Roosevelt National Forest, Peaceful Valley Campground
We got in just after 10AM and secured a camp site for the two nights we will be staying here.It did not take us long to setup camp as it only consisted of opening the doors to the van. I did setup the new solar panels to give them a test run for the next few days… so far no complaints, but I think I will go ahead and commit to mounting them up top of the van for ease-of-use.
This place does live up to it’s name of ‘peaceful’, with the nearby river being the loudest sounds and the occasional breeze a close second. Timmy spent some time taking photos of the plant-life around us before we spent a short time playing Trak-ball, sun-bathing, and a quick nap which finished off our afternoon.
We are going to get in a short hike this evening before cranking up the fire pit and s’mores
UPDATE – Well, we never did make it out for that quick hike. Another game of Trak-ball lead to a small dinner of bean burrito’s (watch out!) and some S’mores which finished off the daylight.
Timmy did decide to try out the tent for the first time, so he set it up and is ready for his first night sleeping in the outdoors. We did buy this tent for our proposed plans to backpack into the wilderness while in the Teton area… we just never did do that. At least it is now getting some use
On day-2 we did finally get around to getting that hike in. It was not a big hike, about 3 miles round trip, but it did allow us to recon the campgrounds a click up the road (Camp Dick… no kidding) and the Bucannon trail that extends beyond. Again, I gave Tim control of the camera and over the next two days he continued to take more of his trademark closeup-n-down-low photos which can be very stunning. I guess I will have to purchase a new camera soon so he can use the XSi… oh boy!
That evening, after going to bed (Tim camped in the tent again) we were rewarded with slight showers all night. I was worried about Tim staying dry in that cheap tent, but he never did come knocking to stay in the van. I guess the rain sounded worse than it really was, because come morning the ground was fairly dry, though damp in some areas. The tent did have a few drips, but Tim said he was fine through out the night.
After breakfast, Conor took off for a 7-mile hike to some old airplane wreckage up the mountain. Tim and I stayed to re-pack the van and to get in some more trak-ball time. By 11am Conor was back and we rolled directly off the mountain and back into town before my 12pm work hour.
I was very pleased with the camping area. Very ‘peaceful’ and quite a lot of trails (foot, horse, and 4wd) to explore nearby. Some trails extend all the way beyond the National Forest and into the National Park. Obviously, if I were not bound to an Internet signal 6 days a week, I’d do some backpacking into the forest for a few days alone.
