6/26-28/2009: "Bikepacking" Gallinas Canyon

Wyatt, Sabrina, Colter and I left Dimmitt bound for New Mexico around 8:30 Friday night. They had been requesting to take a camping trip on the bikes for some time, but the deal was we had to wait for Colter, our four year old, to be able to ride without training wheels. Additionally I had to find an area where we would be close enough to make it back to church Sunday night for a class Jen and I were leading, have an easy enough grade for the kids to be able to ride, have access to water and have minimal traffic. After considering all of these variables I decided to head to Gallinas Canyon in the Santa Fe National Forest.

We arrived in the forest close to 1:00 and tossed out the sleeping bags in a ponderosa forest. Around 6:30 I awoke to a beautiful orange sunrise. As I lay there looking up at the sky pondering the old proverb, "Red in the morning sailor take warning..." it began to rain. It had been a busy sleep deprived week, so I reacted by pulling the sleeping bag over my head and going back to sleep. Fortunately the rain was brief and the sleeping bags didn't get too wet.

The four of us headed down into the canyon after a pancake breakfast and parked the truck. We loaded all of our gear into the bike trailer and started out. The grade was mild (about 3%), but still enough that the kids had to work hard at times as we wound our way through the canyon. We took plenty of rest/water/play/water breaks which made the trip more enjoyable for the kids.



We stopped for lunch and played on some rocks by the creek for about 45 minutes before continuing up canyon.

The canyon has some private property scattered in it. Unfortunately these parcels tend to be on the most desirable land for camping.

Around 1:30 we made it up to Burro Flats, an area of small meadows near the end of the road. We had biked a little more than six miles and climbed around 1100 feet. We set up the tent in the meadow and spent the rest of the afternoon playing, resting and reading.

We fixed pizza for dinner and read the remaining twelve chapters in Louis Sachar's "Holes" before climbing into bed.

Sunday dawned to leaden skies and rain. We had planned to cook pancakes for breakfast again, but the more prudent (and less wet choice) seemed to be granola bars. We broke down camp and climbed back on the bikes. The wet dirt combined with high speeds on our way down did result in a few crashes, but no injuries. We arrived back at the truck wet and muddy, but the kids quickly asked "When do we get to do this again?".

5/29-31/2009: Middle Fork Lake, NM

The kids and I loaded up the van and left Dimmitt bound for the Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico. We arrived at the trailhead to Middle Fork Lake around 12:30 AM on Saturday morning. We tossed out our sleeping bags next to the van and went to sleep.

Saturday dawned to clear skies, a temperature of 31 degrees and a layer of frost coating anything exposed to the air (including Colter's hair). We cooked oatmeal for breakfast before loading up the packs and setting out.

Middle Fork Lake is a small lake near the northern edge of the Wheeler Peak Wilderness. Until recently there was a Jeep road leading up to it and with its proximity to Red Rver it was a heavily travelled route. The road was closed to motorized vehicle use a few years ago, making it a great walk to a high mountain lake.

We headed up the road through a thick forest of Engelman spruce, subalpine fir and aspen. The road paralleled a branch of the Middle Fork, treating us to a series of cascades. The kids enjoyed playing in the remnant snow.

We made the 2.3 mile trek up to the lake a little after noon. We found a beautiful campsite on the north side of the lake back in the trees. We set up camp, dried out the sleeping bags and played by the lake as clouds slowly began to gather.

Around 3:00 we began to hear low grumblings of thunder and it began to rain. Wyatt and I put on our rain gear and went for a walk around the lake as the other kids played in the tent. We had fun climbing through the snow and watching the rain move in. We headed back to the tent as the lighting drew closer.

The clouds moved out as quickly as they had appeared and we were able to finish the afternoon with plenty of sunshine.We cooked cheesy chicken enchiladas for dinner and enjoyed a small fire before retiring to the tent to read a few chapters of "Ralph S. Mouse".

Sunday dawned warmer and drier, with a temperature of 35 degrees when we awoke. We spent a lazy morning playing and taking down camp before heading back down. Our trip out was uneventful, not passing any other hikers until we were within a 1/4 mile of the trailhead. We had great solitude for such a pretty and easily reached location. We had seen two hikers on Saturday, had the lake to ourselves and saw only the one pair of hikers Sunday.

4/4-10/2009: Zion National Park, UT

We left Dimmitt Saturday morning with the plan to drive to Page, AZ for the night. The weather staerted out rough as we drove into a 30-40 mph head wind, but began to settle as we headed further west. Finally, after 11 hours of drive time we settled into a motel in Page for the night.

Sunday we awoke and continued west. We stopped at the visitor's centers for Glen Canyon NRA and Grand Staircase-Escalante NM, arriving at the Watchman CG in Zion around 2:00. The Griffins (my roommate from college, his wife and 3 kids from Pasadena, CA) had arrived at the campsite about 15 minutes before us. We set up camp, enjoying the challenge of keeping eight kids aged six and under corraled. We then took the shuttle to the Zion Human History Museum and then walked back to the campground after stopping at the Virgin River to play.

