I really enjoyed the transition from Summer to Fall this year—first it felt as if Summer lingered a bit longer than usual, and then transitioned rapidly (decisively) to a beautiful Autumn. Both Karen and I were eager to go camping in the cooler weather, hopefully catch some Aspens in the
This is another belated addition, from a beautiful camping trip in September to far northern New Mexico. The Cruces Basin Wilderness nearly touches the Colorado border, about equidistant between paved highways 285 (to Antonito) and 84/17 (through Chama to Cumbres Pass). On the map below, the blue circle is the
Back in mid-August, we had a great time camping with the Flemings next to a stream up Forest Road 76, just past Tres Ritos, NM. There is camping all along that stretch of forest road, some in established campgrounds with toilets but plenty of “primitive” pull-offs between and past the
Bodie is turning 9 next week, and like all parents everywhere I have no idea where those 9 years went. This is therefore a perfect opportunity to reminisce about our early camping experiences with baby Bodie. The first time we took him camping… I can’t even remember. He was 7
This is a dorky DIY post about the roof racks I built for our Nissan Xterras. I bought my Xterra new from the dealer in 2005. That was 196k miles ago (but who’s counting). In 2011 when Karen and I returned from the sailing trip to mountain life, I ditched
I took the three boys by myself back up to far northern New Mexico, again a stone’s throw from the Continental Divide. This was our third time this summer to the same general vicinity, just south of the NM/CO border, north, south or—in this case—west of the Cruces Basin Wilderness.
He headed back up to far northern NM for some more camping with friends. We ended up finding a spot a quarter mile from where the Continental Divide trail passes through. One of my memories to preserve: Emerson was very proud to have learned how to operate his lighter by
In late June we found some friends to join us for camping in Northern NM. We started out with an afternoon at the Great Sand Dunes—the conditions were perfect. Lots of wide shallow water for safe play with minimal parenting, no mosquitoes, and nice hot sun. I love the sand
Every time we prepare for a camping trip, I (Karen) find myself amazed and annoyed that I still have not conquered some relatively easy tasks that would make trip-prep a heck of a lot less exhausting. Matt. of course, already has his system and has had it down for years.
Everyone’s least favorite part of camping is packing all your gear. Matt has calculated that, no matter how much time we spend packing the night before a camping trip, it still takes us at least 3 hours to leave the house in the morning. And, almost always – though, in
(Writing this 1/23/22 about a trip in August 2016) I took Jasper and Bodie up into the Jemez by myself for one (or two?) nights of camping. It rained pretty continuously on us. Shortly after we got into the tent, Jasper got sick, puked in the tent. I cleaned that
We left Karen home with Emerson, and I took Bodie and Jasper up to the Great Sand dunes. The mosquitoes weren’t bad while we played in the stream, but as soon as we moved away from the stream it was INSANE. It was the most mosquitoes I have ever seen.