We did eventually get the Swaggon down and bikes loaded and packs loaded for the campout, just in time.
Unfortunately we found at the Pulsipher’s that some of the bike racks had been shifted on the Swaggon in such a way as to make them non-functional. We spent another half hour taking the bike holders off and readjusting them, and then again fixing one of the bike seats before we were eventually on the road.
Ready to Ride
Never fear - being one of the longest days of the year meant plenty of daylight as we arrived, unloaded the bikes, geared up and got the trailer hitched onto my bike and then literally on the trail to the Becker (Backcountry) Yurt. We opted to go out via the ranch road so as to minimize any cycling anxieties. The major issue on the trip was traversing the gates in and out of the pasture area where cows were soon to make their home for the season. The road was minimally muddy and easily traveled. I think the girls arrived after our 20 minute ride surprised at their own speed!
Light My Fire
The Pulsipher’s took charge of dinner and prepared one of my personal favorites, Tortellini with a Tomato Cream sauce, plus peas for good measure! We enjoyed the provision of the stove on site, and brought in the rest of our cooking gear on the BOB trailer.
Charlotte had opted to bring the dessert for this campout and so planned on cupcakes. We found a great little Dutch Oven recipe and did the prep work of preparing the wet ingredients and the Cream Cheese frosting (including putting it in a FoodSaver bag for later piping) the night before. The end result of our labors were almost perfectly cooked cupcakes. Everyone enjoyed frosting their own and savoring the fruits of their labors.
Sweet Cuppin' Cakes!
On their way to Thurman Creek to replenish their water supplies the girls also picked a handful of wildflowers for our table - a lovely addition to the ambience of our repast!
It's all about the presentation
After dinner we spent time leisurely watching the sun lowering in the sky whilst the girls played Charlotte’s birthday “Harry Potter Headbandz” game. This game literally went on for hours and resumed early the next morning…
Friend of Harry's?
The fathers spent a little time reviewing both the flora and the fauna.
Teton Alpenglow
David's Brother Brigham Moment
I've seen fire and I've seen rain...
Charlotte and I eventually bedded down in our hammocks hung on the porch and with the cooling of the evening and early morning our lines gently sagged to the point where I was literally touching bottom. Shortly after first light we were up to adjust the hammocks and then the girls were off to watch the sunrise over a fog shrouded meadows at 5:42 AM.
A yellow sun rises...
The girls continued their Harry Headbandz marathon as Eric Cameron cooked up an excellent breakfast of burritos with sausage, chorizo, hash browns, chiles and eggs with a little TapatÃo salsa for good measure.
More quality time with Potter
One of the more entertaining moments of the morning was watching a small squirrel trying to figure out what to do with his find of a pair of forgotten “Fruit of the Looms”.
Around 9 AM we got all our gear stowed and the Yurt cleaned out so that we could make our way back to the horse stables. We took the single track back and enjoyed the more scenic turns through the trees on our return.
Our Biker Gang
At the stables we were quickly paired up with our trusty steeds for the trail ride. I ended up with a large draft size mare who was winded up every hill. The wrangler behind me reassured me - “oh, she’s just out of shape”.
Whoa hoss!
We worked our way up to the top of Thurman Ridge where the girls were regaled by a baby marmot who found his culinary delights feasting on the horse apples. This show was truly mind-bending and the girls could not take their eyes off of it. Eventually we saddled up again for the return trek down the mountain. Everyone felt a bit bow-legged and a few saddle sore as we left our not-so-hard-chargers back in the corral.
Thurman Ridge Overlook
All in all a lovely couple of days in both types of saddles.
Friday afternoon we gathered at the Pulsipher’s at about 5 PM and caravaned up to Heise Campground. This was the first weekend that the campground was open so there were plenty of folks up with their RVs. The pools are going to be closed until June 1st at least by order of the Health Department, but the hot pools have a new changing room building which looks very nice - it must have been built this last year. Not having a pool trip that night meant that we had plenty of time for meal prep.
Charlotte was in charge of dinner and with the help of Sadie and Katherine, they boiled jumbo pasta shells, filled them with cheeses and then we baked them in Marinara sauce for about 30 min in the Dutch Ovens. Shortly after we arrived it had started to rain, but the char coals kept smoldering along nicely in the dripping rain, and we used the small breaks to setup our kitchen tent and then eventually the other Hilleberg tents. We were very glad to have the use of the Cameron’s trailer for our cooking and meal prep.
After dinner with plenty of food for seconds and thirds, we setup the pop-up projector screen outside the kitchen tent and watched the Disney classic “Freaky Friday”, where a 13 year old girl and her mother switch places for a day. There’ve been several versions, but this was the original from 1976. One of the pieces of new “technology” that the mother had to deal with in her daughter’s typing class was a new “electronic” typewriter! The girls both giggled and groaned at the crazy situations in the movie, including and especially the girl wooing the boy across the street in her mother’s body. The actor playing the boy is the same one in the Church production of Jack Weyland’s story “The Phone Call”.
Our movie night was capped by some enjoyable “stove-top s’mores” that the Cameron’s made. Then it was off to bed and lights out. We stayed plenty warm this month after a brisk night last month - lots of good lessons learned there. This time we both slept well all the way through the night, and rose to clear and sunny skies in the morning.
