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!

Blue Mesa Adventure 2018

The boys are off - headed out at 5am this morning on their Blue Mesa Adventure/Lewis & Clark Camp, 2018.  I hope it all goes well - meaning that the boys are tried and tested.  Oh, and that they have fun!

Here is the letter Ben wrote and mailed out to all the boys and men going (8 youth, 3 adults, 1 semi-adult).

Blue Mesa Expedition 2018

July 2018

To scout ______ of Troop 471 of the Boy Scouts of America,

      You and your troop are hereby commissioned to proceed on an expedition to obtain useful information and experience to be of benefit to you and your fellow countrymen.  You are to cross the great waters of the Blue Mesa and proceed up the creek known as Cebolla creek to its entrance into the Blue Mesa.   You are then to proceed to the top of the great mesa west of Cebolla creek to discover if there are any aboriginal dwellings atop the mesa, and to determine the latitude of such dwellings.  You are to describe both the flora and fauna pertaining to the area and to provide a map of your travels.  You are to proceed across the great plains of the plateau to the fabled Gateview Campground to determine if the natives have established a trading post and to determine the quality of the goods to be obtained at said trading post.  You are to consider God’s creations and ponder what you will do in life to respect the Great Creator.  You are to return and report the knowledge and experience gained from this expedition to Bishop Crim and his counselors at a troop council meeting to be held no later than September 1^st, 2018.        May you be courageous and diligent in this assignment and may the hand of Providence guide you on this journey.

      Report to the Montrose Colorado Stake building on July 17^th at 5 am to embark on your expedition.

Sincerely,

 (Ben had the bishop sign them all )

Executive officer of Troop 471 and Bishop of Black Canyon Ward

Jonas used his cool wax seal from a Harry Potter set to seal the letters.  Very cool and Lewis & Clark-ish.

Ben, Randy, and Ruston (Randy's grandson - the 16/17-year old semi-adult) went up on Monday night to drop off some supplies and set up Randy's teepee at the base-camp site.  They will get to base-camp on Wednesday.  I think they'll love it!

The boys come home on Saturday (but the girls and I will get a sneak peek at them on Friday . . . )

Love

4 kids + Summer boredom = this hilarious (probably just to me and maybe some other family members) video.

It's too big (it's 9 minutes long for crying out loud!) to post here, so here is the link to where you can view it on youtube:
https://youtu.be/0DDPl-1vAm8

Sometimes the audio is hard to hear . . . basically it's about 2 people who start dating and fall in love.  Apparently they are both vampires, but one didn't know the other was until he tried to suck her blood.  That's pretty much the gist.  Enjoy.  I sure did.

July 4th-5th

We began our 4th celebrations at our ward's breakfast.  Our boys participated in the flag ceremony and we all ate a yummy breakfast.

We left from there and headed out to Ouray for its parade.  I really wanted a parade this year!  It has been four years since I took the girls to our local parade (which is kind of lame; the boys were out backpacking that year and so they didn't come) and seven years since we've been to a "real" parade (Provo, UT).  I wouldn't quite call Ouray's parade a "real" parade (you know, with patriotic floats and bands, etc), but it was still fun - and wet.  A hallmark of Ouray's parade is the water-fights!  We got wet for sure!

After the parade, we headed out to the West Fork area and set up our camping spot.  It was a great spot and allowed room for Brigham to roam and run free.  Bella tried to follow him as much as she could, but that made me a little nervous.  The grass/flowers/weeds were all way taller than she was!  I was worried she'd get lost and we wouldn't be able to find/see her!  :)  But it was fun to have Bella - the kids tried to make a play-place that would keep her enclosed.  But Bella is not one to shy away from jumping over whatever to get where she wants to go!

The kids had a fun afternoon and evening playing on their hammocks and down at the little stream.  After dinner, Ben and I noticed that Brigham "wasn't right."  We couldn't tell exactly what was wrong at first - maybe a limp or something - but then we could tell he was definitely not right.  He would lean over to one side and almost collapse.  He couldn't really walk a straight line.  His eyes just seem glazed and I couldn't even tell if he could see.  I may have lost it at one point.  It was so scary to see him like that and be so helpless.  The girls were sad, too - Emmy especially so when she actually saw Brigham fall over.  Miles was in his own not-facing-reality-world and was fine and thought Brigham was fine.  Which he totally wasn't.  So that sort of put a damper on the night for us - especially Ben and myself.

When we got up in the morning, Brigham was still "off."  Not walking normal, weak, etc.  We had decided not to do our planned-hike and to head home.  Then we fed Brigham and he ate just fine and then he hopped out of the truck - still a little weak.  He went to the bathroom a couple of times and then slowly started to clear up.  He walked straight, even ran a little, etc.  We gave him some time while we ate and such, and then decided we'd give the hike a try.

