Man Camp 2012

Third grade football threw a small wrench in the 2012 deer hunt aka “man camp”.  BS coached Wilbur’s team, and a perfect season/first round bye in the playoffs was at stake.  Knowing this, BS tried to figure a way to cram both activities into a 72-hour period.  After a small stroke of genius, he searched the internet for the perfect transportation up and down the mountains to lessen the hours of hiking for both he and Will.  Sure enough he found what he was looking for,

a 1965 Tote Goat.

Ready to start up the mountain trail!

Before

After.  It is powered by a lawn mower motor. Wow.

 After a couple of nights working on this beast, it was ready to go (or so he thought).

As tradition would have it the boys would leave Friday morning, and return Sunday afternoon.  Sambo followed this plan, and stayed up with Grandpa and the Uncles.  BS and Will would go up Friday, come back for the game Saturday at the crack of dawn, and head back up about 2pm after the victory was in hand.  This seemed like a great plan.  However:

Problem #1-In rebuilding the engine, BS didn’t use lock tight on the bolts.  The goat only ran about ¼ up the mountain trail before bolts started vibrating loose from the engine. This ¼ of the trip was on Friday, so on Saturday they would have to hike the entire thing (it really is a long/tough hike).

Problem #2- The game that was supposed to start at 10:30 and end at noon, went into double overtime, and wrapped up at 1:30.  The hike back to man camp would start late, and BS would have to carry 10 pounds of taco soup in his back pack.  It was all good though because double overtime ended with Wilbur sacking the quarterback and jumping on the fumble to win the game!

Just before heading back up on Saturday after their big win

After rolling into camp a little before dark, the boys carved sticks, shot their new pistol bb gun, told and heard the same deer hunt stories that grandpa has told for the last 30 years, and got to practice being manly men.  Most importantly BS got to spend time with his best buddies Sambo and Wilbur.  It also didn’t hurt that the weather was perfect.  BS said that it was the warmest he could remember it being.

Man camp success is measured in two ways: 1) if everyone returns home safe 2) if a deer was NOT shot.  The 2012 man camp was a success in both of these areas.

Whittling by the campfire

They found the trees where they carved their names in 2009:

Even  Chops got to go and carried his own dog food and water!

Traditionally, the women and kids drive up the canyon to greet the boys home at the trail head.  This year it was raining so the kids took a quick ride on the horses and then we went to Grandpa Judy's for some showers and dinner.

Sadie and Quincy.  She was in absolute heaven.