Family Camp Out

One of our favorite things to do as a family is camping. Every year, for as long as I can remember, we pack up our stuff and hit the road. We often headed south to Burk reunions in the mountains of northern and eastern Arizona. Or we headed north to Yellowstone and The Tetons. Or sometimes we just went up one of the local canyons around Salt Lake City. This time we tried a new spot close to 'home' - American Fork Canyon. As it turned out, we camped directly across (less than 200ft) from one of the better climbing spots in the canyon - Division Wall. We ended up using 3 sites in order to accommodate our small tent city. The campsites were not laid out very well for tents but we made it work. The kids spent a great deal of time throwing rocks into the river and getting very dirty and wet. The bigger kids spent time On the rocks. I will save that for another post. Why deos the food on a camping trip taste So Much Better? Maybe its that fact that instead of draining that extra grease from the sausage, you let it soak into the hashbrowns and pancakes. Maybe its the extra 'seasonings' from the fire on your hotdog or tin-foil dinner. Maybe it is just all in my head. But I don't think so! The tin-foil dinners were awesome, the banana boats were delicious, the full breakfast ensemble was scrumptious... Justin showed the little ones how to catch, clean and eat a trout. Brittany (the newest member of the Burk Clan) at one point mentioned how she was so glad that she married into such a great family. That was later followed by my brothers 'welcoming' her (initiating/hazing/call it what you want) fully into the fold by demonstrating proper (and improper) Blue Dart techniques. What do you think Now, Brittany? Jason and Curtis played the guitar around the campfire while the rest of us struggled to remember the words and tried to sing along. Saturday we hiked up to Timpanogos Cave. I had forgotten how long and steep that hike is. The little ones all did quite well. I was proud of Maya who did the whole hike by herself without any complaining. The only incident was when she ran right into a rock that was sticking out into the trail and skinned her knee. She rode on my shoulders for a bit but quickly wanted to walk again. Great times with the fam. Looking forward to the next one. Here are the rest of the camping pictures and the Timpanogos Cave pictures.