Monday we took the shuttle up to the Zion Lodge where we had a snack under a massive cottonwood in front of the lodge.

We then loaded up the kids and hiked the Emerald Pools Trail. It was a beautiful walk, although quite crowded. The kids did a great job hiking. We decided to ride the full trip through the canyon on our way back to the campground and made it back around 5:00.

Tuesday we awoke and took the shuttle up to the Temple of Sinawava. We spent the entire day playing along and in the Virgin. Once again it was quite crowded but beautiful. We finally finished up around 5:30.

Wednesday we drove up to Spring Creek Canyon on BLM land adjoining the park to the north. We loaded our packs and walked about a mile and a half to a small shelf where we set up camp. From there our families split up to explore the narrows of Spring Creek.

We made it back to the campsite around 5:30 as snow flurries began to fall. We cooked dinner and I managed to build my first fire with flint and steel and all natural tender (no dryer lint this time!). We warmed ourselves by the fire as the temperature dropped into the 20's.

Thursday dawned to clear skies and a temperaute of 24 degrees. We packed our gear and walked back to the cars.

We drove through the Kolob Canyons portion of the park before arriving back at the Watchman CG where we set camp back up. The kids enjoyed an Easter egg hunt underneath the towering sandstone walls of Zion Canyon.

Friday morning we broke down camp. We celebrated Good Friday with each other by having Brad administer communion before we parted ways. We headed up to Denver to see my parents and one set of my grandparents for Easter. On the drive we stopped through Colorado National Monument, completing the scenic drive. Finally, on Monday we drove back to Dimmitt.

3/15-17/2009: Lonesome Ridge, Lincoln National Forest

The boys and I left Dimmitt soon after I got home from clinic. The girls were going to spend a "scrapbook weekend" with mom while we headed to the mountains. We finished packing our remaining gear, loaded the truck and and set off. We drove through a spring snow and stopped in Clovis to pick up some stove fuel. From there it was on to the Guadalupes.

We arrived at the turnoff for FR 201 around 7:00. we were in thick fog and low visibility as we put the truck into low range for the crawl to our trailhead. The road was rocky and tested my nerves and patience as I gently guided the truck through numerous obstacles. About an hour into the drive we found a flat place to set up the tent and crash for the evening. We set up camp and built a small fire as snow flurries drifted down onto us.

Morning brought a temperature of 21 degrees and the smallest dusting of snow. I realized that though I brought the now full stove fuel bottle, I had neglected to grab the burner. I built a small "stove" with rocks and built a fire to heat water for oatmeal. We finished breakfast, packed up and got back onto the road.

We continued to grind our way along the rarely used Jeep track, eventually arriving at our destination. The morning was beautiful. As the fog slowly burned off it left a coating of rime on the trees, giving the landscape a hint of winter. We unloaded our gear and set out.

Our path followed an old road that extended out on the appropriately named Lonesome Ridge. The difficult drive, absence of tire tracks and fog gave us a profound felling of isolation and remoteness. As we passed vegetation we would pull off sheets of ice to eat. Wyatt and Colter ran ahead while Zane road on my shoulders. We felt as though we were the only ones left in the world.

The road eventually transitioned to a narrow trail that followed the ridge, winding amongst the mixture of forest and desert vegetation. We felt a sense of exposure as we looked down beneath our path into a void of fog.

About a mile into our walk we stopped to pitch the tent on a small plateau. We played around camp for awhile before setting off to hike further down the ridge. The boys ran like little mountain goats along the narrow trail. We were treated to spectacular views of Big Canyon to our south and Black Canyon to our north.

Finally hunger won out over the joy of explorationa and we headed back to camp. We built another cooking fire and enjoyed one of the calmest, most pleasant days I have ever spent in the Guadalupe high country. We climbed into the tent as the stars began to spread out over the sky.

Sunday dawned to dramatic winds. I was up and out of the tent multiple times to resecure tent stakes that would repeatedly rip out of the ground. Many times the tent would flatten down on us in the winds. The boys laughed and pretended we were in a tornado, but Zane contented himself to snuggle up close to me for comfort. The winds made it impossible to cook breakfast so we split the remaining granola bars for food.

As the sun rose the winds did calm some and we started out in the balmy 35 degree air. We enjoyed the views that we had missed on our walk in as we now had unlimited visibility.

We arrived at the truck around 11:30 and began the arduous drive back out. Zane inexplicably fell asleep as we bumped, swayed and ground our way over the road. We stopped in Dark Canyon for a picnic before making the long trek back to Dimmitt. We enjoyed our trip and the solitude of the Guads. We saw not a soul and were treated to the many moods of the mountains. The boys were upset that we couldn't spend another night in the desert splendor.

