Camping at Settlement Canyon

In May we went camping in Settlement Canyon, outside of Tooele.  Savannah wasn't with us -- she slept over with the Lawrences.  By the time we were done, she was glad she wasn't with us!  This campout was a disaster adventure!

The campout started well.  The first thing we discovered was a rope hanging from a tree in our campsite.  That kept Marielle and Caleb happy and busy for a long time!

We went for a fun hike along the river.

Building the fire is always a highlight for the little pyromaniacs.

Then it was time to set up camp for the night.  That's when we discovered a problem:  we had forgotten the tent poles!  Well, we thought we'd make the best of it.  We had never slept under the stars -- it would be fun.  But then we realized we had also forgotten the sleeping bags!  We didn't want to freeze under the stars.  So this is what we did:

Curt and I slept outside on a tarp covered by sleeping foams.  We covered up with the tent.  So cozy!

 We put the other two sleeping foams in the van for the four kids to sleep on.  We didn't have anything for them to cover up with, so we just layered their clothes.

We got the kids "in bed", locked the van, and got into our own "bed".  Within ten minutes, the car alarm went off!  Caleb needed to go to the bathroom, and if you open the locked doors from the inside the alarms go off!  We got that taken care of (and left the doors unlocked) and finally fell asleep.  Surprisingly, because I'm always cold, I was pretty warm that night.  That is, until 4:30 a.m.  I woke up hearing Autumn crying from the van.  I went to get her -- she was cold -- and got back into bed.  Then I was cold.  Autumn wiggled and wiggled.  I couldn't cover my head with tent like I had earlier, because Autumn didn't like it.  So by 6, I was ready to get up.  The kids got up shortly, too.  They had slept cold!

Here's Autumn -- the only one who slept in!

After breakfast we went on a hike.  They found a snake, and hid in the tall grass.  Caleb had some excitement.  He stepped off the trail to hide and jump out, and ended up sitting on a rotten log covered in ants.  He jumped out of the trees, but instead of scaring us, he had ants in his pants!

As we were driving home, the kids said, "That was a really fun camping trip!"  It was definitely memorable!