I'm a Backpacker!

Last night, I got to sleep in a sleeping bag in a tent with my Mommy! And we had to bring all of our stuff with us on our backs! I was so lucky. Last week, Grandpa called up and invited my Daddy to take me on my first backpacking trip. Grandpa's brother was in town with his kids and they were going to do an easy little backpack trip that would be perfect for me. Daddy's work schedule has been CRAZY and he was so overbooked and overworked. Mommy thought about it overnight and called up Grandpa the next day and said that if we did Tuesday night that she could bring me! Oh it was so much fun!

In truth, my little backpack was much to big for me but I attempted to carry it in and back out. I only lasted a short way both times but at least we tried. Grandpa even let me bring hot dogs and marshmallows for dinner. (Well really he carried them in his pack but let's just say, Mommy doesn't remember the last time she saw him eat a hot dog.)

We left Grandpa's house at about 5:30 pm on Tuesday and drove north west of St. George to a little hike that Grandpa call's "The Vortex." It's not even 30 minutes out of town. We put on our packs and hiked in to the little camp spot and set up our tents.





We started a fire and had our hot dogs roasting before the sun went down. I helped collect as many sticks as I could. I had quite the pile going! And actually here are a couple of pictures of Grandpa and Uncle Nick starting our fire without matches!





Then Mommy took me and my new friend, Savannah (one of my Mommy's cousins) and looked for tracks out in the sand to help me wait patiently for my marshmallows. Grandpa said there had to be stars in the sky before I could cook them. I only ate half a marshmallow when all was said and done but I loved roasting them! Then we sat around the fire and listened to Grandpa play the harmonica. (Mommy sang along with the songs even and told me that Grandpa always brings his harmonica on a camping trip.) Finally, it was time to crawl in to our sleeping bags. I was actually begging to go to bed. So Mommy got us all snuggled down and we played with the camera for a few minutes and then we sank in to sleep.



I woke up all bright eyed and bushy tailed 10 hours later much to Mommy's surprise. The only other time we tried sleeping in a tent, I never fell asleep...even at 1 in the morning. (If you remember that was our maiden voyage in camping last August in which we just drove home at 1.)


Mommy didn't sleep as well because a storm system rolled in at about 4:30 am and the wind was very loud and kept her up. It also made for a very chilly morning. We ate pop tarts and drank hot chocolate before deciding it wasn't too cold to do a short hike. We didn't go all the way to the cool spiral rock formation that my Grandpa calls the actual "Vortex" but that was okay. I still had fun and was a great hiker.



All in all, Mommy says it was a successful first backpacking trip for me. I only cried a little bit when I had to carry the pack back out but once they got me distracted with flowers (which I picked almost compulsively). I was okay. I can't wait to do it again.