Labor Day Camping

The final summer bucket list item was checked off over Labor Day weekend: camping! It was our first time camping with the kids, and it was a success. We headed up to Island Park, 1.5 hours away. We did get a late start though, so that we could watch the Longhorns' first football game. Sigh. At least we got a good family photo out of it!

Our friends let us borrow their 6-person tent, because we thought our old 4-person one might be a bit snug. It was pretty awesome! The kids loved getting all "cozy" with sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, loveys, and books in their part of the tent. And spying on us from their window. Glad they liked it, but I wasn't a fan of sleeping on the ground!

The Buffalo campground is surrounded by woods, so the kids went exploring and protected our campsite from unseen enemies. Unfortunately for Hadley, her unseen enemies were black flies that bit her all over her head that night. :(

No one believed me that we'd need fleeces and warm hats for sleeping, since it was in the mid-80s during the day, but it did get down to the 30s at night (near freezing according to accuweather)!  Luckily, J was adept at starting our campfires each night. Also good because dinners were planned around cooking over fire - foil packet ka-bobs one night, hot dogs and smores the next.

The next morning, we took our time thawing out and enjoying not having to do anything in the great outdoors. Then we headed over to the Coffeepot Rapids trail in another campground. The hike started out with the serene Henry's Fork of the Snake River on one side and dense forest on the other. It was beautiful, and we were the only ones on the trail until we were nearly back to the car.

We did see several fly fishers. If you look closely, you can see two below. 

Finally, we made it to Coffeepot Rapids! The calm river waters gradually got more rippley over a couple of miles, eventually churning over rocks and making a picturesque stretch of rapids worth the hike.

After lunch back at our campsite, we walked over to play in the Buffalo River, just adjacent to our campground. It was a pretty wide river, but only about 6-12 inches deep. Perfect for kids! And tubers apparently, as we saw several groups float by.

Just a couple of parting notes: 

1) The kids loved it and want us to buy a camper.

2) Don't forget to pack the oatmeal. You'll want it on those chilly mornings!

3) Try to get a campsite a bit further from the highway to amplify the 'getting back to nature' silence and to reduce road noise at night. You'll thank me later.

4) It was great that we got to hear a Smokey the Bear program. The downside was Hadley was afraid of bears afterwards! I don't think there are any non-bear camping areas up here.