Summer of Firsts: The Campout

For those of you who know me, I'm not exactly new to camping. I grew up in the scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America; I went to scout camp, got my Eagle Scout Award by the age of 14, went to High Adventure camps and did the works. Throw in the two to three family camping trips we've done ever year since I was 5 and that's a decent amount of camping. But, this was a camping trip unlike any I've been on.

 Camping for me has always been an obligatory group activity. Don't misunderstand, I love camping. I love sitting around the fire, chatting, eating camping food, and participating in all the usual activities. They're always well planned out, prepared, and thought through with a large group of people.

This was completely different. I went with my friend Nate. We basically decided that the last second we wanted to go camping. We through our gear together, picked a place, got some supplies and headed out. We left at 7PM. It was pretty obvious that we weren't completely prepared, but that's ok. We made it to our campground just shortly after 8. We built a fire, set up the tent, roasted hot dogs, made s'mores, hung out by the fire and just chatted until it was dark. The moon was so bright. It was pretty awesome.

The next morning we decided to hike up to the Silver Lake. It was probably just over 2 miles up the side of the mountain to the lake. It was so beautiful.  Just as we were approaching the half way mark I was thinking to myself, "hey, I'm doing so good.  I haven't even fallen yet." It was at that precise moment that I fell.  I'm not even totally sure how or why, but down I went; legs spread wide.  This was the first time I've gone hiking and not worn my work out clothes. You see, for me hiking is an aerobic endeavor that I use as my work out.  So, I dress the part. Today's hike was just about the joy of hiking with a buddy. So, I just wore shorts and casual clothes. Well, as I went down on that large rock I split my shorts...from just under the zipper all the way down around the crotch. It was basically a horrifyingly embarrassing moment for me.

Shortly there after we made it to the top, sat by this absolutely beautiful mountain lake scene, and just enjoyed the view. It was absolutely breathtaking. One of the great moments of my life here in Utah. I had never just gone camping for the sheer fun of going camping. I've never gone camping with just a friend for the fun of it. I've never gone camping, hiked something, packed up and been back home before noon just because we could. It was great! Definitely a first for me!