I liked camping at Buckhorn last weekend so much, I decided to bring my older kids along the following weekend. We arrived a bit late, so we didn't get to select one of the better sites, but at least we got there early enough to get a camping spot. We were in site 33 (last weekend was #7), which is just behind where people have to pay their camping fees. It is close to faucet water and the toilets... it's also near the dumpsters. We could hear the lids being slammed the entire weekend. Site 33 is pretty much right at a busy intersection, and were were fairly close to the road that leads to a trailhead. It wasn't the best spot, but a spot none the less.
After we set-up camp and took a short rest, we decided to try to climb up a few hills to survey our surroundings and note the locations of available firewood. This was the first time my kids have gone camping in a long time, and they weren't realy equiped for the task of hiking. Both had some smooth-bottomed Vans shoes on, and they didn't provide much traction. Nakoma was lucky in that we wear the same shoe size, and also lucky that I had an extra pair of hiking boots in my Xterra. Gabrielle had to make due with what she had. Neither one had a hat either, but again I just so happened to have two extra.
Gabby had a small slip coming down one face of a hill, those pine needles can be pretty slick. Luckily she didn't injure herself. After that short hike, we went back to our camp and took another rest. As we were sitting in camp, I noticed that both kids had these blank expressions on their faces. At first I wasn't sure if they were enjoying themselves, but both Nakoma and Gabrielle said they were having fun just being out in the woods. I'm glad they were having fun doing nothing, because that is exactly what I had planned on.After the rest, we decided to hike in the other direction, and within short order, we came upon a small pool of mountain water that had sections of a large tree floating in it. The kids went down into the pool and stood on the wood. I can't say they were logs because they weren't. They were horizontal slices out of a tree about 3ft in diameter, perhaps 18-24 inches thick. Depending on your weight, you could float on them. If you were heavier, the wood would sink, but the pool was only two-feet deep or so, and the wood would bottom out. Your shoes would get a bit wet and that would be that.
Let me rephrase that... your shoes get wet unless you are Nakoma. Then you get your whole body wet and someone elses shoes wet (mine). He was jumping from one peice of wood to another, when he lost his balance and fell into the pool. He was soaked from head to toe. I was video taping them on the wood, but missed filming him getting soaked. I think that's a Murphy's Law when it comes to filming.We mostly ate store-bought sub sandwhiches, and snacked on granola bars. Gabby is a vegitarian, so she had to live off of non-meat Lunchables and grilled cheese sandwhiches over the fire. She said the grilled cheese sandwhiches were good, but I doubt that (even though I was the chef). Nakoma and I did get a chance to grill a few polish sausages over the fire, and they did taste good, even though we didn't have any condiments like ketchup, catsup, mustard, or mayonaise. Don't ask about the mayonaise, I had never heard of using that on hot dogs before. My son claims it tastes great. I'll take his word for it. We also roasted a few marsh mellows, but after 2 or 3 of them I'm done.
The following day we broke-down the camp and headed down the mountain. On the way we stopped at another campeground called Chilao. It looks to be a very interesting place. All-in-all, it was a fun but short weekend. It was a whole lot better than just sitting around my apartment, or going to the movies. I think next time they come over we may just have to go camping again, perhaps to Chilao.
