Some Thoughts and Tips on Camping

from a person growing older. Our recent trip to Utah was an experiment of sorts. Could an old married couple (almost 46 years of it) spend that much time in a car (4,477 miles) and camping together and enjoy it? I think the answer is yes. Thanks first to Kitty, who got us reintroduced to hiking and camping last summer in Alaska and to Julie for loaning us lots of Utah hiking books. Wow! was the most helpful.

We spent a good deal of time planning and getting our gear set. Some of the success is due to some cool new products.

This USB charged camping light never failed.

A new camping stove made morning coffee a snap. (It boils water faster than our gas range.)

New stove, old pots and thermos. Dripped through filter in funnel. Worked great.

Jim as always first up and had coffee ready for me.

A new camp chair meant I was comfortable sitting anywhere and reading in the tent.

And finally, the new car meant the ride was more comfy and we could sleep in it when/if needed.

What would we do differently?

1) when traveling in spring, check when local/state schools have their spring break

2) build in a couple rest days (not driving, not hiking). This photo was an anomaly on the trip, but a favorite moment.

3) ?????

Final thoughts more directly related to this blog:

I was often the slowest person on a trail. That doesn't bother me, but it makes me wonder if new knees would make a difference. I used at least one hiking pole on almost all hikes. Coming down rocks is not easy for me. I want to keep working my knees so they don't quit on me, but if they do, they'll be as strong as they can be for replacement.

We hadn't planned to track birds, but it proved to be an entertaining diversion. We also looked at many wildflowers and Jim could identify most, but we should have had a local flower book as well.

It wasn't quite warm enough to count as a winter getaway to a warm climate. Most days were sunny and perfect for hiking, but I would have preferred to be HOT a few of those days. I'm beginning to think I done enough winters. I've paid my dues, so to speak. I wonder what I'll be able to put together for next winter (and spring). It's April 30th; 45 degrees; rainy; windy and I can't get warm. Sigh.

We stop at most historical markers or special overlooks. The most interesting one on this trip was on Hwy 12 at a very high peak. A plaque gave tribute to Ellen Powell Thompson a botanist who travelled with John Wesley Powell on his second survey trip to the Colorado plateau. She was John's sister and the wife of ?? Thompson who was also a surveyor on the expedition. She identified and named many of the plants in the area and one is named after her: Thompson's Wooly Locoweed. This little piece of information stirred many questions yet unanswered. Who was she? That would not have been an easy trip in those times. 

A locoweed, but probably not Thompson's

Overall, living on that ancient landscape for a couple weeks and learning about the geology of the land and the ancient peoples who inhabited it was a mind-bending experience. As a young person attending a religious grade school that did not teach scientific subjects that would have explained the phenomenons that I was experiencing in Utah, this trip was a remedial earth science lesson. I have so much more to learn. Yes, there were dinosaurs on this land, but the land was at the equator in those times millions of years ago. And the ocean floors were lifted up so one is often walking on sand at high elevations. . .