Little Sahara Sand Dunes 2013

We made it to Little Sahara Sand Dunes again this year and had a blast!  I was able to take my "new" Suburban, and pull the scout trailer as can be seen below.  I got 13 mpg pulling the trailer.  Not as good as I had hoped, but pretty good when you consider I can have 9 people inside.

Once we got there and set up tents we played some football on the sand for awhile then had dinner.  Our typical dinner is to have everyone bring a can of stew, mix it all together and heat it up.  The troop provides rolls and something to roast over the fire for dessert.  The boys (on their own) have decided that Dinty Moore stew is the best, with the biggest chunks of meat, and it usually comes with a handy pop top so they don't have to use a can opener.

We had to deviate from the usual fire roasting dessert this time.  We have in the past brought Twinkies and roasted them over the fire.  They get carmelly and crispy on the outside and it's really quite good!  But since we couldn't get Twinkies right now, we decided to try Cloud Cakes from Little Debbie:

They were actually just about the same as a Hostess Twinkie, so our dessert tradition is preserved!
We didn't bring hot dog sticks, and there aren't any trees or sticks out there, so we got creative with our sticks, carving them out of slices of wood from the firewood:

They worked pretty well as long as you switched hands often so you didn't burn your hand.

We played capture the flag out in the dunes at night, and this time we moved the flags further away from each other and had the guards move further away from the flags and jails.  Sometimes we're too close together and people just stand around looking at each other instead of trying to get the flag.  This time there was a lot of sneaking around around sand hills and such to get to the flags.  It was a lot of fun!

Unfortunately the 4-wheelers thought that they owned the sand and kept driving right through the "field" even though they knew we were there, and there was tons of other places they could go.  Next time we'll try to go somewhere that is less of a 4-wheeler haven.

Little Sahara Sand Dunes Campout

So for April we drove down to Little Sahara Sand Dunes for our monthly campout.  We planned to play capture the flag, explore the dunes and experience an 800 foot tall sand hill!

Unfortunately during this trip we saw how dependent our scouts are on us - and we've facilitated the whole dependency!  Our older scouts were so willing to help in whatever needed to be done, that the younger ones have gotten used to not needing to help.  Now that the older scouts are moving on, we're going with just the younger ones that aren't used to helping out in the kitchen and such.  We try and try to get them to help out in the kitchen but they're lazy!  I need to clarify that not all of them are, but a good majority are.  One of the boys we asked to wash dishes after dinner (just one pot and a ladle) didn't know what to do.  He said that it's his sisters job to do the dishes at home, so he's never done it!  I had to show him exactly what to do in order to get it done!  We had to hound the boys to work together to get their tents set up and taken down.

So we've decided to do things a little differently next time - the way it should be done.  We're going to let them plan out the meals, and the cooking and cleaning schedule - and post it so all know what their jobs are.  We're not going to hound them about setting up their tents - if they don't get them set up they will just have to sleep under the stars.  We'll be available for consultation, but will let them run the show.  I've gotten into the habit of planning out the activities and such, and end up doing the kitchen stuff so that we will have time for the activities.  Next time I'll let them plan it all out and if we don't have time for the activities that's just too bad.

Wish me luck.

Gravel Pit Camping

So, we didn't plan on staying in a gravel pit, we planned on going to Little Sahara Sand Dunes.  But when the day came, and the forecast was for 40-60 mph winds out at the dunes, we decided we didn't really want to get sand blasted the whole time.  So we went to scrambled last minute and decided on Stansbury Island in the Great Salt Lake.

We drove around for over an hour trying to find a place where the wind would be blocked by part of the island, but the best we could find was a spot in the gravel pits on the south end of the island.  It was still pretty windy, but at least it wasn't blowing sand around like it would have been at the dunes.  Unfortunately with the change so late in the game we didn't have the best plans for activities.  The boys favorite pastime at the gravel pit was throwing rocks at the gravel wall, trying to make bigger rocks fall down.  I wasn't prepared with much more.  We did play capture the flag out there, but that was half hearted since you had to be careful and not trip on all the rocks.

The boys did get another night camping to go towards their camping nights, and boy did they earn it!  The wind picked up quite a bit at night and blew the tents all night long!  None of us slept very well, or very long.  It seemed like, just as I was starting to fall asleep again another big gust would come along and wake me up again. It was a long night, but a good experience for all.

Update on Camping Nights

So, a year ago I posted that I would try to get a year of camping by the time I am 40 years old. Click HERE for the post.  In the post I figured I would have to camp 16 nights per year to make it to my goal.  Guess what?  I camped 19 nights last year!  That's 3 more than my goal!

So I'm on track for my goal, and will keep you posted!

365 Nights Camping?

So, my wife was emailed a link to a blog by a lady who cooked with a slow cooker each day for dinner for a year, trying out different types of recipes and stuff.

Hmm. . .  That got me thinking.  I could do that with my blog!  

I could go camping every night for a whole year, and write about my experiences!  I could try out different types of tents, pads, sleeping bags, hammocks, etc. and write about my experience with each one.

So, I asked my wife what she thought about that, and told her how excited I was about it, and well, she wasn't too excited.  She reminded me that we have 5 children and a dog (he could sleep with me though, right?), AND that we have a basement that we're trying to finish, AND that I'm studying to pass an 8 hour exam for work, AND that she and I are interviewing and writing my Grandpa's life story and we've got to get it done in the next month so that we can get it to the publishers and have it finished by his 90th Birthday in May, AND that I need to spend time with her (I just assumed that she would be camping with me for the 365 days, but I guess not), AND, AND, AND, etc.  Yeah, she keeps me grounded.

BUT, instead of doing it all in one year, I've decided to try to get to 365 days by the time I turn 40!  So, I've got less than 7 years to camp another lets see, 365 - 259 = 106 nights.  I'll just call that 16 nights per year.  So, let's see if this is doable.  This year I have planned a week long camp with High Adventure with the Varsity's and Venturers, and a week long camp with my family.  Add to that at least 6 more monthly overnighters and I'll have my 16 nights this year.  So, each year I need to go on:

• 1 week-long camp with the scouts (5 nights)
• 1 week-long camp with my family (5 nights)
• 6 overnighters with the scouts (at least).  We typically do:
• snow cave Camping in February
• 2-night campout during spring break
• overnighter backpacking in May
• overnighter backpacking in June
• overnighter in October
• hot springs campout in November

That's 17 nights a year.  If I can keep that up, then I can cover for years where there are less camping.  Then by the time I'm 40 I will have spent 1/40th of my life's nights under the stars!  That's something to work towards!

Check out "My Camping Stats" on the upper left side of the site to see how I'm coming on my goal!

BTW, I have some campouts that I went on when I was really young, but I'm only counting campouts where I was old enough to remember.