A'Camping We Will Go!

For Pioneer Day weekend we decided to take a few days to go camping with some friends. We took off Thursday evening from Payson with Shawn, Jana in their truck and Trevor, Me, Dave, and Heidi stuffed in Trevor's little Honda Civic!

We got there pretty late that night and had to set up camp in the dark using flashlights. Dave and Heidi brought a tent that was built with two bars that hold together by tension... and it took us about 20 tries before we realized there was something to go OVER these bars to hold them together so the tent would stay up... whew! What an adventure!

Well, the next morning, Shawn and Jana broke out their camping grill and cooked us all breakfast. Here's lovely Jana cooking away! :)After eating, we sat around and talked for a bit. This picture is Dave and Heidi and now would probably be a good time to mention that they got ENGAGED over the weekend! :) Dave took her up the mountain on a four-wheeler at sunset and asked her officially to marry him-- they had already been planning it for a couple weeks, she just didn't know he had a ring!!
This is also right after breakfast ... and Dave was talking about something and got excited and made a loud noise and this gesture-- and I caught it on camera. I don't think he has any idea that he makes faces like that all the time! :)
Soo we had some leftover eggs and hashbrowns and as we left them sitting on the table, a big fly found the food and went and told all of his other big fly friends, and before we knew it -- yes this is gross -- there were big flies all over the food! Those little black spots aren't burned things!
While we were eating breakfast the first day (Friday) one of our neighbors from across the field came over on his four-wheeler to say hello. He shot the breeze with us for a moment then commented that it was a shame that we only had one four-wheeler (Shawn's) and 3 couples. So... he proceded to offer us the use of two of their four-wheelers that they wouldn't be using. Of course, we graciously accepted the offer! What a nice man! This trusting gesture made our camping trip twice as fun as it would have been! So, the first day we hopped on and took a ride up the mountain to see some scenery! Here's me and Trevor with some pretty scenery in the background. Little did we know it would only get better! :)
About halfway through our first ride, Shawn and Jana stopped at a little path that you had to climb. It was just a short little hill on the left, but as you reached the top, scenery like this next picture was suddenly unfolded! I remember gasping from the hugeness and beauty of the rock formations.
And of course, as boys usually do, they got bored of looking at the scenery so they started throwing things down the gorge... little rocks... bigger rocks... whole trees, etc. Needless to say, they are crazy and could have easily slipped down that ledge on the right that you can sort of see in the picture. I was not condoning the activities... but of course there's no way to stop them when they get together! Oh dear! Heidi is videoing in this picture as well!
We got back on the four-wheelers and drove all the way up to the end of the trail and the highest point you can get where we were camping. It's called the pink cliffs... and it's no question why. They are gorgeous and very steep! Of course I made Trevor pose for the camera :)
Another posed shot from above -- nice creativity Dave! :)
Our second day into the camping trip, all of us had hair so dirty it was a little redder than usual from the red dirt on the four-wheeler trails. I couldn't stand it anymore so Heidi and I washed our hair. I'll admit, it was pretty pointless because we just went on another four-wheeler drive and got dirty all over again, but it sure felt good for the hour that it was clean!
This is a shot of some scenery from the second day of four-wheeler riding -- I think it's another angle of the pink cliffs.
Our four-wheeler ride the second day was SO incredibly fun because we found a trail that was really skinny, rocky, steep, and curvy. While going up the hill, Trevor had to gun it the whole way or we wouldn't have had enough momentum to get up some of the paths. It was SO much fun... and I had to cling to Trevor for dear life. After the ride, my arms were sore from holding on so tight! Going back down, it was so steep that you had to brake the whole way or you'd fly off a turn and wreck the four-wheeler. Dave almost did that on the very first turn.. it was SUPER steep and had very loose dirt, so that's a recipe for disaster. The rest of us had to get off our four-wheelers and manually turn them or we wouldn't have made it! It was intense! And so fun!

Our first day at camp, Trevor Dave and Shawn started up a fire in the fire pit and our neighbors came over to inform us that fire restrictions were up, and if we were caught making a fire it would cost us $5,000! So... we put our fire out and pouted because what's camping without a campfire and s'mores? :( We went to town to eat dinner that night...

Fortunately, we learned there was a designated camp site about 30 minutes down the dirt road where we could build a fire in the main fire pit as long as we occupied it before any other group did. It was free, too, instead of having a campsite... so that was nice. So, the second night we drove down to this place and there was no one there yet, so we started a fire to make tin foil dinners! Dave and Heidi cut up all the veggies and we all made our dinners and stuck them in the fire for a while, then ate to our heart's content. Here's Trevor taking out his meal:Later, Dave and Heidi made a delicious peach cobbler in their little dutch oven! It was also incredible! Here are Heidi, Dave, and Trevor with our wonderful campfire right after engorging themselves with cobbler -- they look so happy!
When it finally got dark, we ate s'mores and talked. And of course, the boys being the pyros that they are made the fire HUGE and then started drenching any leftover food that we didn't want in starter fluid and burning it. Oh... boys! :)

That night, when we got back to camp it had POURED where our campsite was. It was dark and muddy as we had to tiptoe across the field to our tents. The tents were stinky and muggy but somehow we all managed to fall asleep for the last night. I can't tell you how excited I was to get home and shower and sleep in a warm bed! Hooray!

Well, this last picture is a shot of a cool manmade tunnel bridge thing that we drove through on the 4 hour drive back. We thought it was cool, so we took a picture!
The trip was way fun and we had a fantastic time with friends, but Trevor and I both agree that we are all "camped out" for now. Maybe we'll go on another in a few months! :)

For now I'll enjoy my warm bed, clean shower, and bug-less home!