Blue Mesa/Lewis & Clark Adventure

Well the boys and men all survived their 4 1/2 days of camping and adventuring!  Ben once texted me that the kids were driving him crazy with age-appropriate behavior.  :)  But, overall, the kids were good and no injuries occurred!

Obviously it would be best to have one of the boys do this post, but as I want it done sooner than later, I'll just have to do it myself.  Randy has the more professional pictures, but I'll just use Ben's ipod photos until I get a hold of Randy's.

Tuesday

They met at the church at 5am and headed up to the launching spot on the Blue Mesa.  They got their canoes ready (they lashed them together with pallets in the middle of 2 canoes to hold all their gear).  Then they canoed across the Blue Mesa and then up Cebolla creek.  They then set up camp for the night.

 Heading out.  There were 2 groups of youth - each group in a set-up like that.  Dusty and Ben shared a canoe.  Randy and his grandson Ruston were in kayaks.

Taking a break.

 More canoeing.

 Ruston.

 Randy.

They canoed as far up the creek as they could and then when it got too shallow they had to portage the canoes and their gear - making several trips to get everything to the campsite.

 Miles and his friend Michael portaging their gear.

 The boys were tired after all the canoeing and portaging . . . they enjoyed resting on this shady rock in their campsite.

They also got to cool off in the creek - fun!

This was their shelter for the first night.

On Tuesday night the kids, paired up, all had to take a 2-hour night-watch shift.  Ben said the boys did pretty great.  Unfortunately (fortunately?) it was a quiet and slightly boring night, but oh well.  I'm not sure I would have survived a night-watch shift.  :)

Wednesday

They got up (Ben was the first up and enjoyed the beautiful and peaceful morning) and got all their gear packed up.  Cassidy Schiller (YM pres.) met them at their campsite with four horses.  The horses packed all their gear and they all hiked a few miles to their basecamp and where Randy's tipi was set-up and waiting for them.  Ben was really impressed with Miles and Jonas and the strength and endurance they had on this hike - especially when compared to the other boys.  Jonas lead the pack up the super-steep climb!

 The beautiful campsite in the morning light.

 The inside of their shelter.  :)

 Flag ceremony . . . of sorts.

 Getting the horses ready.

 The river crossing was interesting as one horse did NOT want to do it!  He even bucked up a bit and threw his very-novice rider (not Cassidy) up towards the neck of the horse.  Luckily all made it through okay!

 Trekking to basecamp.

 Jonas helping lead one of the horses.

 Miles carrying the flag - which the boys had designed and Miles (and Ben) sewed.

 Making progress on their trek . . . one boy was exhausted and totally slowing down the group.  So he had to ride a horse.  :)

 Yay, they made it to basecamp!

 The bathroom that the boys set-up.  You would throw the noose-looking rope over the side to let others know you were in there.  :)

 Jonas working on something.

 Julian helping with dinner.

Jonas looking through the monocular.  He loved that thing and took special care of it and was often found looking in it.

Thursday

Thursday mainly consisted of their "Mountain Man Challenges."  They basically hung out at camp most of the day and went to different stations, learning different tasks - knots (of course), lashing, determining latitude, trap-building, and plant identification.  That evening they killed the two bunnies that had been hanging out in our driveway for the past month . . . It wasn't too pretty of a site.  They were going to shoot it, but Randy had a different opinion . . . so they tried breaking the first bunny's neck and it didn't quite work and the bunny was screaming and such.  I don't remember all the details, but finally they slit its throat - and blood spurted everywhere.  Jonas left and went to the tipi at this point (and hung out with Kaden, who went there at the very beginning).  The second bunny, after observing his friend, seemed more silently resigned to his fate.  Poor fellas.  But the boys said they were tasty.  Gag.

 Our good, adventuring boys.

 Jonas sharing a scripture thought for the day.

 Learning *something* from Randy.

 Ben's latitude tool that was only off by 1.5 degrees, I think.

 Just hanging out at camp.

 Poor, poor bunny.

 Dusty (YM deacon leader/1st counselor) helping get the rabbit ready for cooking.

A pretty sunset.

Friday

The original plans had been to hike out 5 miles and meet some Indians (myself, Emmy, and Lucy) at a trading post.  The boys were then to trade their goods (items they had found, made, etc.) for whatever the Indians had.  After their first hike to basecamp, Ben realized most of the boys could not do a 10-mile total hike.  So I think they ended up hiking 6 miles round-trip. 

The girls and I had a fun time getting the trading post ready and the girls were super excited about it.  The girls loved it all!  We brought our dogs up, too, and they enjoyed it - as well as all the boys.  It was a fun trip for us and a good break for the boys - many of who ate about 5 ice-cream treats each!  After their hike back from the trading post, they got to do a bit of rappelling that Randy and Ruston had set-up for them.  I don't have those pictures yet.

 Every morning the boys ground wheat for their breakfast.

 Jonas was definitely the dirtiest boy there!  This picture does his filthiness no justice at all!

 Doing . . . something.

 Jesse found this antler on the way back from the trading post.

 Dusty teaching the boys how to make their sling-shots.

 I don't know what this is all about?!  But it's kind of cool.  :)

 The boys coming down the hill to the trading post!

 Jonas, Julian, Jesse, Miles, and Kaden.

 We had fun getting their "Indian" (ahem, Native American) outfits ready.  :)

 We brought up gatorade and lots of different ice-cream treats.

 The boys would trade things they carved, cool rocks, hiking sticks, and lots of "junk"!  :)

 Bella enjoyed some of the treats, too!

 All the boys:  Michael, Kaden, Aidan, Jonas, Julian, Miles, Jesse, and Aiden.

 Hippy or Indian?  The boys definitely thought we girls were more hippies than Indians.  :)  It was fun to be with the boys for a bit!

 Again, Bella enjoying some of the treats . . .

 Bella was well-taken care of!

 Our family.

 Bella getting a look through the monocular.  Ha.

Miles in his element!

Saturday

They got up early, packed up all their gear, put most of it in Randy's truck, then began their journey back home - hiking back down to Cebolla creek and then paddling across the Blue Mesa.  All went fairly smooth and our boys finally made it back home by 3.  Ben was super happy to be back home - but I did hear Jonas say he wished he could have stayed another week.  :)  I count that as success.

 Kaden and Jonas hiking.

Boys on a log.

 Crossing the creek to their canoes.

 Setting off down Cebolla.

 You can see the line in the water from where it goes from shallow to deep.

Heading home . . . what an adventure for sure!