Fall Break Trip - 03 - Gudalupe Mountains - Guadalupe Peak

We weren't able to get two consecutive nights at the same camping site, so after a great night's sleep, we broke camp, threw everything into the van, and had spam and eggs for breakfast.

Our goal for the day was to hike the 8.4 mile round-trip trail to the top of Guadalupe Peak, Texas's highest mountain. The trailhead was the same as the day before, but quickly veered off and started going up the mountain instead of into the valley.

It wasn't long before we were getting nice views of the surrounding area.

There were lots of switchbacks and lots of climbing, and we passed several groups along the way.

At high enough elevation we did get to some forested areas, where we finally found some more magical pinecones. We also saw a huge centipede, and crossed a bridge. But mostly we saw a rocky trail going up.

We were each carrying our own sandwiches and drinks, but Carmen became the mule for everything else because she was in the best shape from running cross country.

We made it to the top in about 2.5 hours.

We explored the top for a little while. There were nice views in all directions, and lots of fossils in the exposed rock.

It was pretty windy and a little bit chilly up there, so we found a spot just over the ridge where we could eat our sandwiches and chips.

When everyone had had their fill of food and views, we made the long march back to the campsite.

Before we started the hike, a ranger tried to warn us that we'd need a gallon of water each. We finished the "6-8 hour" hike in a little over 5 hours and had plenty of water left in our 2-liter backpacks.

We repitched our tent at our new location a few campsites over and I saw a tarantula on my way back from a bathroom trip. Dinner was a shepherd's-pie-like concoction of mashed potatoes mixed with canned stew that turned out great. Olivia was the only one to finish the Junior Ranger booklet, so she went to the Visitors Center to get her badge. Amber had to throw rocks to scare away a skunk who had gotten into our garbage while the rest of us were away. Thankfully, it didn't spray anywhere.

Fall Break Trip - 02 - Guadalupe Mountains - Devil's Hall

We drove into Guadalupe Mountains National Park on Monday morning, and stopped at the Visitor Center where the kids started becoming Junior Rangers.

We got a magnet at the store, then left the car in the lot and started off on our first hike, a 4.2 mile trail to Devil's Hall and back.

The trail led into the valley between the mountains.

We found some interesting things along the way, like prickly pear cactuses (we ate one of the pears) and large rocks (we climbed on them).

The trail led to a "wash", and we got to scramble through lots of rocks to make our way up it.

The wash led to some really cool rock formations, like this staircase we had to climb.

And not too far past that was the Devil's Hall itself.

After having a look around, we stopped at the top of the staircase and had tuna sandwiches for lunch, then hiked back to the car.

We had gotten a few sprinkles of rain during the hike and it continued to sprinkle on and off the rest of the day, but besides that, the weather was beautiful the whole trip.

Since it was now past noon, we went to set up our tent, only to find that someone's tent was already there. We got the park rangers involved and they had a police officer come remove the tent and belongings so we could set up our things. We found out the offenders were out hiking and were just hoping they'd be able to stay another night (the campsite was fully booked).

We went back over to the Visitors Center area and went on a short walk to see the ruins of an old mail route post.

We had curry and rice for dinner, then spent some time star-gazing, finding shooting stars and satellites (we saw the line of Starlink satellites), and watching a very cool lightning storm in the distance.

Glamping with Miles

While Olivia, Carmen, and Damon were at girls camp and boys camp over spring break, we decided to let Miles have a camping adventure too. He chose to glamp in covered wagons at a place in Huffman called "The Retreat". It's a nice place by the lake, with lots of amenities.

It was a weeknight, so Amber and Miles went earlier during the day and had fun exploring and playing games like giant chess and mini golf.

I came after work and we built a fire together.

We had aluminum-foil dinners (slightly charred), with smores for dessert.

Miles wasn't interested in staying up late, so he went to bed. When we joined him later, it was freezing and it took us a while to figure out how to work the air conditioner, but we finally got to sleep.

I left earlier in the morning to get back in time for work, while they stayed a few more hours.

Stake YM Camp

As part of my current calling of counselor in the Stake Young Men's Presidency, I got to participate in our first Stake Young Men's Camp. Ever since they got rid of scouts, the plan was to have camp for the boys similar to what they've always done for the girls, but because of COVID it hadn't happened until this year.

There were camp directors in charge of organizing the camp, so my job was to do whatever President Lesueur asked. My main contribution was coming up with the theme ("Chart Your Course") and designing the T-shirt and then being the fix-it man during camp, helping out with whatever was needed, from fixing broken glasses to helping make cobbler to picking up trash.

The camp started off with a kick-off even at the stake center where the boys did a service project (making benches) and playing on inflatables.

The camp itself was 3 days at Camp Cho-Yeh. We did it during Christmas break to get a time when everyone would be available, and it actually ended up being pretty nice weather and plenty of boys came. The camp was really cool, with nice facilities, and fun stuff to do, like zip-lining and crate stacking.

We had a cool activity where some recently returned missionaries did object-lesson activities, then talked to the boys about their experiences, some campfire skits, cobbler, devotionals, good food, night games, and more.

Overall a very successful camp, but I was happy to get home.

Camping

We hadn't gone camping for a long time, but I finally remembered to reserve a campground in advance before it got too hot to go. We decided to try Double Lake and do two nights, since church doesn't start until noon. We got there Friday evening, and Amber started setting up the tent while I got the fire going for dinner.

We cooked tin foil dinners that night while we watched it get dark. They turned out pretty good.

On Saturday morning we had pancakes for breakfast.

After breakfast, we went exploring. The kids had a lot of fun wandering in the woods near the campsite. They found a dead tree that they got lots of pieces of bark off of. Miles found a big leaf.

Carmen found she still likes trees.

We went to see the lake, but there wasn't a whole lot to do other than look at it. It was not hot enough to swim in.

We wandered around the lake for a while and got some pictures of the kids.

We found a trail into the woods and decided to hike it.

It was a nice hike through the forest. It was interesting to see the results of some obvious floods and fires.

As it turns out, the trail was over 5 miles long, so we ended up stopping about halfway. The girls were not interested in going any further.

But it was enough for me to get my nature fix.

It sprinkled a little during our hike, and we made it back to the campsite in time for lunch and predicted storms. It did rain a bit more, but not as much as forecast. In any case, it was a good excuse to nap in the tent. Afterwards, I tried my hand at whittling and Carmen finished her rock drawing of the evil sorcerer from the activity book she had made for Miles.

When she was done getting ash, we got the fire going again for dinner. I brought a boxful of sticks from the yard that I had been accumulating for months (years?), and since this was the last fire, I let the kids burn everything. They were up to the challenge.

We had hot dogs for dinner.

The storm brought cold weather with it, and it was pretty cold that night. We were glad to be up and eating donuts the next morning.

We made it back in time for everyone to shower and get to church. A couple days later, I was helping Miles get a bath ready and noticed this tick on his back. Oops.

We were able to get it out. Hopefully it was disease-free.