Just a Summer Day

I've mentioned my love for the Greenbelt. So it will come as no surprise that we spent another day down there. This time on the other side. And playing in the mud and water a bit. The girls had a cake building competition, ate snacks, splashed, chased Atlas, and had all sorts of just good ol fashioned relaxed fun.

 

Girls Camp!

Girls Camp 2021 was a hoot for the Ammon 26th Ward!

What a trip!

We camped at Darby Girl's Camp which is Ah-mazing! Minus all the bear precautions (not to mention the scratches up and down the food cooler doors that are spaced suspiciously like bear claws).

Oh the games! The play! The bonding! The pranks! The food! The fun!

Not to mention the beauty. Not captured well by my crappy phone camera but oh well. You get the idea.

The camp is situated in an idyllic little spot. They had just redone all the cabins so they were nice and spacious, and the leaders got their own! hurrah! There was a creek that ran below, our weather was beautiful, and they had a fun park complete with a very long very fast slide down the hill. 

We took a hike up the windcaves. Along the way we learned about a group of girls who had been struck by lightening many years ago. Such a sad and traumatic event.

The hike was beautiful and water was so crystal clear. It was actually higher than usual along the way because of all the snowmelt.

Maddie Scoggins pictured second in the pic was an amazing youth leader. She was so kind and sweet and so on top of everything! Us adult leaders just sat back in awe as she ran the show. She even called the girls together unbeknownst to us ,to do a little scolding on girls needing to be better at their clean up duties, in the nicest way possible. She was always aware of which girls needed a little extra love, made assignments we didn't even think about, and came to camp with a bunch of games to help break the ice and include everyone! It was jaw dropping and incredibly inspiring. 

Along the hike we started to have girls break into a slower and faster group. I was lucky enough to be with the faster group because I hadn't ever done the hike before. Here are my buddies!

As we neared the top we started to see the snow that eventually rendered passage impossible into the caves. 

At the ascent to the caves there was a very steep part covered in snow that I stood below and helped the girls bypass. But as we got up to the cave it became obvious that my group just wasn't experienced enough and was getting very nervous. So we turned back, much to the disappointment of Jaedyn who was all gung-ho to enter the slippery cave! I promised I'd bring her back another time.

Here's my little group again. I was so proud of how brave those girls were, some of them were afraid of heights so it was really impressive they made it to the cave!

On the way back we got a call on the walkie talkie that the other group had turned back and one of the girls twisted her ankle. I ran to catch up with many of my girls trailing behind so I could evaluate the situation.

It turns out, Anna had just twisted her ankle but was struggling to put weight on it. So, holding on to Ana's shoulder and having Bro Bonneson behind her and me trailing to be there if needed, we slowly made our way back down the mountain. Those girls rocked that hike, injuries and all. This is not the kind of thing they've ever done before in their lives and they pushed through despite injuries with pretty amazing attitudes!

Back at camp we gathered for some good ol karaoke!

It was a pretty big hit with the girls. And they were very respectful and kind with each other. Taking turns and even being kind to some unique and slightly suspicious original songs.

One night we snuck out to prank other camps with this creepy mannequin head. We got a few screams from others but mostly it was a night full of giggles from our girls.

Doug,   our very talented Dutch oven chef with his daughter Analisa, our Girls Camp Director. Together, they planned and executed an amazing week with even more amazing vittles!

Bishop Nelson with his wife Kasey, who also was a camp director.

I was nervous going up to Girl's Camp. I had such an amazing experience with camp growing up but from the stories I've heard from other people, that seemed to be the exception. What was it going to be like with so many girls from such different backgrounds, so many of which seemed terribly shy? Would it be a good experience for Jaedyn whose first year it was (it was cancelled last summer due to COVID)? What an incredible week! These girls really came together in a bonding and sweet way. No drama whatsoever, at least not that I ever heard about! And Jaedyn commenting on her experience said she really enjoyed it because she felt like she got to know everyone so much better. Oh and, "the food was really good"!

 

Halls Creek!

Helen is a great friend that will forever keep me adventuring... I hope! The latest adventure she planned was a backpacking trip to Halls Creek near Capitol Reef. The Halls Creek portion of the trip began after completing Cassidy Arch.  Heather and her kids headed off home while the rest of us continued on to meet up with 2 of my brothers and their kids. We camped near the trailhead.

On May 29th, Heather, Kaden, Luke, Alexandra, and the Cronin's, minus McKinley, went canyoneering.  We had a backpacking trip planned for that weekend to do Halls Creek Narrows but decided to go down a day early so we could hit Cassidy Arch beforehand!  Brilliant idea yes?!

 

This would be Ebony's first time going canyoneering.

Thankfully we ended up getting to the first rappel before a whole slew of other groups!  We set up the first rappel, let the one group with only 4 people go ahead of us, then down we went.

This is one of our favorite canyons to do because it's a half day, minimal approach and exit, with fun rappels.

The next morning we got up and headed over to the trailhead to begin our 3 day backpacking trip!  The day started out pretty warm but ended up getting windy and cool with a storm coming in.  Thankfully the storm never hit us but we benefited from it!

There were 16 in our group!  We quickly decided to have a count-off so everyone had a number.  That way, every time we stopped for a rest we could make sure everyone was accounted for.

 

Kaden ended up coming with us instead of returning home with Heather.  He and Sam (Angela's nephew) had a fun time together.  The youngest in the group was 7 years old (Violet) and she did awesome!

I was miserable with a horrible cold coming on.  I wasn't feeling so good on this day (I may have even found myself wishing I'd stayed at home a couple of times! gasp) but thankfully the following days were much better.  Keep on keepin on!

We took breaks about every mile if there was ample shade for everyone to hide under.  The heat of the day was getting so some.  Thankfully the wind and clouds kicked up around 1pm.

We were able to find a large enough area for everyone to camp together that was about 100 yards away from the main trail.

There was even a good supply of water nearby for us to filter! Backpacking in southern Utah is a completely different sport than in Idaho. You have to plot out your water sources and plan accordingly. And hope and pray that they'll still be present when you go. Helen and I were looking into a trip in Idaho and she started getting nervous because the springs weren't marked on the map. I pointed out the river that flowed nearby the trail. LOL. Completely different.

The kids entertained themselves that evening by digging a hole. ha!

The next morning we all headed into the Narrows.  We left all our gear at our campsite and took only day snacks, water, and a water filter.  Thank goodness for that water filter!  The hike was only supposed to be 4.5 miles but my GPS clocked us at 11.8 miles!!  We had to filter water for everyone midway through.

There was one 40 ft section near the very end of the narrows where we had to swim.  That was quite refreshing!  Helen ended up loosing her sunglasses tho when she went to help Seth.  He was panicking because he couldn't swim very well so being the hero she is, she had to swim to him, where he promptly climbed on her back and pushed her under.  She had one arm up over her head to keep her day pack out of the water so she had to swim with one arm and get him back to where we started, which thankfully was only a few feet away.  I took her day pack and then, using her boy scout aquatic director training, she remembered the water rescue techniques and was able to swim him across the deep part by holding him against her side with his back on her hip and swimming sidestroke. Yay Helen!

The following morning we woke up at 4am, packed up and were headed back to the cars by 5am.  We wanted to beat the heat of the day. And we did!

The last mile of the trip had some steep switchbacks.  I hiked with Ebony and was so proud of her. I hiked with some interspersed breaks and she only asked to stop twice. I held a stick on one end, and she on the other, and she climbed up that mountain right behind me!