporary one. After that we went over and hiked the short Bristle Cone Pine trail and then drove to the Navajo Lake overlook.  On our way back to our trailer it started to rain.  Another one of those afternoon mountain storms that happen this time of year.  And we were again, snug and dry in our trailer for another nap, games, listening to a book and making another great dinner.  We had clam chowder, grilled cheese sandwiches, cantaloupe and some not good lemon pie.  We didn't eat much of that, so we had toast and hot chocolate later.  We took a drive after dinner and explored some new roads that we could use to get to this spot in a better way.  

Saturday morning we got up and drove over to hike the Twisted Forest Trail.  It is very steep, but so amazing.  We got to the top and enjoyed the beautiful views and then hiked a different way down that wasn't so steep.  We also hiked through a forest of bristlecone pines and then to down a wash to see the end where the water came over the edge from the top.  It was a very beautiful and interesting side hike.  Then it was time to pack up and head out.  We got everything stowed and went down to Cedar City and had a nice lunch with Bean at the Pizza Factory and ran some errands with him.  Then it was time to head home.  Such a great campout and such a great way to camp in the rain and still enjoy you time! 

 

Camping fun in Boulder and the Kaibab!

 What a great camping trip we had...very spur of the moment.  Paul finished a job on Tuesday morning and came home and said we could go camping for a few days if I wanted to.  So, we put it together and went.  We started out over by Boulder Utah.  I had been wanting to check out some campgrounds over that way for a possible Family Camp site and thought we might camp at one, but we got there pretty late and after eating Subway in Escalante we decided to just look for a good camp spot along the way.  We found a dirt road turn off across from the Chriss Lake hike trailhead and found a great spot down that way.  It was among the aspens and you can't beat that.  We took an evening walk further down that road and found a beautiful stream, played some banana grams and then it was time to call it a day.

The next morning we decided to hike to Chriss Lake.  It was a great, pretty uppity hike and rangers had just cleared it of lots of brush, so that made it even better.  It was a very beautiful hike and the lake had funny ducks on it.  It was about 4 miles.  On our way down we saw 2 groups of forest rangers going up to do more work on the trail.  I was crossing a stream that came out of it on the way out and fell off a log that moved, but thankfully I just got bruised a bit, but nothing more.  

After that, we decided to go and check out those campgrounds.  They were nice, but not what we need for Family Camp.  Good to know.  Along the way we stopped in at the Wildcat Visitor's Center.  We talked to the host and he said we were lucky because the "humming bird people were there."  They were a group of college students (I think) that were there studying humming birds.  They had set up feeders with nets over them around the little picnic area.  The birds would go in there to eat and then they would catch them in little net bags.  They would take them out and do all kinds of measurements on the them.  They were banding some and some that they caught that day had been banded as much at 14 years ago!  The bands were so tiny that to see the numbers on them you had to use a jeweler's glass.  They would measure them some and then stick the birds little beaks into a feeder on the table so they could drink and help relieve some of their stress.  When they had finished all their measurement recording, they asked if we wanted to release them.  Paul and I both got to hold one in our hand and then they flew away.  It was so cool and amazing!

After that we drove back over the mountain to the Hole In the Rock road and drove out to see the Devil's Garden rock formations.  We had seen them years ago and I have been wanting to revisit it.  It was really hot this time of year, but we got to see all all of them.  Really outstanding!

