Father's and Son's Campout

This past weekend Harrison, Noah and I went on the Father's and Son's campout in the Blue Mountain foothills near Dayton, WA.  This is the first time that we've been to the campout, and the first camping that I have done in many years.  We actually had to do a good deal of shopping to outfit ourselves: a tent, three sleeping bags, a tarp, camp chair, smores sticks, a cooler, etc.

I only took a picture after other people had left.  But there were other tents in this area.

We left home Friday afternoon, but Mollie called us back right before we got to the gas station, so we turned around to pick up the pump for our air bed. Then we went to the gas station and got gas, two slushies, one for me and one for the boys, and one candy each. I got a Charleston Chew, Harrison got a starbursts flavor morphs, and Noah got a skittles pack.

It was a beautiful location and lot of friends showed up.  We pulled into the campsite right around dinner.  We joined the Barbers and were shortly followed by our neighbors the Englands. While I got dinner ready, the boys found some friends and quickly set to exploring the camp.  As we would find out the next day, the campsite includes the entire mountain and perhaps 1 mile of the river. We were right next to the creek, and the boys loved throwing rock and playing with the water.

There was also a nearby trail with a fun steep climb. At the top of an amphitheater built into a slope in the mountain, there was a narrow opening in the rocks where some tree roots provided a climbing path.  Harrison loved to climb up and then slide down the steep dirt trail on the back side.  He claims to have done it 5-6 times, although I'm sure it was more. Noah did not like the steep climb. It reminded me of an Indiana Jones adventure.

For dinner the boys ate campfire smoke hotdogs, and then quickly turned to smores.  All three families in our little grouping brought smores fixings and the kids made their way through all of it. I had a tinfoil dinner which was only okay (I fixed it in haste right before we left). There was a big soccer game out in the meadow, which Harrison joined for a while.  It was 15 kids vs. their 5 dads, so a fairly even match.  Noah did not join, but instead preferred to sit by the fire and burn sticks. After the soccer game ended, everyone joined in playing with fire.

After dark,  Harrison and I spent a few minutes looking at the stars. It was a great night for star gazing, clear and far away from any city. The stars were very bright.  I had spent the last few weeks looking over a constellation book in preparation for this.  It was great to be able to recognize something besides the big dipper.  Because we were in a valley between two mountains, our horizon was limited.  But as a whole, it was a great time.

We knew that it was going to be a cold night, so Mollie helped me pack extra warm clothes for the boys. They each had two pairs of jammies and sleeping bag.  Then we all shared a huge down comforter. We could hear the river in our tent and Harrison thought it sounded a lot like the air conditioner in the house. I thought that it sounded like a river. Harrison got up a few times at night to wonder where he
was. Then he would grab something and fall back asleep, sometimes it was his pillow, sometimes it was my leg.

Harrison woke me up ~5:00 and was stirring until he got out of the tent 6:00. Then Noah woke up and he got out. then I got out. we stayed by the fire for a little, then ate breakfast. During breakfast, which contained eggs, pancakes, and a choice of Sunny D or milk, some kids started a fire in the fire place. Harrison helped the other kids keep it going, mostly with pine needles.

Then I took some kids hiking up Teamcum Trail. Three dads asked me if I could take their kids on a hike so I did. The trail is on the other side of the river, up the mountain, and branches off 'the straight and narrow path'. About halfway up I told the kids they all owed me a father's day present. Harrison noted that he already owed me one because I am his dad. Sadly, the trail ended about 3\4 of the way up.  This is a photo of our view on the hike, and my head.

After that Noah, Harrison, Dallan and I hiked a different trail a little ways up the mountain. We didn't get too far up, because when I discovered a tick the kids all wanted to go down, but it was fun.