When we went to set up the tents we found out that only one was complete. The other ba
g had one broken stick. The tent we did get set up had a broken zipper. Luckily we had a safety pin to pin it closed. Kirsten & I decided to sleep outside under the stars. It was really nice that weekend - it didn’t rain, it wasn’t too cold. However, I didn’t bring any long pants or a long-sleeved shirt for the cool e
venings. Second mistake. Then the buffalo that the camp owns got out the first night which made the dogs go crazy. A fox was running around both nights - or so I was told - again, making the dogs go crazy. And the second night I woke up in the middle of the night and realized that we are in the mountains, there are snakes in NM and the sleeping bags offer warmth. Not something that is conducive to a good night’s sleep. I didn’t see any snakes, I’m not particularly afraid of snakes
- I just don’t like sharing my sleeping bag with one.
Friday night there was a square dance which we participated in. The caller taught us a lot of different dances. I haven’t square danced for a long time - I’d forgotten it’s a lot of work. And a lot of fun. Although half the fun was watching 
others dance.
Saturday morning the girls and I went for a walk. We couldn’t find any trails but we found a dirt road. We ended up walking for an hour. Even in the morning it was hot.
While the girls went swimming after the walk, I joined some of the youth (and adults) in the ropes course. I’ve never done a ropes course before. Bill, the Camp Manager, used each experience to teach about Christ and how the ropes course applied to our everyday lives. It was fun and a great learning experience. We had to move everyone from platform to another one with one in between. We couldn’t jump but we did have 2 boards to use. However, nothing could touch the ground, including the boards. We thought it would only take a few minutes. It took us over 20. That was a humbling experience. The next section was a rope web which we had to go through without touching the rope. And we couldn’t reuse a hole once it had been used. We did that in about 15 minutes.
The last 2 sections involved climbing Ponderosa Pines using metal “steps”, climbing on a platform and then either crossing a suspended log or wire to another tree. I forgot to take pictures o
f the ropes course when I was done - or rather I was too tired to remember. I looked up Ponderosa Pines to see how high I had climbed and found a generic picture. The average Ponderosa in the southwest grows about 50 meters - that’s roughly 163 feet. I climbed about ¾ of the way up. Twice. I am not in good shape and being in the mountains doesn’t help with breathing. Getting up the tree was definitely the hardest part besides trying to climb on top of a platform that you’re underneath. Crossing the suspended log and then rappelling down was fun. I didn’t think I could do the 2nd tree but Bill encouraged me to take it slow and rest when I needed to. I made the climb, crossed the wire - there were ropes tied from a 2nd wire above to use as a “handrail” and climbed onto a 2nd platform. From there it was a short zip line down. The 2nd tree about did me in. I was slightly dehydrated before I even started. Third mistake. When I got down I was bruised, scratched and covered in sap. Silly me - I wore shorts since I didn’t have any long pants. Fourth mistake. I did learn that Ponderosa Pines smell like vanilla though.
After all of that I didn’t even get a s’more. Is it really camping if you don’t eat s’mores? But I did have fun!
peace
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