8/22-24/2008: Valle Vidal, NM

We have a family tradition that at one year old each child gets to take their first backpacking trip without Momma. Wyatt's first was to the Sam Houston NF in TX and Colter's was to the Ouachita NF in OK (Monique and Sabrina both joined our family after they were a year old). Now it was Zane's turn. I remember Colter's first trip and feeling like I was "super Dad" because I had a one and a three year old with me alone in the backcountry. This time there was to be five! I was a bit nervous.

We left Dimmitt Friday afternoon and drove to Dalhart where we stopped for dinner at Pizza Hut. This was my first time to take all five out to eat by myself. I was glad I was wearing synthetic clothing. It meant that I dried much faster after the three separate glasses of water were spilled on me.

We arrived at the McCrystal Campground around 9:45. We found a site and set up the tent. It took a while before all five of the children were able to settle down.

Saturday morning dawned to clear skies and a temperature of 46 degrees. We cooked oatmeal for breakfast before taking down the tent and driving to the west side of the Valle to backpack.

Twenty minutes later we arrived at our intended trailhead only to discover that the whole Comanche Creek drainage was under a closure order. The game commision was poisoning the drainage in anticipation of reintroducing Rio Grande cutthroat. We were slightly disappointed but decided to change our plan to walking along the North Fork of Ponil Creek.
After a bit of wrestling we loaded our packs and started walking. The day was sunny and warm, but already we could see wisps of clouds forming up over the Cimmaron Range. We stopped to eat lunch under a ponderosa by the creek. We fixed tortillas with summer sausage and cheddar cheese.

In typical kid form the children were a bit messy. I picked up all of the food I could find and we started out again. I looked in back of me as we walked and saw a large black object running from the creek up into the timber. I shouted "Bear!" and we all began running to where I had seen the animal. It ran up to a ledge where it sat and stared at us for a while.

Finally we turned and started walking back along the trail. I once again turned around and noticed that the bear was now following us, first along the ridge, but then dropped down to the trail. When we stopped, he stopped. When we would walk so would he. I had left the pistol in the van and was thinking how difficult it would be to throw rocks while wearing Zane in the front carrier. A few hundred yards later the bear lost interest and ambled up over a ridge.

Low grumblings of thunder had started by the time we set up the tent. We had walked about a mile in. The kids had been asking to play in the creek, though in the end only the boys did. As they played we watched the clouds build up over the ridges.

Around 3:00 the skies let loose on us. A cold rain began falling, followed by hail. The six of us climbed into the tent where we were kept pinned down for a little more than two hours. By the time we got out the area had been transformed into a mud pit.
We cooked Spanish rice and chicken for dinner. After our encounter earlier in the day we worked to keep our camp clean. After dinner we hiked up through a burned area from the 2002 Ponil fire. The scattered ponderosa seedlings gave us a good chance to discuss fire ecology. Wyatt told me he wants to come back when he is grown up to see how the forest has come back. By the time we looped back to the tent it was nearly pitch black.

Morning brought us clear skies and balmy temperatures in the mid-40's. The humidity of the night meant that nothing had dried. We cooked oatmeal for breakfast and slowly began packing up. By 10:00 we were back on the trail. By 11:00 we had arrived back at the trailhead. We ate by the car and by 11:30 were back on the road and bound for Dimmitt. It was not a restful trip and there were definately difficulties, however I wouldn't have missed it for the world.