Mark and Téa Go Camping

*Guest blog post by Mark. Yes, occasionally I let/make Mark post on here.  

After promising her that I’d take her camping this summer, Téa and I decided to go on a short overnight campout up American Fork canyon.  I wanted to get away from the crowded campgrounds in the lower part of the canyon, so we headed up towards the Silver Lake area.  Téa got a little nervous on the way up as we climbed the switchbacks and she could see down the steep slopes to Tibble Fork reservoir.  She, like me, isn’t overly fond of heights and so she wasn’t too keen on being so close to the shoulder on those narrow, dusty back roads.

We reached Silver Lake after a long climb and I decided to camp in an area I used to take scouts.  To get there, there is a small river channel that feeds into the lake.  I had forgotten that in year’s past, I drove up to the area with our old Jeep Cherokee and so crossing the river was a cinch.  Well, a Dodge Caravan is not really the ideal vehicle for off road travel.  I saw the river, stopped briefly to determine our likelihood of success, and drove through it.  The car had barely enough clearance to make it through.  I could hear the jostling of river rocks skimming underneath against the chassis.  Once we had made it across, the road became significantly more difficult to navigate with the van so I decided to choose one of the first campground areas we encountered.

We found a nice little spot next to the river with a good fire pit and flat ground for the tent.  Téa was uber-excited once we arrived.  We had grabbed some food from Wendy’s on the way there so we first set up the chairs to eat.  After eating, we set up the tent and then went to explore the area. 

One of my favorite things about camping is just wandering around the wilderness.  Téa, it turns out, shares that same fondness with me.  She was giddy as we walked around the river’s edge and explored the forest and rocks in the area.  She also got to experience going to the bathroom in the forest for the first time.  It’s like a rite of passage.

I taught her what types of wood to collect for firewood and how to start a fire.  She had fun making the little kindling teepee and got it going with minimal help.  We got the fire going and were hanging out when our lovely tranquil evening got interrupted by several scout troops that decided to camp all around us.  There are literally dozens of areas along the road to camp in and they choose spots not 50 feet away from us.  Grrrr…  We made the best of it though and they ended up being rather quiet (surprising for scouts).  We enjoyed the evening whittling sticks and chatting. 

Once it got really dark, we crashed for the night.  It was a peaceful night’s sleep until Téa woke me up because a grasshopper was in the tent.  Well, it turns out the grasshopper was actually on the outside of the tent, but she just saw a huge shadow and assumed it was on the inside.  After that crisis was over, we fell back asleep.

I ended up waking up early and started making breakfast.  Téa woke up rested and we ate a nice camp breakfast before heading back out.  We made it through the river crossing again and headed back for home.  It was a very successful first campout for Téa and I’m guessing she’ll be wanting to do it again soon.