So, Friday the 29th of August was our 40th Anniversary, and we decided to spend it camping in the Uintah Mountains, near Mirror Lake. To sum it up, we wanted to re-create our first anniversary, minus the snow.
We packed up Thursday night, except for cold food, then headed out the door at 5:00 am on Friday morning, stopping at WalMart for some cash and some ice, along with some Camp-Dry for the tent. We had bought a table screen, wanting to keep the infamous mosquitos out of our food and off us as we ate. We proceeded through Kamas and up along the Mirror Lake Highway, stopping at campgrounds looking for a place to camp, which had not been reserved. We found a couple of spots in Lily Lake Campground right next to Teapot Lake and took the first one, fearing we would not find one further up.
We set up camp, placing the tent on the edge of the meadow around Little Lily Lake, then had lunch. After going out to gather firewood, we were going to take a short nap, and found that the air mattress we had blown up earlier was flat....so we opted to go fishing, and I caught one that was about 12 inches long. We put him on the stringer and kept fishing for about another hour (the most beautiful fish were really jumping) before deciding to head back to camp. He was still moving when we pulled him out of the water, so I told Allen to put him back. We had chili for supper and sat around the fire and talked for a while before heading to bed on the hard ground. Neither of us slept very well, it seems the older we get the harder the ground is!
Saturday morning dawned bright and clear and after breakfast we headed to Evanston, about 25 miles further up the Highway to go to WalMart and get a new air mattress and some Rainbow Trout bait, which we were told the fish were biting on. We also had to get some Binder clips because the zipper on the tent would not work at all. On the way back we did some geocaching, finding about 4. We stopped at Mirror Lake to find a few listed around the lake, however the parking lot was full to overflowing. We found a parking place, but before we could even get out an SUV pulled in next to us and a boy of about 8 saw Buddy and immediately started petting him. His mom said, kind of sternly, "Andrew, you don't just put your hands in other people's cars!" and I looked up at the sound of a familiar voice and said "Hey! I know you! How are you Brandie?" It was Desiree's friend, the one who had arranged their "Girl's Vacation" this year. She and her family were camping at Soapstone and had come up for some fishing and a picnic. How weird is that?
So anyway, we left Mirror Lake without looking for any caches, except for the one that was out on the main Highway at the turn-off. From there we headed back to camp and proceeded to get lunch while we blew up the new mattress. After about an hour's nap we headed back to Teapot for more fishing. Skunked, both of us, even though once again they were jumping.
The host kept asking us if we were sure we wanted to stay through Monday (Labor Day), because the weather reports were for wet weather. We said sure, we'd be fine. So, Sunday was cloudy and in the evening it sprinkled a little. The wind picked up some and Sunday night was chilly when we went to bed. Thank goodness we had new sleeping bags good for 0 degrees F. Allen woke up at about 2:00 am and said he had to go outside (I had been laying there needing to, but not wanting to brave the cold). I looked up and the back of the tent was about 6 inches from my face. I told him to take the broom out and brush the snow off the tent. The front of the tent was also nearly caved in, he had to bend over to open the door to get out. He brushed a lot of snow off and the tent sprang back up. When we got up in the morning, we were able to get pictures for Christmas cards!
We packed up everything in the snow/rain/hail mix. Everything was wet, except what had been in the tent and the car. We left the wood for the first campers next year because the host was leaving and closing the campground. By the time we got packed we were soaking wet, as well. We stopped in Kamas for lunch and then came home to unpack, set up the table screen to dry (the tent we set up the next night), hang the tarps on the line to dry and put things away as best we could. We got home to find we had been Heart-Attacked - there were 40 hearts all over the front of the house! Bless our dear son for remembering. We also found a couple of Ice Cream dishes shaped like waffle-cones and filled with pink stuffing and topped with Baskin-Robbins candy on the table. Dinner was left-over Poor Man's Supper. Of course we got pictures and left it up a couple of days before taking it down. I'll post some pictures.
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