Father and Sons Campout 2012

It was that time of year again.  Amazing for me to think that this was the fourth time Soren and I have gone to a father and sons campout.  Being that he just turned five, we started early.  This years campout was at Canyon Creek east of Payson AZ.  My boss tells me that Canyon Creek is the best place(and really only) to fly fish in Arizona.  I guess the Rodeo-Chidiski fire in 2002 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodeo%E2%80%93Chediski_Fire) filled the stream with ash and the trout population has had a very difficult time recovering.  They stock it like heck, but to me did not look very tantalizing to throw a line in.  Evidence of the fire was everywhere.

I am a little surprised that we wound up going.  Soren was adamant that he was not going this year.  He kept telling me it was going to be cold, he would miss his sister and mom.  It boiled over on Wed when in a yelling voice he told me “Dad I Just want to sleep in my bed!”  The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and I can’t blame him.  I want to sleep in my bed.  On Friday he was ready to go and even excited about the opportunity.  I loaded up the car and we left Phoenix later than I would have liked to,about 4:00.
I will say there was a big difference in Soren this year.  In previous years the second we would get in the car to leave Phoenix he would pretty much fall asleep and wake up 1/2 way toward camp.  We would talk about things, but nothing really regarding a back and forth conversation.  This year Soren stayed awake for the whole drive and we had good conversations about many different topics.  It really struck me that he is becoming more and more “grown up.”  For the fist year every Soren did not “wig-out.”  He did not demand to go home at night, he did not once say he missed his bed or his mom.  It was smooth sailing.
As we got close to camp, I could see smoke rising from the forest.  My first thought was “Oh no what did our stake do?”  (A 400-acre wildfire that began late this week in the Tonto National Forest is now 5 percent contained.On Saturday, several area fire agencies, four air tankers, and two helicopters were fighting the blaze, dubbed the Bull Flat Fire, which began at about 10:15 a.m. Thursday after lightning sparked it south of the Canyon Creek Fish Hatchery on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, according to U.S. Forest Service officials.Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/05/12/20120512PNI0512-met-arizona-wildfire-tonto-national-forest.html#ixzz1uiEet000)  Luckily it was not by our campsite, but you could see the planes and helicopters flying back and forth to fight the blaze.


The campout was the whole stake combined.  We must have had 400 people or so at the campground.  Soren had fun at night running around with other kids from the ward exploring and playing games.  They found flexible road markers and were launching pine cones off them.  We had jambalaya for dinner.  I learned at a scout training as a leader you always want to elevate your cooking so that the scouts will see what can be done on a campout and will want to try harder things to make.  It turned out good and we ate in Torrell Nichols trailer (easier to eat for kids with a table and seat).  Soren was going strong until he flipped himself in the face with the road marker.  It gave him a fat lip and cut on the face and he was done for the night.


The next morning Soren and I spent some time exploring the creek.  It was pretty.  The running water, butterflies, insects, and wild flowers.  I can’t tell you how many times Soren said “This is so beautiful” “I love this place” “Thanks for bringing me here.”  He was having a great time exploring.  In the first picture you can see evidence of the fire 10 years ago.  Soren was busy showing me what pools would yield the most trout.  I am sure Soren is going to make a great guide in the Sierra Nevadas.

After a morning of exploration the Stake had some games set up for the members to play.  They were pretty simple games, but Soren had fun.
We broke down camp and headed out.  Soren wanted to explore up the creek some more.  I decided to head up the road to the fish hatchery.  It was open to the public with a self walking tour.  Soren was super interested (except now he is really concerned about whirling disease).  We got to see all the fish from different stages of life.  We even found a huge snake, Soren would not handle it.  He was sure it was a rattle snake even though it had no rattles and everyone else was holding it.
   
We did stop by the creek, but instead of exploring, I was in shorts and flip flops and we stripped Soren down to his under wear and we played in the creek.  Water was about 50 degrees and felt cold to me but Soren spent about an hour in it, not even phased by the cold.  Again he said about 100 times “I love this place” “thanks for bringing me here.”  It was a good trip.  We could have stayed longer, but it was about 1:00 and I could tell the sun was starting to burn.  I packed it up and went home.  Another year another success.  I never pictured Soren as the outdoors type at all.  He reminds me of “eskeleton” from Nacho Libre: “I only believe in Science!.”  Soren loves his snap circuits and experiments.  He has a very scientific mind and I did not think he would ever really feel at home in the outdoors.  This campout shows that he does have an interest in nature and fish.  I am glad to see that this appeals to him.