Next we made what was probably a bad choice for how late and how hot it was.  We decided to go further down the road to the trailhead for Dry Fork Narrows and Peek-a-boo and Spooky Gulch.  We took the gradual decent into Dry Fork Narrows and hiked through that for about 1.5 miles.  Then we came out into a wash and went over to see if we wanted to go into the loop trail for the other two.  The entrance to Peek-a-boo was more of a climb/scramble than we wanted to do, so we walked down to see if we could go in the other end at Spooky.  It was SO hot and further and we wanted to go, so we headed back to the Dry Fork Narrows to get back to the truck and go.  I probably would have been ok without the part where we walked over to find Spooky Gulch.  I just got so hot and pretty soon I started feeling sick to my stomach.  I was pretty good in the shade, but needed to stop and rest in some shade here and there.  Then we got out of the narrows and into the full sun and my legs just couldn't go.  I rested and finally after a hill we got to where we could see the truck, but I just had to sit down under a tree in the shade after puking up all the water I had been drinking.  Paul went on to the truck and to get cold water and Triscuits for me. I got cooled down in the shade of a tree and then met him halfway back.  I just kind of hit a wall I guess.  Too much sun and not enough food.  We hadn't eaten that day, but had plenty of water.  I started feeling better as soon as I got cooler and had some salty crackers and cold water in me.  We drove back to Escalante and got some cold pop to go with our crackers and then I really felt much better.  I felt dumb being such a wimp, but I really just was out of gas.  After that we drove home via a favorite campsite, Blue Spruce, and over Hell's Backbone.  We made a great dinner of Super Nachos at our little camp.  We both tried the outdoor shower on our little trailer and it felt pretty good after our hot day out.  Then we played some games and hit the sack.  

The next morning we packed up and drove back down to Escalante and went through the visitor's center for the Grand Escalante National Monument.  We watched the movie and saw the displays.  It's a good place.  Then we were going to drive home, but decided that we would camp another night over at the Kaibab Forest near Jacob Lake.  We just enjoyed the drive and when we got to Jacob Lake we got cookies to have for desert that night and drove out into the dirt roads to find a camp spot.  We finally found a great site and got everything set up.  It was beautiful in a different way here, still high, but not so high as by Boulder and lots more Ponderosa than Aspen trees.  We took a walk for 3 miles up the road to see what was past the log that had fallen across it.  It was so nice. We found some really cool rocks with fossils in them along the way. Then we got back to camp and made another dinner of Super Nachos. (That's what we had since we hadn't planned on staying out that long.)  We were hungry, and it tasted great, and we had the cookies too!  Then we went for a drive down the road.  We had found a way around the log on our walk.  When we got back we played games for a while and then went to bed. 

In the morning we decided to drive over to Lee's Ferry to see if there were any peaches ready to pick in the orchard before we headed home.  There weren't any, but we did get to talk to some guys doing restoration stonework on the old house at Lonely Dell Ranch there.  Then we went down to see the Colorado River and then it was time to get back on the road with one more stop for cookies as we went back by Jacob Lake.  We saw some amazing and varied scenery all along the way on our trip and had such a good time getting to know our little camp trailer better and liking it even more.  We had great, out by ourselves, camp spots both times.  It was a wonderful end of school break camping trip!  

 We also saw this interesting place along the way over by Cannonville.  A very expensive way to camp.

Forsyth Trail and beyond!

 I didn't think I was going to make it.  Paul and I decided we wanted to try backpacking quilts.  They save so much weight in a pack rather than carrying even a lightweight sleeping bag.  The kids put together and got us some for Father's Day/my birthday.  I thought it would be cool to go for just a short little hike/overnight campout and try them out.  Paul had a bigger hike in mind.  I went along with it, but then it ended up being a lot harder than I thought it would be...and I sort of crashed along the way.  We ended up doing Forsyth Trail up to Burger Peak plus on to Further Water.  Forsyth to Burger Peak is 10.6 miles and is considered challenging with an elevation gain of 3487 feet.  This was a lot more than what I had in mind, but we had hiked the first 4 miles of it earlier in the year and it was so beautiful, I thought I wanted to see the rest of it.  We got there and hit the trail at 8:30 am on Friday morning.

I had about a 21 lb. pack.  I really had nothing but some phone charging blocks that wasn't essential.  But it wasn't too far into the very uphill hike that I really started feeling it.  We saw a guy a couple of miles up the trail that told us water was going to disappear not very long after this unless we wanted to go to Further Water.  We needed to be able to have water to cook our dinner and stay the night, so that concerned me.  The full bladder of water I had in my pack was 6 lbs. of the load.  We didn't have anything else to put more water in.  But I think I must have of slowed down my water usage then and that may have been part of why I was having a hard time and was getting concerned about whether I would be able to make it all the way. About 5.5 miles up, right by a direction sign we found a really beautiful campsite.  I asked to stop and rest there. I think it was about 11:00.  (We also hadn't eaten anything, but that's usual for the intermittent fasting lifestyle we are living right now and we had backpacked like that before.)  I was having such a hard time that I wanted to just stop there, but we finally decided the thing to do was to drop my pack there and also drop most of Paul's pack into mine and then hike up to the top and then on to Further Water to get more water and then come back there to camp.  

