Adventures in Camping

Hiking to this waterfall was one of our many adventures while camping.


On Thursday, June 25th, we loaded up the car with our gear and a couple of friends. We were headed to Yellowstone. After a quick stop in West Yellowstone for some dinner, we arrived at "Canyon Campground." It was a very charming little spot (although a little too close to our neighbors) and we set up camp in no time. A couple tents, a gazebo and a tarp over the picnic table. We built a campfire as it was getting dark and we tried our luck at making campfire cookies. I had previously made the cookie dough, and we wrapped it in tinfoil, then put it on a rack over the fire. A few of them actually turned out looking almost like cookies - but then we ended up eating the rest just as cookie dough.

On Friday, we got a pretty early start, because none of us slept very well. It was rainy all night and the cold came up through the ground onto our backs. We had a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, and fresh fruit from the cooler. One of our friends had never been to Yellowstone, so we decided to spend the majority of the day sight-seeing. Mud pots, and geysers (including old faithful of course), and cauldrons, and basins - Waterfalls, and sulfur steam, and limestone, and lava caves. The animals were everywhere! Bison, elk, deer, birds... It rained off and on, but we threw on some cheap ponchos and hiked all over the place. At one point there was a traffic jam on the road where people had stopped to watch a bear. We joined the group and got some good pictures of the little guy by the stream. Not too long after that, we pulled off for lunch in a really green meadow with a convenient picnic table. After sandwiches and chips, we hung around for a game of log tag (running on fallen logs). We visited nearly every bubbling hot pot, and returned to camp for the night. The boys chopped some firewood with their machete's and built a nice big fire. I had the best tinfoil dinner I have ever made, and some banana boats for dessert! We made some adjustments to the sleeping gear in hopes our night would be warmer than the previous one, then hit the sack.

Saturday morning was still cold and wet, but the night was not quite so long. Everyone slept a little better and was anxious to decide on the schedule. Breakfast was pancakes and sausage - and some more fresh fruit from the cooler. The plan was to hike "Uncle Tom's trail" that Jake and I had remembered from previous trips. But there were signs informing us that it was closed due to trail damage. So, we took a long drive up to a place called Tower Falls - the tallest of the waterfalls in the park. We saw ANOTHER bear on the way. But when we arrived, the trail down to the falls was also closed!!! It was disappointing because we had driven so far up there, but we decided the second bear sighting was worth the trip. We stopped at a few more hot pots while trying to decide where to go next. At this point we were a little discouraged so we stopped for lunch by the river. The sun came out, and the weather cleared up. We spent quite a while there, skipping rocks and exploring the river bank (found pieces of arrowheads) and felt re-energized. We saw "Cascades" on the map and decided it would be kind of like the waterfalls we had been trying to see. There was no trail so we drove down river until we saw a place where we thought we could hike. We followed the river for a half hour our so and finally made it o the base of the cascades ... it was WELL WORTH IT!!! This is where the picture was taken. We were glad our earlier plans for the day had failed causing us to make up our own adventure. On the way back to camp we tried tried to find some more wildlife, and then decided it was time for dinner. We had an awesome menu of BBQ chicken, grilled corn, and s'mores for dessert. (We decided we ate better on this trip than we ever do at home) Good stories by the campfire went later than we realized, and then bed.

Sunday morning was beautiful. We ate as many of the leftovers as we could for breakfast so we wouldn't have to pack them out. One last bonfire to get rid of the garbage, then packed up camp.
We checked out right on time and enjoyed the Sunday drive back home. We were all very excited about the showers that would welcome us back. No one ever smells really great after camping... but we smelled EXTRA nice after visiting all those sulfur sights. We made it back to Rexburg early in the afternoon and got all cleaned up. Now.... for unpacking and laundry!



*** See Facebook for LOTS more pictures of our ADVENTURES IN CAMPING!!!