Camping at Navajo Lake

My husband couldn't go on the previous camping trips, so we decided to go on another one so he could appreciate all the joys of camping. (He doesn't like hard ground, sleeping in the cold, dark evenings, all the noises of camping, but he'll still go along once a year. He's a good guy.)

After shopping all day in Cedar City (it really wasn't supposed to be all day, it just sort of ended up that way, along with a long stop at the Aquatic Center), we got some food for camping (as we really hadn't managed to pack anything) and headed up the canyon. We checked out one campground along the way, but it wasn't too appealing, so we headed up to Navajo Lake. It's late in the season, so they only had part of one campground open, but it had spots available.

So while my husband went off to scavenge wood from the woods, I borrowed a can opener from nearby campers (bean soup was part of our menu--Desert Boy's favorite food). Those campers thought we looked in a pretty sorry state, so they gave us some of their wood, too. We did manage to get our tent up just fine. The campground had been nearly clear cut due to all the beetle kill, so all the campers could see each other quite well. We could also see the lake really well, and I had to keep taking trips down to it to enjoy the changing colors.

For the kids, I think the highlight was the fire. Like how Desert Girl is trying to get into the match box?

Desert Boy can't resist throwing in an extra stick.

Desert Girl was willing to put up with a hat because it helped keep her warm. Navajo Lake is up fairly high (maybe 9000 ft?), and I was concerned that it would get cold that night. Maybe Desert Girl was a little concerned too. She has that eyebrow furrow down perfect.

We had a beautiful sunset.

Then we sat around the fire for awhile and talked and roasted marshmallows. When we decided that no one actually liked the marshmallows, we had fun tossing them into the fire and watching them burn.

The next morning the kids had us up before it was even light. It was really cold, and there was mist coming off the lake. As we made breakfast, we found frost on the picnic table.

So after eating we went for a walk, where we found some folks fishing. We wished we had brought our fishing poles! We saw a lot of fish rising.

On the way home we took a detour by Cedar Breaks, with the beautiful cliffs. The trees weren't as colorful there, so we headed back to the canyon. It was a quick trip, but such a nice getaway, and there were so many gorgeous trees along the route. Welcome, autumn!