That's what we did.  I was still struggling.  It got so very straight up and rocky after that.  It was pretty hard for both of us.  We had to stop and just breathe very often - like every 100 steps for most of the way to Burger Peak.  It was supposed to be 3 miles more to get to Further Water from that campsite, but it sure seemed like more than that because the going was so slow.  We peaked out and saw amazing views.  Then we kept going to get to Further Water.  It was quite a bit down and very hard to find the trail.  And then it started up again.  Paul had found a helpful map on Google, but it wasn't too functional because he didn't have a signal.  When it seemed like there was just one more big climb and then a down hill to where it was supposed to be we just decided that I would stay put and Paul would do the last little ways and come back if he didn't find it in an hour.  I was so tired and felt so unable to do that last uphill that even though I didn't like being separated, I just felt like I was slowing Paul down and it would be better to do it that way.  I drank some water and then he took off.  I laid down on a ground cloth he left and waited.  I took a nap and just rested and ate some trail mix .  We had eaten some after the peak too.  

Thank goodness he found it and was back in less than an hour and we just took a rest and then ate our apple and orange and more trail mix and headed back up and then down to the campsite.  We had hiked about 10.6 miles by then (Paul had that other mile or so on his own).  We were so glad to get there.  It was about 5:30 and we were tired and hungry and glad to just lay down for a while and rest our tired feet.  We made our dehydrated dinners and they were very good along with dehydrated cheesecake bites and later some hot chocolate.  We rested and played cards and cleaned up the campsite until bedtime. 

I can't say I had a great night's sleep.  My backpacking quilt was great, but the pad I had was pretty miserable.  (We  had ordered a new one, but it hadn't come in yet.)  I did lots of noisy tossing and turning, but I saw the stars and moon come up and then finally the sun.  I slept somewhere in there I'm sure.  

We got up with the sun and left camp at 7:30 and got down by 9:30.  It was, all in all, such a beautiful hike.  Near the summit the flowers were beautiful and at the lower elevations they were still beautiful near the water.  It was all beautiful because of the magnificent trees!  At the top we saw some Bristlecone Pines that I never knew we had in the Pine Valley Mountains.  We also saw some of the most giant Limber Pines all along the upper areas of the trail.  Of course the Aspens, Furs, and Ponderosa are all wonderful too.  

So, with some adjustments, that ended up being wise and good, I made it!  Dropping the packs and camping down low where it was not windy and so we didn't have to carry heavy packs up that very steep section, was the best thing to do after all.  I'm not sure, without doing something to get into better shape, that I am going to be doing anything that challenging again soon, or maybe never.  I'm not sure right now.  

Campout and exploring fun!

 We finished up the stonework repairs just in time for Father's Day.  Paul did the final touches on Saturday while I stayed home and cleaned, did laundry and shopped.  Then on Sunday Paul enjoyed the Father's Day meal and talking with the kids, and getting presents, but we didn't get to just go do something he wanted to do for fun...like camping.  So, we decided that we would do it on Monday/Tuesday after Father's Day.  It felt strange and we kept thinking is was Friday/Saturday. But, since he is semi "retired" and I'm out of school for the summer, we decided it's just going to be ok to go camping any day of the week now!  

