We just returned from a quick camping trip in Southern Utah with the dogs and our friend Brian. It was a brief respite from the Vegas heat and desert scenery, plus gave us a chance to take our new camping gear for its first adventure! We had already loaded most of the camping gear in the trailer that Chris’s dad built for us, so it was almost ready to go. The trailer has lots of hooks and baskets, plus a rack for the bikes. All the camping gear fits with plenty of room to spare, and the best part is that we don’t have to pack it like tetris blocks into the back of the jeep. On Friday after work we loaded up the last few things in the trailer along with Brian’s gear, then jumped in the car with the dogs and drove out of town. About 3.5 hours later we arrived at Cedar Canyon Campground. It isn’t the best campground we’ve stayed at, but it is convenient and and familiar, since we’d stayed there a couple of years ago. The campground was almost full, but luckily there was a site available. Not so luckily it was next to another group who stayed up late partying around their campfire and running their generator, but camping is awesome even with less than ideal neighbors.
On Saturday we woke up (Chris early, me a little later, as usual). Chris made eggs, oatmeal, and coffee for breakfast, and then we headed out for a bike ride around Navajo Lake. The ride started a little rough, going through some volcanic rocks, but then we got into the trees around the lake. The dogs were super excited to be on the trail, and I had a great time pedaling up and down the flowy terrain. The weather was warm but not hot and the aspens and evergreen trees provided nice shade, with plenty of gorgeous views of the lake.
The whole loop is about 10 miles, but the dogs can’t go quite that far, so we road out to the trailhead at the other end of the lake, then turned around and headed back the same way we came, for about 8 miles total. By the time we were about 6 miles in, both Bailey and Jasper were pretty tired and needed lots of encouragement and water to keep going. To try to make the way back a little easier, we decided to try crossing the dike to the other side of the lake to connect with the other side of the loop. Bad idea, it turned out. We ended up hiking cross country to the road, then riding about half a mile back with Bailey on a leash and Jasper in my backpack.But we made it back and headed back to the camp site for lunch and a game of Citadels.
When the weather got windy and it started to spit rain, we decided it was time to put the chairs back in the trailer and go for a drive. We drove up to Cedar Breaks National Monument and walked out to Point Supreme. It was windy and a little rainy, so we were all cold, but the view of the red rock canyons was gorgeous. Afterwards we drove around a little more near Brian Head and Duck Creek, and spotted lots of pretty blonde deer in the woods., before driving back down the mountain to the campground.
I made dinner while Chris and Brian got the campfire going and the dogs lazed around the campsite. After dinner we drank some wine and roasted marshmallows to make s’mores made with homemade chocolate chip cookies instead of graham crackers. It was delicious and wonderful! Plus, our noisy neighbors had departed while we were out on our day’s adventures, so we had mostly peace and quiet while we slept. The campground is right by the main road so there was still some car noise, but it was much quieter than Friday night.
This morning was a little colder than Saturday morning, but we rekindled the campfire from the previous night to keep us warm while we had some oatmeal and yogurt for breakfast. Then we packed up the sleeping bags, tents, and the rest of the gear and headed back to Vegas and the reality of 100+ degree days.
Looks like a very pretty spot to camp & bike
Dad