Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Red Rock Canyon (Red Rock Canyon 2010)

Departure Date: October 16th, 2010
Return Date: "" 17th, 2010
Place: Red Rock Canyon, Hinton, OK
Travel Mates: Jami Rico
Also attended: Mom, Kaitlyn (niece)
Overall Fun Level: High

Preparing for the Trip

This trip was pretty last minute. I decided to go camping I think, that week. I wanted to leave out Friday night, but Jami wouldn't have had time to get ready or anything. Then we'd be setting up in the dark, which is not so great. So I just decided we would leave Saturday when we got up, which worked out great. 

I bought a few things for this trip that I was really excited about. I bought:

  • A campfire grill. 

Didn't get to use it since they already had something that went over the fire, but I  know it will get some use. 













  • Battery-powered Lantern
  • Hatchet (which sucked! It was super dull)
  • New ice chest (one with wheels, and a drain spout)
  • Flint-and-Steel fire starter (that thing was awesome!)

  • Survival multi tool (it had a whistle, compass, light, magnifying glass, signal mirror)
  • Camp toilet Paper (smaller roll, fits in a case that you get with it)

Spent quite a few bucks on gear, and I'm sure I'll be spending more eventually. We went shopping Friday night before hand and got all of the food and gear, and I also packed as well.


The Drive Out

Jami and I got up pretty lazily around 10-11 AM and got ready. After packing the ice chest, we headed to a gas station, got gas, ice, and some firewood, since I wasn't sure how abundant wood would be. Once on the road, the trip was pretty short. It's only about an hour away, actually less than that. 


Once we arrived, we took in the sights of the park. It was refreshing just arriving there and smelling the clean smell of the outdoors. 


The park was actually pretty full, but after the day was over, more people left. 
I found a nice little spot by the road and setup camp. Once I got the tent up, I made me and Jami a sandwich and a drink and we relaxed and enjoyed our lunch. 
Next, it was time to hit the trails!

The Trails


Difficulty: Low
Fun Level: High
Scenery: Good

There wasn't much wildlife around, but that was to be expected since there are lots of people around the areas where the trails are. Basically the trails run around the outside of the park, and are above the road. 

Me and Jami had a wonderful journey though. We were pretty spent at the end of the trail, which is a great feeling. Feel free to check all the pictures of my journey here:



We did see some intersting things, like this purple triangle box thing:


And the Van Halen symbol:


That was cool! The writings on the rock overall were saddening though. Makes it look trashy, but you really can't do much about it, but it was still unfortunate. 

This looked like some mushroom or spore of some kind:



Once we were done enjoying our trail, we headed back on the road back to the campsite, and I started up a fire for burgers. 
The burgers were great! I always enjoy a burger grilled over an open camp fire. We also had some Guiness and some rum that we got a little tipsy on. I got really tipsy! At one point, I decided to go and get more firewood and I was all stumbling around and making a bunch of noise. Jami was crakin' up. 

Nighttime

Noise Level: Low
Temperature: Probably 40-50 degrees Fahrenheit

We didn't sleep very well at night, mainly because of the ground. My back already has a lot of problems, and sleeping on my side hurt my hip quite a bit. We were also pretty cold, but after we decided to lay the sleeping on top and the blanket underneath us, we were pretty warm. I'm definiltely going to invest in some kind of thick mattress material or pad. I actually got a great idea from my friend Scott in Canada that suggested using cedar greenery to lay down underneath the tent, which sounds pretty nice actually. 

Sunday with Mom and Kaitlyn

We awoke to the morning light, and to my mom and niece over our tent, which scared me a bit at first until I realized who it was. We got up and around, had some bread and grape jelly, and once I woke up, we hit the trails. We went up the same way we did the day before, but we went left instead of right and saw another part of the trails. I tried to climb this wall, but I got about half way and decided, "ehhhhh maybe I won't go all the way up."
I was almost there!

I did get some karate kid action in though:




My niece Kaitlyn, and my Mom
Kaitlyn had a wonderful time out there. It was good to spend some time with the family, since we rarely get to do those kinds of things anymore. It was also awesome getting to spend time with my mom, and she also got to hang with Jami as well. 










We got up to a point where we saw some repellers the day before, and it was a wonderul lookout site. I took some pretty great pictures with iPhone app Hipstamatic. 



My mom brought some sandwiches along which we all shared whilst atop the rock lookout. There were quite tasty! and my mom brought some Cheez-it Duos. Those are sooo good!



Once we had our little break, we headed down to the ...

Rough Horsetail Nature Trail


Difficulty: Easy
Fun Level: Medium
Scenery: Good


This trail was pretty sweet. Wasn't anything that completely wowed me, but I still had a great time with everyone. We saw a skunk! We were checking out this tree here (on right)
and all of a sudden I see this sucker barreling up the trail. I decided to run away, but my mom decided to stay and just get up a little higher and out of it's way. I decided to go with the crowd, and he ended up running away, and we were able to continue. 





There was this flooded walkway, and everyone was like. "oh I'm not going that way!" and I was all "i want to go across just to do it!" So I did, and i made it there and back, and didn't fall in. 

Then, when we were on our way back, we HAD to cross this, so I jumped in and helped everyone since I was the only one with water shoes on. We also passed it towards the beginning of the trail as well, and I decided to cross it just for fun to test my balance. I made it all the way there and back!







Afternoon Lunch


We all had a great time though. When we were done, we headed back to the campsite. I started up another fire, and cooked up the rest of our burgers. I had a lot more trouble starting it this time for some reason. I tried with dead grass, and I had a hard time getting the sparks to light it, so I used the dryer lint again. 
We ate, and my mom and Kaitlyn headed back home since Katy was tired. We said our goodbye's and we enjoyed our lunch. 

After lunch, we were both pretty tired, so we decided to pack up and head home. 


Overall, we had a wonderful time. It wasn't a far drive to enjoy a weekend of adventure and relaxation. Now that I'm on a camping/hiking kick, I think we'll hit up another campsite next weekend, probably Beaver's Bend, so stay tuned for more....


Adventures of the Goose!!!




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