J-Man has been asking to go camping since our last camping trip, so we made it happen last Wednesday. A friend who was visiting came along for the fun and what fun we had. This time the trip was planned for 1 night and 1 night is all we camped…unfortunately. With Bedges schedule being so busy lately it’s hard to squeeze in any trips but we managed to squeeze this one-nighter in.

As we were packing up our gear I looked to the mountains and saw the clouds covering the peaks. Rain and snow were expected in the higher elevations but we didn’t care. We were going to bring our necessary gear and have a good time.

In the past I probably would have bailed knowing the weather predictions. Not wanting to be cold, wet and deal with camping in the rain I would have unpacked and curled up on the couch. Rain can make things pretty messy while camping and normally I wouldn’t want to deal with that. (Yeah, I’m not really hardcore at all.)

This time, though, I was looking forward to the challenging weather. I knew we had the gear for the conditions, I just needed to change my mindset about it and I did.

We went!

We picked J-man up from school and made our way up into the mountains.

As we were driving along the dirt road towards La Sal pass we came across numerous deer, a couple elk and about 10 wild turkeys. All this wildlife appeared within a 5 mile stretch. It was cool to see and J-Man enjoyed watching the animals scamper away. Supposedly there are a lot of black bears in the La Sal’s. I think it is a myth. Not once have we seen a black bear in all the times we have been up there. Even after J-Man calls out for them…Hey Bear, where are you?… they still don’t show.

As we headed to our camp destination we got a bit side tracked by the beautiful Fall colors that were displayed. The sky had opened up to spotty shades of blue and the sun was peaking out making it great conditions for photographing. Bedge and his photography friend made a pit stop to photograph the spectacular Aspen tree leaves changing colors.

My attempt at photographing Fall Colors.

 

J-Man patiently waited while playing with his Hot Wheels and Army Guys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we got to camp the rain intermittently came down but we still managed to have a nice cozy campfire, roasted marshmallows and enjoyed each other’s company.

 What happened to my marshmallow?

The following morning we awoke to low lying clouds, chilly air and wet wood. We only brought 1 bundle of wood and all had been used except a half charred log that sat in the fire pit. I wanted to see how fire savvy I was so I whipped out my Mac Guyver skills and made a fire with the wet wood. I certainly owe my success to the fire starter kit though. Without it, there wouldn’t have been a toasty warm campfire.

As we made our way back over the mountain pass and back to Moab we stopped periodically to photograph.

J-Man even got in on the action and took some photos of his own…

 

 Photographing some Fall Colors.

 

Photo’s from the little photographer himself:

 

View from his car seat.

 

He always has to have a self portrait.

 

Random charred log.

 

 Capturing Fall Colors.

 

It’s Daddy!

 

I’m so happy I didn’t decide to change plans due to the weather. Although rain does make for a muddy wet toddler, having the appropriate gear is key. The only thing lacking that would have made things easier is if J-Man had rain boots. I took his shoes off and on every time we stopped, which was a lot. Rain boots would have made it easier and less messy on my hands. I wore my rain boots the entire trip and loved it.

 

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention that our two pugs, Bierstadt and Petunia joined us on this trip. Most times they get boarded at the vet, but since it was a short close to home trip we brought them along.

 

Lucky dogs!

Petunia and Bierstadt the crazy pugs!

 

 

Have you gone camping knowing you’re heading into  foul weather?