Brigham was all over the hike - running here and there and everywhere.  Sure, he was more-than-his-usual exhausted afterwards, but it looked like he'd be just fine.  Sheesh.  I told him this was the first of his 9 lives and that he better not use the rest of them too soon (Ben reminded me that Brigham was a dog . . . I reminded Ben that Wilson had 9 lives . . .:)  ).

Anyways, I'm so long-winded.  The hike was great - except when it wasn't.  The girls complained a lot.  Emmy's a little under-the-weather and so that could explain her.  She's usually leading the pack with Miles.  But it was a super-hard hike and I was exhausted myself!  It's only 1.8 miles up, but with an elevation gain of 1,800 feet.  So it's steep.  Jonas rocked it, though!  Usually he's in the back with Lucy, but this time he and Miles kept the lead.  It was awesome to see.

Everyone was happy on the way down and we even got some sprinkling of rain (we've pretty much forgotten what rain feels like . . .).  We got back to our campsite (I had convinced Ben to let us not pack up camp before our hike and he conceded!) and the kids played some more, we got packed up, ate some lunch, and then headed out.  It was a good camp-out and hike!

Oh and we really have no idea what happened to Brigham.  Ben had thought maybe some carbon monoxide poisoning, which seemed somewhat plausible.  But I'm less convinced now that's what it was.  He probably just ate some toxic plants or something?!  Who knows, but I'm sure glad he's okay.

Okay, now on to the pictures GALORE:

 We had to bring our dogs to the ward breakfast and parade as we were heading out from there to camp!  Bella was a hit, of course.  Brigham enjoyed a walk, then was corralled in the truck during breakfast.

 My cute and festive kids at the parade!  Miles had a shirt, too.  We made them on Monday and let me just say Pinterest made it look so much easier to get desired results . . . (The girls' shirts were second-attempts . . .)

 Water, water, everywhere!

 Two wet babes.  Luckily the water did cool us all off!

 I ran in to a friend and she took our picture.  Fun!

 After the parade the kids (all except Miles) participated in the foot-races.  Go Lucy!

 Go Emmy!  (Can you spot her?)

 Go Jonas!

 The water and all the other excitement wore Bella out!

 Bella's play-pen at camp.  The kids built up the walls - and that kept her in for a bit.  But just a bit.  She did take a nice nap that evening in there.

 Bella's first time exploring water.

 The kids played some jousting game up there.

 Our awesome campsite.

 Ben, Bella, and I went on a walk that evening (while Brigham was convalescing).  It was a beautiful walk.

 We played a little bit of Catan . . .but then we checked on Brigham again and I lost it after that.  So we just decided to call it a day and go to bed.

 Oh, but not before we enjoyed the 4th of July treats I had made.  Yum!

I had bought these fun glow-in-dark glasses and the kids loved them.

 Lights out - awesome.

 Thursday morning . . . on our hike.  This was about a mile up the trail.  A friend at our ward breakfast, after finding out we were going hiking, ran home and got her puppy-pack for Bella. Jonas had fun carrying her in it for a bit.  She also did a good amount of hiking - for a pug.  :)

 Jerky time!  We all enjoyed the jerky - dogs included.

 At the top of Courthouse - 12,152 feet.  The vista from here is amazing and I can't believe I didn't get a shot of it!  You can see at least three 14ers from this point.  It's incredible.

 Bella was exhausted!

 I had accidentally left the puppy-pack at our break-spot, but I improvised and used my camel-back to stuff Bella in.  She slept in there (snores and all!) the whole time I climbed down the crazy rock-scree area and the whole time I slid on my bum (purposely) down the slick and steep dirt areas.  Cutie.

 The boys at the bottom of the rock scree area.

 Lucy making her way down the trail.

 Fun, huh?  Yep, Bella was out this whole time!

What an adventure.

June Miscellaneous

We had a good ending to June.  At least, I think we did.  Summer is pretty much a blur to me.

 

Miles was out camping with a friend, the girls were at their horse camp, and so I decided to take Jonas mountain biking to a place we'd never gone - the RAT trails (Ridgway Area Trails).

It was really great and had a super-fun downhill track!  I think I screamed out only twice and almost hit a tree almost once.  Not bad!  :)

The girls had their friends over and we hung out at the park for a little bit with our hammocks.  Cute girls!

As you can see (or not see), my last days of June were spent up at our stake's Girls' Camp.  It was a pretty good time and my kids survived.  Win-win.

I didn't take my camera with me and so I didn't get any pictures from camp.  But I did the zip-line twice and that was cool.  This was a neat project the young women did:

It was a paint-by-number craft.  Each girl painted an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper and then we put them all together to make this picture of Christ.  Amazing.  Our stake camp leaders are awesome.

I can't believe June is already over . . .