Christmas Meadows Campout

Every year we list our dreams and plans for the summer months and every year we say something like, "we really should go up to the Uintas".  But it always gets pushed down the list until it doesn't even happen.  This year, we made it happen.  We picked the 26th-28th of July as our weekend and Christmas Meadows as our (hopeful) destination.  (Gregg had camped here 20-something years ago as a scout and had been dreaming about it ever since.)  Since we didn't make reservations for a camp site soon enough, we knew we'd be dealing with a first-come-first-served walk-up situation on a potentially busy post-holiday weekend in the middle of summer.  We crossed our fingers and went for it.  And luckily, we lucked out.  There was one open site in the Christmas Meadows Campground when we arrived on Thursday afternoon.  It was pretty open and sunny, but we snagged it.  And then the people in the neighboring site left (they had just been picnicking), so we quickly switched our stuff to that one.  We got settled in, made a small fire for our hot dogs, and waited for our friends to arrive.  The Adamses, who used to live in our ward, had invited us to go with them to Flaming Gorge, but since we had just been there and were already planning to be in the Uintas on the weekend in question, we invited them to join us.  And they did!  It was fun to catch up with them and watch the kids play.

The friends are here!

Friday morning we made our camping specialty breakfast: Corned Beef Hash, scrambled eggs and fruit.  I don't know what the Adams thought of our delicacy, but we enjoyed the grub.  Then we all loaded up and drove to the Ruth Lake Trailhead.  It's a short (mile-ish) hike to a gorgeous alpine lake.  There were lots of people in the parking lot and on the trail, but we still had a great time (Cal and Sam didn't complain a single minute - I think that is a record and evidence that they enjoy hiking best with other people around haha).  Poor Lily wasn't feeling to great when we started (she had a rough night of coughing) and Quincy was losing energy fast (he just wanted to lay on a rock), so Emily resorted to all kinds of "trail fairy" shenanigans to keep them motivated.  Lily and Quincy weren't buying into it, but Cal and Sam had fun looking for little snacks left on rocks by the fairy.  Ha.

Camping with a potty-trainee = little potty next to the tent.
(The Adamses had the same thing for Lily!)

We did have a couple of peepee accidents
(one each for Sam and Lily, both in/near the
Adamses tent, unfortunately), and we had to throw
one pair of Sam's unders away because of all the
poop.  But overall, things went pretty smoothly
as far as camping while potty training is concerned.

Cal and Gregg exploring the other campsites - the closest
table is site #2 where we almost camped before moving into
#1 when the picnickers left.

The flowers on the Ruth Lake Trail were amazing!

Lots of rocks to climb on this trail - Sam loved it!

What are these?  They were pretty!

Well that's cute!

Not Ruth Lake.

Not Ruth Lake Either.

Quincy napping on a rock.

This one is Ruth Lake.

Quicny napping on a tiny patch of grass.
Poor kid.

Wading time.  This was after Sam's slip into the
lake where he soaked his shirt and shorts, hence
the unders-only look.

John and his kiddos.

Cairn builders.

He slipped again in his underwear, so we had to resort to
the back-up diaper we had in the backpack while his
clothes dried on a tree. (see below)

Makeshift clothesline.

Not Ruth Lake again, as we head back down the trail.

Stone bridge photo op.

After the hike the Adams fam decided to head back to camp for naps and lunch, due to the lethargic nature of their children, while we drove on to picnic and hike at Mirror Lake (the plan anyway).  The Mirror Lake parking lot was insane - like National Park traffic insane - so we backtracked a bit to Pass Lake where we picnicked in the parking lot in the shade of the bathrooms (Sam had fallen asleep so we let him stay in the car while we ate our lunch just outside).  Then we drove the length of the Mirror Lake Highway almost to Kamas while Sam, Cal (and even I) slept.  When everyone woke up, we stopped at the Fehr Lake Trailhead for another little hike.  This trail has three lakes lined up every half mile, but we made it only to the first one, Fehr Lake, where we stopped for a good long while to skip rocks and enjoy the cool of the shade.  Cal and Sam got some rock skipping lessons from Gregg, and Callie was able to get hers to skip multiple times! (Milestone!)

So many flowers!

First sight of Fehr Lake.

bonus video!

"rock skipping lesson"

Victory dance!

After our hiking afternoon, we headed back to camp.  Lily and Quincy were getting worse healthwise, so they decided to head home.  But they made us Dutch oven lasagna for dinner anyway.  What friends!  We helped them pack up, waved goodbye, ate their food, and relaxed in the lovely evening.  A new family moved into the campsite next to ours, and their two little girls worked up the courage to come visit our kids and invited them to play.  They became fun little camping friends, playing hide and seek, cards, and house between our two sites.  When we wandered out for an evening walk to the meadow to scout out moose, Eleanor and Maggie and their dad came along with us.  We didn't see any moose, but we did try skipping rocks again on the stream and just thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of those meadows.  Then it was back to camp for a little fire, a couple of s'mores, and bedtime.

Cal and Sam and their new camping neighbor
friends head off to the meadow.

Sunset attempt shot.

Saturday morning I didn't feel like eating breakfast, and quickly that icky feeling intensified to where I was freezing (even under three blankets and a sleeping bag), achy, and super queasy.  Poor Gregg had to pack up camp by himself, and we didn't stick around for any other hikes or exploring, opting instead to just head home.  By then I was feeling a titch better with ibuprofen in my system.  But energy was definitely low.  About an hour from home Gregg started feeling some muscle aches coming on, and by the time we got home, we both were wiped out.  The kids had some great TV time that afternoon while we lounged and napped and tried to get over the bug.  By Sunday morning we were both about 90%, and amazingly the kids were spared entirely, so it was back to normal life again.  Thank heavens!  (For feeling better AND for time in the mountains!)