Camping in the Uintas

The remnants of a night filled with smores and idle campfire chatter

This was taken on our "hike" through mounds of oak brush and over grown sage brush. When I complained about there not being a trail Brannon told me "I make my own trails, I always have." I reminded him that that doesn't always get you good things in life. We miraculously made it back to camp with shoes full of stickers after being bushwacked and scatched by the surrounding vegetation. Brannon said he knew where we were the whole time...I had my doubts, but I suppose that's because I couldn't see over the shrubbery to get a feel for where we were at...anyway...

Bran carved our names in this tree...who knows, maybe we will see it someday again....

The boys enjoying the campfire light...Taj trying to escape the confines of the stroller in hopes of roaming the forest floor

Our little homestead

On a whim (yes we were spontaneous for the first time in a long time since having Taj) we decided to go camping in the Uintas when Brannon got off work. Once we actually got to the mountains, we spent nearly an hour looking for a "primitive" camp spot as Brannon wouldn't have it any other way. And once we found that spot, we drove in circles to find the perfectly strategic parking spot (much to my extreme annoyance:)) Finally we parked and moved on to arguing over where to put the tent. Then we got settled in and I cooked dinner.

We were sure that we'd see nobody else remotely close to us, but at about 9:30 that night a car came rolling into our territory and a couple of hippies started pitching a tent a few hundred feet away. We didn't really take further notice of them until later that night once we finally got Taj to sleep. We slept in a tiny, little two man tent and Taj went nuts when we put him down in it. He went wall to wall as fast as he could and loved scratching the sides of tent because of the zip zip noise it made. Anyway, once he fell asleep the hippie party began. I'm pretty sure they drank the night away and I didn't know it was possible for one person to laugh for hours on end...I shudder when I hear the echoes of that laugh in my head today. The worst part about these people is that they used a five gallon water cooler as a toilet, complete with a roll of toilet paper and wet wipes sitting next to it....talk about disgusting! What sleep we were able to get was disrupted by the pine cones Brannon was sleeping on and the pile of sticks wedged under my back. We forgot a foam pad (as if that really would have helped:)) Taj slept like a champ though and that's what really counts because that makes for a better day for all of us.

In the morning I cooked breakfast and we went on a hike before packing up and heading home. We really did have a lot of fun despite the minor disturbances. I was so proud that we made it a whole night under the stars. I usually get really scared because of all the animal noises and we end up spending the night in the car, but I'm sure the hippies scared the animals away and for that I'm glad that they were there....