We went up to Brian Head and over to one of our favorite camping spots on the mountain there.  We got there early afternoon, so we got the camp trailer set up minus the electrical.  We never did figure out why that didn't work, but I had brought a lantern and we had headlamps, so it wasn't really a problem.  We took a nice nap, and then went over by Cedar Breaks and did some little hikes there and ate our snack. We saw the fireplace on the new visitor's center they are building. We took a drive to Brian Head peak and were sad to see that the old CCC structure there was without the roof and the stonework was coming apart.  So sad.  It's been an icon up there on that high peak for a long time.  We ate a nice dinner using the stove in the camp trailer for the first time.  It worked great!  Good food and then a drive up to High Mountain and over to Sydney Valley (which we did not find).  Then it was time for bed.  We had a great nights' sleep.  It got cold outside, be we did fine inside even without the heater.  It had gotten very windy and dusty and smoky outside (from a fire going up north) just before bed, so we were really glad to be in the camp trailer instead of our tent this time.  

 

The next morning we got everything stowed and then drove to Parowan and parked the trailer at a church parking lot and continued up to Beaver and up the mountain to check out a possible family picnic spot for future use.  It is a nice spot.  We drove further up the Mountain and tried to find the old scout camp up there, but instead found a nice reservoir and some old falling down log cabins.  Then it was time to pick up the trailer and head home.  We did stop in at the Creamery at Beaver, and got some yummy cheeses that we are excited to try!  Happy Father's Day some more Paul! 

Kaibab Campout

 We are loving our little trailer!  It's pretty great to be able to come in out of the cold and have hot chocolate and cookies at the little table, especially Jacob Lake cookies.  We wanted to leave in a hurry without much fuss, so we decided to just eat dinner at Jacob Lake.  It was pretty good.  The new owners may not quite be up to snuff, but it did make things easier than having to shop and prep before coming.  We found a beautiful spot among the ponderosas.  There are still patches of snow here and there and the roads had too much snow/mud to go to any of the view points this time, but we had a couple of nice  walks in the woods.  It was wonderful!  As we were packing up the back of the truck to leave I saw that there was a critter in there under stuff.  It was a little chipmunk.  It kept running around trying to hide and we had to take pretty much everything out to finally get it to get out of there.  Pretty cute.  We didn't have anything in there to eat, so it didn't do any damage.  We also found someone's day pack on one of our walks.  It had been there a few days it looked like and the animals had been chewing on it trying to get in.  There was a prescription bottle inside so we had a name.  I called the pharmacy in Glendale AZ and they said they'd call him and give him our number so he could let us know if he wanted the pack back.  It didn't really have much in it other than a lot of men's colognes, some brass knuckles and some notebooks with some writing in them.  Haven't heard anything yet, but we tried.  

First Campout of 2024...and in our camp trailer!

 We did it!  We went camping in our little camp trailer!  We bought it last year and just never got out in it with all of the stuff happening in Anna Lou's life, Bean's life and just life in general.  And we had to do some stuff to the the truck and the trailer...but finally, everything was ready and we went!  Yippee!!!  We went to the Big Sequoia and only shared the area with a group of students/instructor from SUU.  We got there first and found a great spot that would work for the trailer.  It is early, so lots of things weren't out yet, but it was still beautiful.  We had a few struggles setting up and taking down, but it was a great first effort and we are getting the hang of how to camp in a trailer.  Sitting there drinking our hot chocolate inside while it was so cold outside that night was pretty nice.  And getting up and turning on the heater in the morning was pretty nice too!  But, I don't want to give up tent camping either.  There are some places I still want to go that the trailer can get to.  The bed was very comfortable though!  So it's the start of a new era of camping I guess!  We took a great hike almost to the base of the mountain that evening and even ran into a little bit of snow.  Paul made us a fantastic pork chop dinner.  In the morning we checked out the sequoia and on the way down we stopped to look at the river at another camp spot and then went for a hike to the hidden waterfall which was really beautiful.  Had a little mishap after we got home when I left the trailer keys on the bed cover of the truck while unhitching the truck.  I left them and a rock I had brought home and then we drove down to pick up the car from the shop.  Paul brought the truck home to start unloading while I got the car.  When I got home he showed me how the rock had amazingly stayed on the truck all the way home from the car shop.  (He didn't know I had put the keys there too!)  Then I knew!  And we very quickly drove the route we had taken.  Only a little way along there were the trailer keys in the middle of Bluff Street at an intersection.  Our light was green so we drove out into the intersection and thankfully the other light stayed red long enough for me to jump out and grab the keys and get back in and drive through before the light changed!  Felt very blessed to find the keys, with no damage to them at all.  We had another little mishap coming out of the car wash after spraying off the trailer.  We were coming out and someone cut us off so we had to turn more sharply than we were going to and scraped the air conditioner on the side of the trailer on a post, but thankfully stopped soon enough to back it up and the guy got out of the way and we got out with no damage.  I had taken the blocks out from behind the wheels too soon at the camp site when we were hooking it up to the truck and it rolled back closer to the edge of a drop off than felt comfortable.  We are learning!!!  But, after all was said and done, it was a wonderful first campout of the year and first time in the trailer!!!

