First Family Camping Trip. Check.

Well, we did it. And we survived to blog about it. Our first family camping trip was a success - and I say this very confidently as it was one of the chilliest nights we've had in quite some time. Brrrr.....

KT in the leaves

We all know Lost Maples is a popular destination at this time of year, but man, did we seriously underestimate it. We had to wait, in a que, on the side of the road outside of the park for an hour and a half before we made it INSIDE the park. Yowza! We had planned on getting there around 1pm and taking a hike around the entire East Trail (one of my favorites), but after the line and finally getting to our site around 3pm, we only had a few hours of daylight left. So we went on a quick hike up the Maple Trail to check out the leaves.

Man, was it CROWDED. I've never seen such a crowd at Lost Maples. As a general observation, there were a ton of people with strollers there. Really? At a state park? I would of given them the benefit of the doubt had I not noticed the sign at the beginning of the trail that said "WARNING: STEEP TERRAIN AND TRAILS AHEAD" - that should of been enough to send them back. While the Maple Trail isn't exactly "steep" it is complex. Lots of stairs, bridges, puddles, rocks and narrow paths to traverse.

I'm fortunate enough to know Lost Maples like the back of my hand, I've been there so many times. So I knew we'd need to get creative when it came to hauling around KT. Jeff and I had researched some hiking packs online and they all retailed from about $180 - $400. Give or take a few $$. I didn't really want to spend that kind of dough, so we called around a few resale shops and voila - we found 2 at the local Kid to Kid. I ended up getting a Kelty carrier for $70 smackeroos. I think that's a pretty good deal if I do say so myself (I love bargain hunting). We plan on squeezing all $70 out of this one. It even stands up on it's own and serves as an EXCELLENT portable high chair. KT took to it really well - she loved to hang to one side to look down at the ground as we were walking. Plus, she loved being so close to her daddy and got to reach up and touch his head on a number of occassions :) It was too cute.


That night, after setting up our tent, etc. the sun set really fast. The campgrounds are in the shadow of one of the cliffs, so night time + daylight savings = early darkness. We started our campfire around 5:30pm. We only had enough wood to last us for a few hours (note to self for next trip) so we pulled out our sticks (shish-ka-bob grillers) and put our turkey dogs over the fire. KT had her first taste of a hot dog (turkey style) and she LOVED it. I would venture to say she ate about 3/4 of one! Who knew?

She zonked pretty early and Jeff and I stayed up longer to watch the fire, roast a few mallows and just enjoy each others company. It was really nice. To slow down for awhile and just enjoy life is definitely something we need to do more often.

We discovered, later on, that we were next door to a Scout Troup. What might of been an annoyance to some was actually very entertaining for us. They did skits, sang some songs, and took me back to my childhood, when my brother was in the Scouts. I loved it, and so did Jeff. By 8:30 our campfire was barely holding on. So we extinguished it and headed to bed really early. By then it was so chilly. I was so worried about KT, but it turns out, babies are furnances. I had put several blankets on top of her, and when I checked on her, she was cranking out the heat. I even had to remove a layer from her cause she was a little too warm.

I woke up several times throughout the night. Not because of KT crying, or coyotes howling, or raccoons invading our site. Mostlly because our air mattress had completely deflated. Completely. On the ground. Feeling every bump and rock deflated. *sigh* What's camping without a little story to tell?

We woke up around 5:00am and we just all snuggled until the sun finally came out and the campgrounds woke up.

yeah we made it! and a happy baby to boot!

That morning we broke down camp pretty early so we could go back to the Maple Trail and take some pictures without all the crowds in the background.

We definitely had a great time, learned a few things that will make us more efficient on our next trip, and we also learned to bring more wood for the fire! But we couldn't of asked for a better trip - I can't wait to take KT to all the places we went when I was a kid. This is something that we plan on doing from here on out - we even bought a Parks Pass to help keep us motivated - I mean c'mon. We only live 2 miles from Government Canyon for heaven's sake!

Next up, we're headed to Enchanted Rock. Not sure if it will be a day trip or an overnight trip just yet, but nevertheless it will be a trip!

Hope you enjoy some of the pics!

family pic - Sunday morning

gorgeous leaves

kt exploring

hat hair!

mama & kt on famous (at least to the forsythe family) pac-man rock