A warning, this is a long one.<\/p>\n
Three weeks ago I got to take Lexi \u201cReal\u201d camping for the first time. Since we started doing our hikes I\u2019ve talked to her about the difference between \u201cRV\u201d camping and \u201cReal\u201d camping. She\u2019s been so interested in it she couldn\u2019t wait to get the opportunity to go. The day before we left I had this conversation with her.<\/p>\n
Me, \u201cLexi wanna go on a hike this weekend?\u201d<\/p>\n
Lexi, \u201cYay! Daddy can we go camping?\u201d<\/p>\n
Me, \u201cNot sure baby. I won\u2019t say yes or no, but we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lexi, \u201cDaddy how about can we go on a two day hike where we camp in between the days?\u201d<\/p>\n
A few days before we left we went over to the \u201chiking\u201d store, REI, to get some of the gear we would need for our weekend. We spend a few hours in the store getting stuff like a lantern, dishes, and a cooler while renting bigger items like the Coleman stove, sleeping bags, and sleeping pads. The entire time Lexi is absolutely clueless as to why we are buying all these things. It never clicked that all this stuff, including 2 sleeping bags and 2 sleeping pads (both for daddy of course), was for a camping trip. As a matter of fact we kept the fact secret up to the day we left.<\/p>\n
The morning we left, June 29th, Lexi and I got dressed in our normal hiking attire and started packing up the car. Lexi\u2019s helping pack up the car and she\u2019s starting to wonder why we\u2019re packing all this extra stuff for a normal hike. At one point she stops and says all excited, \u201cWe\u2019re going camping!\u201d I tell her, \u201cNope sorry baby. In order to go camping we need a tent and there is no tent in here.\u201d Looking totally rejected and hanging her head low I hear a whimper of an, \u201cOh ok.\u201d I walk over get in real close and say in her ear, \u201cHey go get the tent.\u201d She looks up at me with the largest grin and just starts dancing up and down, freaking out. It was great to see her so excited. We finished packing up, kissed momma good-bye, and set our sights on Zion.<\/p>\n
After stopping at the neighborhood Albertson\u2019s for ice and firewood we left town. It took us a couple hours to get to the site, arriving around noon. Pulling up to the turn off there was a sign indicating that the campsite was full. My heart dropped and I started dreading that we might have to go somewhere else. We pulled into the campsite and found, thankfully, that there was one last site just for us.<\/p>\n
I pulled the car in and we started unpacking. Naturally I started with the tent. The night before I had been smart enough to get the tent out and set it up in the living room to learn exactly how to set it up instead of trying to figure it out in the wild. I\u2019m really glad I did. The winds were really kicking up and made getting everything setup a little more difficult than normal. Had I not practiced the night before, I can only imagine how frustrated I would have been trying to read instructions while trying to stop the tent from blowing away.<\/p>\n
Once camp was all setup and lunch finished, we slathered on the sunscreen and set out for a quick hike before dinner. We took the quick trek down \u201cBarney\u2019s Trail\u201d which took us from up high on Lava Point down to the West Rim Trailhead road. The road was a nice quiet dirt road which took us to the West Rim Trailhead. From the trailhead we went a hundred feet or so before coming to a fork in the trail. One direction continued the West Rim Trail which leads you to the main canyon of Zion, and the other, our choice, started down Wildcat Canyon Trail.<\/p>\n
The scenery was beautiful and the weather couldn\u2019t have been more perfect for a hike. The wind that we had at the campsite was non-existent along the trail and the temperature was awesome. Unfortunately, Lexi and I weren\u2019t so awesome. At the time it had been a couple weeks, at least, since either of us had been on a hike so we were both out of shape for such a long hike. Looking at the map info I would say we made it about 4.5 miles before we finally decided to turn back and call it a day. Also it was starting to get late and if we turned around any later than we did we would be walking back in the dark.<\/p>\n
Back at camp I started to work on our gourmet dinner of Spaghetti O\u2019s and hot dogs. Since the wind was still blowing pretty good I forgo cooking on an open fire and used the Coleman stove for the hot dogs instead. I was bummed about it at first, but then Lexi and I got in our chairs and huddled around the stove while everything was cooking. After all the hard work of setting up camp, doing our long hike, and cooking dinner, those SpaghettiO\u2019s and hot dogs made up the best dinner I\u2019d had in a long time. It tasted SOOOO good.<\/p>\n