Camping Day 1

We packed up the trailer and headed up American Fork Canyon last Thursday for a weekend camping trip.  After setting up camp, Spencer thought it might be fun to do a little off-roading in the 4Runner.

He has done a lot of modifications to improve the 4Runner's capabilities off-road, and I think that has given him the confidence to try obstacles that he would have avoided otherwise.  Great. (can you sense the sarcasm?)

We had a couple of close calls in the 'rock garden.'

The picture here just doesn't do justice to what was actually happening.  That back tire was at least 3-4 feet off the ground!  Yikes!!

Spencer finally admitted defeat and decided to head back to camp.  Unfortunately, now we had to go back down the trail we had just crawled up, only this time we had to do most of it in reverse!  The decision was made for me to drive and Spencer to be the spotter and guide me down the trail.  Wait!  Me?  Drive?!?  That's right!

By the time this photo was taken I was able to get turned around, and it became slightly easier than driving in reverse.  I think Spencer and I were both a little too nervous to think about taking photos while I was going backward.

Okay, I admit, I was not happy to do this at first.  I did not want to be responsible for ruining our car on a huge boulder.  But Spencer gave great instructions, I went very slowly, and we made it out of the rock garden with no body damage!  Zippee!

Back at camp, it was time for a campfire.  I was in charge of starting the fire and did it on the first match!

And just to brag a little more, when I started our fire the next day, I did it with just one match again!  No lighter fluid, no tricks, just good old-fashioned fire-building skills (and some really dry wood).

Tin foil dinners.  Yum.

Double yum.

Stay tuned for Day 2!