1/23-24/2009: Palo Duro Canyon SP, TX

The kids and I ledt Dimmitt around 2:45 for a quick overnighter to Palo Duro State Park. We had day tripped there numerous times in the past, but never overnighted. We arrived an hour later and stopped by the entrance station to get our permits. From there it was on to the trailhead.

We started by paralleling the Prairie Dog Fork of the Red, passing amidst juniper, mesquite and cottonwood. The sky was sunny, but a cool north wind was dropping the temperature from the 54 degrees we had at the trailhead. We made several stops to play along the rocky bluffs and toss rocks into the creek. About 3/4 of a mile into our walk we turned north into Tub Springs Draw and found a flat, prickly pear free area to sleep for the night.

I fixed bean burritos while the kids played. After dinner we climbed into the sleeping bags and watched the stars come out as it grew steadily colder. Sometime after 8:00 we all fell asleep.

Morning brought frozen water bottles and a temperature of 16 degrees. We thawed our water supply, ate some oatmeal and headed back to the car. By 10:45 we were back from our brief trip and loaded up in the car to head home.

12/19-22/2008: Guadalupe Mountains, NM

Wyatt, Sabrina, Colter and I left Dimmitt Friday evening and drove to Brownfield where we picked up my brother-in-law Jerod. From there we headed out to the Guads. While driving on FR 540 in the forest I mentioned to Jerod that I would love to see a mountain lion sometime. Not 5 minutes later I began slowing down to avoid what I thought was another mule deer when I saw a large tawny colored cat with a thick tail slink across the road, my first mountain lion!

We arrived at our campsite for the night and set up the tent. The sky was clear and brilliant and several shooting stars traced across the heavens. The winds were quite high and we staked out the tent well before turning in around 1:45.

Morning dawned to continued high winds and a temperature of 36 degrees. We walked down to the lee side of the saddle we were camped at to cook breakfast. Following breakfast we pulled out the maps to decide on a route. My initial thought was to head over to Lonesome Ridge and explore. We ultimately decided to stay off the ridges to get out of the winds which were easily gusting around 50 miles per hour. Back in April we had explored some of the South Fork of Big Canyon and this time we decided to head north of the saddle into Middle Fork.

We loaded our packs and descended into the canyon. The area was heavily wooded with Douglas fir, Alligator juniper, ponderosa, maple and oak. Colter had decided to carry his bow and an arrow so that "if I see another mountain lion I will shoot it!"Our progress down the canyon was slow as the kids downclimbed small pouroffs and wound their way through the frequent deadfall.

Around 2:30 we merged with the main branch of the Middle Fork. We took a long lunch break while we considered whether to head up one of the ridges to find a spot for the night or to camp down in the canyon. We eventually decided to head upstream and see if we could find a good place to set up.

Finally, around 5:00 we found a sandy area large enough to pitch the tent. The winds which had been pounding the mountains all day were still roaring up along the ridges, but we were well protected in the canyon. We built a small fire, cooked burritos for dinner and by 7:30 we climbed in the tent to read stories.

Sunday morning brought a temperature of 28 degrees. The winds had died down during the night and the woods were silent. We fixed oatmeal for breakfast before packing up. Our route continued up canyon until the brush became thick enough to slow our progress. We then climbed up and out onto the ridge where we picked up a jeep road which we followed back to the truck. From there we drove to an area to do some shooting before heading on back home. It was a great trip highlighted by my first mountain lion sighting. We had absolute solitude while we were out.

11/1-2/2008: Caprock Canyons SP, TX

The kids and I left Dimmitt around 11:00 Saturday and drove out to Caprock Canyons. We stopped by the visitor center and got the South Prong primitive camping area for the night. From there we headed to Lake Theo in the park to do some fishing while we waited for Skylar and his son Brooks. The day was warm, around 80 degrees. We fished for a little more than an hour without success before heading to the trailhead.

Skylar and Brooks arrived and by 3:30 we were out on the trail. The walk to the camping area was just a little more than an hour. We were counting on the creek having some water in it. Finally, at the last creek crossing before the campsite we found good water flow.



We set up camp and cooked burritos for dinner. From there we headed back to the creek to fill up our water supplies and let the kids play. We spent about an hour playing by the creek as the day faded. The kids had a great time and we made it back to the campsite wet and muddy. We spent the evening hanging out by the campsite before turning in. Due to the unseasonably balmy weather we opted to sleep out under the stars.








Morning dawned to clear skies and some wind. The temperature was a pleasant 50 degrees. We fixed oatmeal for breakfast before heading back to the creek to play some more. This time we headed upstream, walking in the creek catching frogs and enjoying the fall colors. Around 11:00 we headed back to the campsite to pack up.





We made the short walk back to the trailhead. From there it was back to the lake for some more fishing. This time we had much better luck. Each kid caught several fish and we all had a good time. Finally around 3:00 we headed back home.