Breakfast was prepared by the Pulsiphers’ and was another morning of French Toast liked we’d enjoyed a couple of months ago at the Teton Canyon campout. We hit the amount just about spot on this time. After packing up gear at the campsite we left the tents up to dry and hiked up to the Zip Line building to begin our Tour.
We were the first group for the team this season and they were still prepping the staff during our tour. We had lots of fun and by the end the anxious screams of the girls had turned into confident jumps down the lines. The video above shows highlights.
Charlotte and I went to the North Menan Butte (R Mountain). Sadie and Eric Cameron and David and Katherine Pulsipher drove their own cars up and we did our best to maintain social distancing on the way up.
The girls efforts broke down pretty quickly, but it was hard to be too strict when they were having so much fun exploring, scrambling over the tuff formations and through the trees. When we arrived we actually went to the south side of the caldera along a dry wash (stream bed) that probably only exists for a short time as the snow is melting in the early spring.
There’s a very dense copse of trees at the foot of the exposed tuff formation and I’d wanted to check it out after mom had taken pictures there with Ellie last summer. Unfortunately there were no leaves on the trees and no flat spaces big enough to setup our camp. So we ended up going back to the “traditional” camping spot and pitching our tents before boiling water to cook dinner.
After dinner we went up on a little hike around the northwest rim to where the girls had ascended the rock formations directly. Then we decided to walk to the south rim and watch the sunset from the west rim. We headed back and spent a few minutes telling “dad” jokes (What time did the guy with a tooth ache go to the dentist? "Tooth hurty”) Then it started raining so we went into the tent and watched “Unusual Animal Friends” on my iPhone which was laying on the tent's mesh ceiling shelf while we lay in our comfy sleeping bags until bedtime.
After the warmth of the overcast rain it cleared out and cooled down so that we ended up with frozen rain on our tent. Both Charlotte and I ended up waking at about 2 AM to put on more warm clothes. I ended up not sleeping much until about 6 AM. We eventually got up sometime between 7 and 8 AM. Fortunately the sun came out and warmed things up while we made our breakfast (rehydrated hash).
While the girls went out exploring again the Dads packed up camp. We all trekked back out under sun and wind.
Due to the coronovirus precautions we were able to get away from home a bit quicker than usual. We started up the trail at Teton Canyon in mid-afternoon and made our way to the half way point at Reunion Flats in good time.
Time for a rest
See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil
By then the skies were clearing and we enjoyed some sunshine as we arrived at the Yurt at the Teton Canyon trailheads.
Blue skies
Conditions were practically perfect for igloo construction and we all worked together to get igloo up in around 2 hours - record time!
Building a Firm Foundation
Getting tight...
Home Sweet Home
Plenty of Room in the Inn
We added a string to hang the candle lantern, and the girls added a stovepipe of sorts to match it's larger sibling.
Sibs
Dinner was Caesar Salad, angel hair pasta, and dessert of peach cobbler made in a stovetop dutch oven.
Charlotte the sharpshooter takes on all comers...
Entertainment was provided by the game Deadwood, where we all ended up in the final showdown, but Charlotte and her two extra pistols won the day!
All tucked in
The girls retired to their Igloo while the dads stayed in the Yurt. All stayed cozy and warm through the night, while 3-4 inches of snow fell.
Snowed Inn
We awoke in the morning to the blanket of newly fallen snow and quickly had a delicious breakfast of French toast and Cream of Wheat to fuel our journey back down the canyon - and little did we know how important that would be!
Smiling faces before we tried to ski...
The newly fallen snow was just the right temperature and consistency to bind quickly and effectively to our ski bases so that the way out was more like snowshoeing than skiing. Other than that inconvenience it was a wonderful winter weekend - in March!
Our February campout was a ski trek to the ski hut above Kelly Canyon maintained by our friends at the IF Ski Club.
We got away as quick as we could, and began up the trail with a beautiful sunset behind us.
SkiPulk to the rescue!
Venus lights our way
Charlotte beneath the Big Dipper
After stopping for a quick bathroom break at the Y-junction (halfway point), we continued onward to the ski hut by the light of Venus and the stars.
Resting time
Once there we got a fire started and dinner of "African stew" started on the stove and then setup the tents for David and Katherine, Charlotte and me.
Finding the pit toilet was a bit of a challenge in the deep snow, but fortunately digging down to the commode left privacy walls that we usually don't get to enjoy.
We ate our dinner while watching "Cool Runnings" projected on the back of the tent wall, then settled into our cozy tents through the cold night (temps dipping to 0F).
Charlotte stays warm in her Nemo Bag
Charlotte emerges
Breakfast
Our motley crew
Peace be the journey
The next morning dawned bright and clear and we enjoyed a breakfast of hot cereals and hot chocolate before packing up and heading back down the mountain in half the time it took us to go up the night before.
The ODD Squad again convened at the Hancock Cabin for the annual planning campout. We pitched the tents in the snow and then retreated inside to finish making sourdough donuts that Charlotte and I had started the day before. Dinner consisted of hamburgers and then lots of donuts...
Donut Prep - gotta let them rise!
A toast - to hamburgers?
Donuts anyone?
Mmm. Donuts.
Then next morning we returned from a warm night in the Hilleberg tents to a breakfast of scrambled eggs and our annual planning session.
Plans made
We capped the morning by packing up the tents and the girls playing their own version of the Princess and Pea (or the Princess and the Princesses).