Kaibab campout + North Rim!

 We were so ready for this campout.  With all of our time in Oregon and then Family Camp and then lots of wonderful rain, we hadn't even been out to camp on our own this year.  Finally, after a week of rains, it stopped and we went!  We found a great place of road #425 on the way to the Timp Point.  It was just a little off the main road and very flat and wonderful.  It's probably someone's favorite deer camp, but thankfully hunting season hasn't started yet.  There was a nice pile of firewood which we enjoyed during the evening with a good book we were listening to.  Paul made us a SO DELICIOUS pork chop, mashed potatoes, beans dinner and we had Jacob Lake cookies for dessert.  We went out to Timp Point earlier in the day and hiked to the end where we could see Thunder River coming out with lots of green around it.  All of the recent rains had made the whole area green and covered in flowers which isn't the usual thing at this time of year.  It got pretty cold in the evening, but we had such a nice level spot that once we got warmed up, we had a really good night's sleep.  We woke at sun up and broke camp and made it over to the North Rim pretty early and didn't see much traffic.  We took the road to Imperial Point and then did the little hike to Cliff Spring and enjoyed the pullouts along the way and got to wish Juge a happy birthday from Roosevelt Point.  Then we continued on to Angel's Window and to Imperial Point.  Then it was time to head home.  We took the backway (after picking up more cookies at Jacob Lake) on road #22 and then home through Fredonia.  We continued to enjoyed the good book on the way home.  It was such a lovely time in a beautiful place.  We felt much revived!

Fall Break - Camping in the Kaibab

We left Thursday afternoon and got there in plenty of time to find a great camp spot just off of FR 255.  Someone must have camped there just before us because sadly, for them, they left a neat little Dutch Oven outfit with a bag to go in, a small DO, silicone muffin cups and a metal pan w/lids set and a lid holder.  I feel bad that they left it, but they never came back to look for it, so now we have some new camping gear via the booty find.  It was a wonderfully level spot with a rock fire ring and surrounded by wonderful Ponderosa trees.  The dirt road wasn't bad at all.  And we were only about 20 miles from Jacob Lake.  That was nice, because for our first night's dinner we just ate there.  Always delicious.  We took cookies back to camp and had hot chocolate by the fire when it got dark.  It was so nice to have a fire.  It's been a long time.  

The next morning our plan was to visit as many of the Grand Canyon View Points as we could before we needed to be back to cook dinner in camp that night.  We made it to Sowats (first time ever), Crazy Jug, Monument, Parrisawampitts, Fence, Locust, North Timp and Timp. We put on over a hundred miles doing it.  And we saw lots of beautiful overlook views.  Sowats is off by itself and offers a different view completely, but the others are different focal points of the same area.  The leaves were gloriously beautiful as well as the canyon views.  We ate lunch along the way.

We had a great Paul cooked dinner in camp on Friday.  We had a fire again that night and read a book around the fire until bedtime.  It got cold in the evenings and early mornings, but the days were just right other than a bit of gnattiness at a few of the points.  We saw Kaibab Squirrels 4 times, turkeys and heard coyotes the first night.  A very noisy crow woke us up on Saturday morning!  We cleaned up camp and then headed over to Jacob Lake for one of their great breakfasts and then headed home.  It was a really relaxing trip!  (Note - Monument Point is unmarked and is basically just the trailhead to hike down to Thunder River.)