Camping!

Last weekend, we headed to the mountains for some camping. We started out just below the Warm Springs guard station at a great spot. We noticed as we were rolling through Lowman that there were some seriously dark, menacing clouds hovering. They looked far enough away, but let me tell you. We no more got the tent and shade canopy set up when those clouds unleashed a rain like I haven't seen since a tropical downpour in Belize a couple years ago. We huddled under the shade canopy - nobody dressed for the rain. Seemed to be similar to the last camping trip of last year, at Sage Hen, where we all stood under the same canopy to escape the rain. I sense a pattern? Anyway, the rain eventually subsided long enough to set up the rest of camp and get dinner made. When it started back up again, we decided to just call it a night and go to bed. There is nothing better than falling asleep with the sound of the nearby river. That rain was the only weather issue the entire weekend.

We did lots of rock throwing and skipping. 

We went on wood gathering adventures. 

The kids fished quite a bit. 

On Friday evening, the ranger caught up with us and told us we were camped in an unauthorized spot. We weighed the options of staying put and risking a hefty fine, or moving to a different spot. The latter wasn't exactly attractive considering we had an entire camp set up, but the fine was even less attractive. So, we packed up camp and moved over to the Ten Mile trail area. This ended up being closer to where my parents were camped. We kept good social distancing practices for everyone's safety, but it was sure nice to hang with family! 

I took the kids down to the original swimming hole and showed them all of the things we did as kids growing up there. 

Just because you are camping doesn't mean you skip out on softball practice!