November 2019 - Green Canyon Hot Springs

November was still chilly, but some of the October snows had melted off and left us with some bare ground to pitch a tent at the Green Canyon Hot Springs campground.

Sadie's Hair is literally freezing...

We enjoyed a swim in the hot pools before returning to cook fajitas and brownies for dinner and dessert.  The fajitas are a perennial favorite, and the dutch oven Ghirardelli brownies were probably the best dessert I'd had on a campout - ever.

Best Brownies. Ever.

We retired to our tents for the night, while the leaders of the Boy Scout troop next to us tried unsuccessfully to quiet their boys after the curfew.

Morning brought much needed sunshine to burn off the frost and dry out tents as we made crepes for breakfast. 

Camping Crepes taste better

We kept ourselves warm with a brazier of charcoal beneath the table - much appreciated by all.  Unfortunately the Nutella remained frozen...

Toasty Toes

Chipping off a block of frozen Nutella

Charlotte and I then worked our way over hill and dale to the Long Hollow Road to pick up Christmas trees for home and the cabin before driving the rest of the way home.

Grandpa's Shadow takes our picture

October 2019 - Bishop Mountain

October in Idaho - snow!

When the snow started coming down the week prior to our campout I started to get a little nervous about whether or not we'd be able to make it up to the Bishop Mountain Lookout cabin.  I made a quick trip up the road earlier in the week to check things out and was reassured that the road was still passable.

Sadie takes a whack at it...

The Camerons, Katherine, Charlotte and I headed up in the Land Cruiser earlier in the afternoon, trusting that David would be able to follow us in later that early evening.  We arrived in time to setup a tent for Charlotte and me in the daylight and get some much needed wood chopping practice in - this turned out to be the girls' favorite activity!

Twilight brought beautiful views of Harriman State Park and greater Island Park below us.

Panorama!

Dinner was a Katherine request - hot dogs (and Bratwurst), after which we played "Salem".

She's a Witch!

Our night's sleep was briefly interrupted when a poorly placed bread bag began melting on the wood stove and set off the cabin's smoke alarm.  Crisis averted we returned to sleep.

David and Katherine returned home early for other obligations while the rest of us remained to make breakfast muffins and then pack up and clean up before heading home.  We made it out as the snow continued to fall...

Breakfast Muffins

September 2019 - Cave Falls

For our September campout we headed up to the Cave Falls Campground on the last weekend it was open for the season.  It'd rained off and on in the week leading up to the campout and the road in was riddled with water filled potholes.  When we arrived at the campground we found ourselves entirely alone with clearing skies.  We setup our tents: Charlotte and I on the ground and Eric and Sadie on their camp trailer.

Dinner that night was dutch oven pizzas and ice cream made in Charlotte's ice cream mixer ball.  We settled down to sleep after time around the campfire, with the rippling sounds of the Fall River to send us off to La La Land.

Discussing the finer points of Ice Cream ingredients

Playing around making Ice Cream

Dutch Oven Pizza Prep

I Scream for Ice Cream!

Fireside

The next morning we made wonderful waffles on the Cameron's camp stove with the help of our GSI waffle iron - delicious!  We did our best to shelter from the drizzling rain beneath the trailer canopy.

Morning has broken

Waffles Baking

Waffles disappearing

After packing the tents we made our way to the Cave Falls trailhead and walked up to the overlook and then down to the falls.  The rain briefly turned to sleet as we scrambled over the rocks around the falls.  Alas, the cave has mostly collapsed, and Charlotte has no memories of the one trip we'd made there before the ceiling caved in.

We enjoyed the heat inside the Cameron's Toyota as we cruised home.

August 2019 - Cliff Lake

For our August campout Charlotte's friend Sadie and her dad Eric joined us on a canoeing trip to the Lost Mine Canyon fork of Cliff Lake.  We started out at the put in at Horn Creek, made accessible by the nice folks at the Wilderness Edge.

Cliff Lake is a natural glacier lake - part of what is termed the “chain of lakes” beginning with the highest, Hidden Lake, then continuing down to Goose, Otter, Cliff and Wade lakes.  Our plan was to paddle up the Horn Creek arm across and down the Lost Mine arm to a campsite and then make our way the next day up past Otter and Goose Lakes to the rope swing at Hidden Lake.

Dinner that night was a luxurious dish of Butter Chicken and rice.

Breakfast was a German scrambled egg hash that we call "Christmas Morning", as this is when we traditionally make the dish.  We'd cracked the eggs and then frozen and vacuum sealed them before heading out.  They held up beautifully and in fact were still frozen that morning!

On our way up to Hidden Lake we passed a couple of groups of hikers coming down and going up, but for the most part enjoyed the solitude.

Lucky Horseshoe!

Spotting Eagles over Otter Lake

The hike was capped by fun on the rope swing - some were more adventurous than others...

Hidden Lake

We had a pleasant canoe back to the dock, with mild winds and minimally tired arms at the end of the journey.

July 2019 - Badger Creek

For our July campout I joined Charlotte and her friends at Badger Creek for an overnight before heading up to Grand Targhee resort where we hiked up the Bannock trail and then over to Mary's Saddle.

The girls had a nice hike and I got great footage with the little drone - as shown here:

June 2019 - ODD Squad Returns! (May Family Ranch)

After a brief hiatus Eleanor passed the torch to Charlotte to begin our next season of the ODD Squad.  Charlotte and I joined the Rexburg 6th Ward youth group (including Oliver and Eleanor) on their multi-day activity at the May Ranch on the Salmon River.

Moonlight at the May Ranch

Of course while there, Charlotte and I pitched a tent and began our monthly campouts.  With warm weather and a mowed lawn to accommodate us it was no real hardship.

On Friday we went upstream to the Yankee Fork Dredge and then on up to Custer - part of the Land of Yankee Fork State Park.

There's gold in them thar hills!

We toured the old boom town buildings and tried our hand at panning for gold - without much luck.

That afternoon we returned to the May Family Ranch where the kids enjoyed outdoor play including a monster slip-n-slide.