little elbow camping

Before I get to my wisdom teeth story I think I should blog about my weekend camping trip with Brentwood Ward.

Exactly one week ago on July 20th, I decided I should join my ward on the camping trip that had been talked about for a few weeks. I caught a ride out with Bryanne and Trajan at around 4:30 that afternoon to Little Elbow Campground.

On the way to the campsite.

We were one of the first ones there and Bryanne brought a 6-man tent so we set it up right away and chose the best spots in the tent for ourselves. Kobe was excited to dig around in the blankets.

Bryanne and I thought we would be sleeping on just a few blankets because she brought an air-mattress but an electric pump (no electricity at the campsite). Luckily for us, one of the girls who arrived later on brought a hand pump. Bryanne and I shared a queen sized air-mattress and Lita got the extra single mattress that Bryanne brought. Jen Kirkpatrick and Sydney Konno slept in our tent, too.

While we were hanging out by the fire with other members of our ward, we noticed some very loud thunder in the near distance. We figured we should set up the tarp over the tent so nothing would get wet inside. As we were setting it up, it started raining.

We finished and it suddenly got very windy and the tarp blew off as it started to pour, so we rushed to get it back up while we got soaked. A bunch of other people set up a tarp above a little gathering space and we all huddled there until the rain subsided. The fire was still going throughout all that, so I dried my hoodie off in time for bed.

The next morning Lita convinced me to go on a 4 mile run with her in the woods. I had had a horrible sleep (as I'm sure most, if not all, of us had) so I wasn't feeling very up for it, but I knew after all the junk I had eaten the night before that it might be a good idea. Luckily for her me I had brought my running shoes.

Exactly 2 miles into our run there was a picture perfect scene.

We turned around and Caleb Britton had caught up to us! He had wanted to go on the run with us (apparently... I knew nothing of this) and he ran with us back to the campsite. We got back just in time for pancakes and sausage.

We lounged about for a little while longer and then a few people decided they wanted to go on a hike. I hadn't planned on going hiking, so I didn't bring my hiking boots, but I figured my runners would do. The hike was called Nihahi Ridge and it was so great!

Kobe is such a trooper. He ran 4 miles with us that morning and then went on the 4 hour hike with us. As I was nearing the top of this little ridge, I couldn't wait to see the view.

I literally laughed out loud when I saw what was on the other side. It was just so awesome.

Then we had to hike up to the next ridge.

We could actually see Calgary from that little look-out. I tried to capture it in this picture but you probably can't see it.

We reached the top of the mountain to find this:

Kobe was pretty exhausted and some parts of the trail were very steep, so Ryan offered to carry Kobe in his backpack (I didn't bring one).

The next day I had a really bad sunburn. My nose even blistered up.

That hike was amazing. The burn was so worth it...but next time I'm taking sun screen.