Isaac was preparing for a campout with the young men from church a couple of weeks ago when Michael asked when I could take him camping.  The weather has been mostly cooperating, so I told him we’d go in two weeks if the weather cooperated.  Two weeks went by and the weather was fine, so we packed up the truck and headed to an area just outside the Ojito wilderness.

We found a place just off the road and made a fine camp for the night.  After setting up camp, the boys and the dog explored a deep arroyo nearby while I made dinner and gathered firewood.  We spent the evening watching the fire and just hanging out until bed.

When we woke up the water was frozen solid, and Michael was none too happy about the cold.   However, a campfire, some hot chocolate, and a pancake breakfast make everything better… Even the cold of an early spring morning in the high desert.  I love the high desert in the morning.

After the sun came up, we put out the fire and hiked up a nearby mesa to explore.  Thornton had a blast sniffing around, and even managed to flush out a rabbit, but I don’t think he’d make a good coyote…  The rabbit got away with a large margin of safety.  Along the way, the boys each found several partially complete arrowheads along with a bunch of other interesting rocks.   After the hike, we set up targets and the boys spent about an hour shooting at clay pigeons they had found the day before.

One downside of BLM land is that there are always people who don’t seem to care what condition they leave it in.  The area we were camped in was littered with spent cases, beer cans, and all kinds of other trash.  Before we left, the boys and I policed up the area — filling a large (55ga) trashbag in the process (I take huge bags with me just for this reason).  I hope my boys understand how important it is to take good care of what God has given us.  I was proud of them for not complaining that the mess wasn’t theirs.  The area looked much better when we left.

A good weekend, all in all.