Back From The Mountains

After three days and two nights in beautiful Logan Canyon, we’re back safe and sound in the arms of civilization.

Friday afternoon we went camping with our friends, John and Dana Rimington and their three girls. We had decided to find a campsite along the banks of the Logan River and thought that we had a wonderful one reserved. We were wrong. The Rimingtons told us that they would meet us up there since we wanted to leave earlier than they were able to. We arrived at our reserved site only to find that there was no place to pitch a tent, let alone two tents. It was horrible! We started walking around the campground looking for a place that we could sleep but it was in vain. The best that we could find was on a rocky slope. (For those who are new to camping, rocks on steep slopes don’t usually make good beds. Try to avoid these sleeping conditions.)

We decided to try looking at another campground and found a nice spot about a half mile down the canyon. We figured that we better call the Rimingtons since they had already paid for the campsite via the internet so that they could try and cancel the reservation at the last minute. Plus, we weren’t going to be where they thought we would be. It was only good manners to let them know where to find us.

Once we got the campsite all figured out, we started setting up camp. After the Rimingtons had arrived and everyone was settled in, the park ranger stopped by to tell us to watch out for two yearling moose that had been frequenting the area. Good to know. Two young moose plus camp with lots of kids running around equals curious and aggressive time ahead. Unfortunately(?) we didn’t see the moose during our stay.

That first night, I got to break in my new dutch oven. I’m really pleased with it. Friday night we made chicken and rice. It was awesome! The next day we did chili and cornbread. John brought his dutch ovens as well and made an amazing apple crisp and some yummy potatoes. For breakfast, we did pancakes and bacon on a cast iron griddle. Very tasty.

Saturday was spent relaxing. We all went fishing in the afternoon and then again later in the evening. I taught Emma how to cast and now she can’t wait to go fishing again. The fish were jumping a lot but nobody caught anything. We all had a lot of fun trying though. One of the neatest parts about fishing at dusk was seeing the bats come out chasing all of the bugs on the surface of the river. They were everywhere.

We were also introduced to some yummy ice cream on Saturday. John took us down the canyon to Utah State’s campus where we bought ice cream cones. Aggie Ice Cream is so very creamy and rich. We all loved it. I may need to find more excuses to head up to Logan just to get ice cream.

When we got back to camp, John noticed a rattlesnake about 15 feet from our campfire. We showed Emma and the other kids and warned them about going up the rocky hillside. I wondered if we had stayed at the other site if we would have set up camp on a nest of rattlers. Luckily everyone was safe but it gave us a reality check as to the dangers of the wilderness.

That night, we hung around the camp fire for a few hours roasting marshmallows and eating s’mores. The Rimingtons had already packed up their camp and decided that it was time to head home. Holly and I had decided that we wanted to stay two nights so that we could enjoy the mountains without feeling rushed to get home. Holly headed to bed while I cleaned up the camp and put everything into the van in an attempt to keep animals out of our area. Once I climbed into the tent, Holly and I heard a cat howling. It was a big cat and sounded very close. Then we heard it again and again. Holly decided that maybe she didn’t need to use the toilet and we went to sleep knowing that a cougar was not far from us.

Sunday morning was met with more pancakes and bacon. We originally planned on doing bacon and eggs but our eggs got a little too close to the ice in the cooler and all froze. We settled for pancakes but I’m an awesome cook and so they turned out good. F.Y.I. - The secret to good pancakes is to cover the taste of the pancake with other things, i.e. bacon, chocolate chips, peanut butter, etc. After eating, we packed up camp and came home.

The End.