Monday, August 29, 2016

Family Camping Adventure

This summer we had a few goals as a family.  One of the goals was to go camping at least two times.  The first trip was down to the Sand Dunes at the start of the summer but the summer went by so quickly we almost didn't get our second trip in!  The first weekend after school started we decided to take off Friday evening and head up to one of our favorite free spots in the San Isabel National forest, just 45 minutes from our house.  We left town a little later than we would have liked so we didn't make it to the area until the sun was just going down.  It was a busy weekend for campers so all of the spots were we usually camped in the past were taken.  We continued to drive down South Hardscrabble and just before it turns into private land we saw a campsite, but it took some work to get there.  To get to the site you had to walk down into a gully, then cross a little stream, then bike back up the gully to camp.  It took us some time to ferry all of the gear over but right as it got too dark to see, camp was setup.  Timing also worked out great because just as camp was setup, the rain started.  And it didn't stop.  For almost 2 hours.  We stayed relatively dry in our huge 12 person tent.  The two oldest boys have graduated to our small 2 person tent and unfortunately they had water all over the floor of their tent.  We didn't do the greatest job of laying down the tarp, mostly because it hardly ever rains.  

 

The hike over to camp made it fun.  This was the first morning as we were drying everything out.

  So that night, the oldest boys spent most of the night just trying to stay on their dry sleeping pads and off of their wet floor.  Hanni and I realized around midnight that our air mattress had a leak, a big leak.  So by morning we were sleeping on the ground.  Which sounds comfortable, but it really wasn't.  We all woke the next morning to damp sleeping bags but we decided that as long as it was drying during the day, we would stay the second night.  We spent the morning hiking and exploring around camp.  The boys had a great time.  Then we headed over to Lake Isabel to meet up with Pete, one of guys I work with, and his family.  We all had a fun time walking up the stream which leads into the lake and exploring.  We packed a small lunch for us so we spent all day there until about 2pm.  As we were packing up to leave, the rain started, but nothing too hard.  

 

Exploring around camp.

 
Handsome explorers
 

Beautiful Lake Isabel.

Up river from the lake.

 
We got back to camp and decided that if our things were dry we would stay another night.  Miraculously everything was dry.  We had a tasty dinner which Hanni pre made at home, beef with broccoli and rice.  One of the best meals we have had while camping.  We built a fire and just enjoyed the time sitting around it and roasting marshmallows.  I brought up flint and steel and the boys had a great time trying to start a fire without matches.    

Back at dry camp.

 
Making fire!
 

S'mores!

By 6pm clouds were rolling and so we quickly braced ourselves for another storm.  We fixed the boys tarp so that water would not leak underneath and packed up everything in the tent.  The rain came at 615pm and it came hard!  By 715 we had numerous leaks in our large tent, with water dripping down like a water fall.  Nothing a little plastic bag catching it couldn't fix.  We decided that if the rain I didn't stop by 730 then we would pack up and head home.     Well the rain stopped right at 730.  We all were laying in our separate tents and we started to think about how this night would go.  I had tried to patch our mattress but was unsure if the patch would hold.  Our youngests' pack and play was completely soaked.  The older boys had a little water in their tent.  We said a prayer as a family and listened to what we should do.  It was unanimous that we should pack up and head home.  Everything was completely soaked and muddy and we were losing daylight fast.  We took down camp as quickly as I had ever seen us thanks to a lot of help from the boys and by 830pm we were on our way back home.  By 10pm all of the boys were in their own dry beds at home and our gear was drying in the back yard.  What a trip!   We learned a lot on this trip.  Here are a few of our learnings.  First, we need a better family size tent which is better at handling heavy rain.  As the boys get older we want to spend more and more time camping and staying dry even in a downpour is very important.  Second, we are done with the air mattress cycle.  You find a cheap one, it lasts a few trips, but inevitably fails while you are sleeping on it at night.  Since returning we have purchased a new sleeping pad system from Alps Mountaineering.  It's two extra large, extra long, self inflating pads.  When inflated they are 3 inches thick and you can remove or add air depending upon how firm you want to sleep.  These are made for car camping, not backpacking.  We are excited to try them out on our next adventure to Moab.  Gear review to come!      

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