Strawberry is a Mountain Climber

We had another fun camping weekend.  The weather has finally cooled off enough to allow us to enjoy the great outdoors.  There is this nice little park right outside of Mesa that has lots of hikes and hills to climb.   The first day, we went on two little hikes.  One 1/2 mile flat desert hike where we could learn about the different plants here.  Apple was the only one to get stuck by a cactus, but it was just on her little finger.  

After we had dinner, we drove around and found another 1/2 mile hike that climbed up about 400 feet so we were able to go up there and enjoy the sunset.  Strawberry, who normally hates hiking, deciding that climbing "mountains" is awesome.  She had started out saying it was the boringest thing we had ever done, but once we started going up, she said it was the funnest thing she has ever done. It had a great view of the valley at the top and it was crazy to see how the lights of the city just kept going and going.  

 

There was a really bright moon that night and so we actually went on a very short night hike, but Strawberry got freaked out and we went back.  We roasted marshmallows and made S'mores and got attacked by ants.  Poor Strawberry grabbed the wrong end of the roasting stick and burned her hand (not badly), poor little thing.

Our campsite was really nice and surrounded by desert plants that looked very pretty in the dark.  There were lots of crickets and birds and it would have been very enjoyable out enjoying peaceful nature.  Except that our camp neighbors were stupidheads.  They had a huge RV and decide to commune with the environment by watching the game on TV outside and yelling really loudly.  Now, it isn't for me to say what a camping experience should be like for anyone, but these guys drove from Gilbert (20 minutes away), set up their RV and everything to watch a game?  It was really annoying.  At least they all went to bed by about 9:00.  

The night was pretty exciting too.  It was really cool to see the changes in the sky through the night.  At about 2:00, this fog came up, and it was neat because you could see the clear sky above it.  At about 3:00 a pack of coyotes ran through our campsite and were howling and yipping and fighting out in the desert (it was probably only three or four, but I'll still call it a pack).  Before sunrise, everything was gorgeous.  (Yes, I was up all night.  Strawberry and Apple are horrible to sleep with).  Anyway, nights in the desert are very awesome.  Much prettier than during the day. 

 

That morning we went on our big hike: a 3 mile round trip, 800 ft elevation trail up to some wind tunnels.  You can see them in the picture of the mountain: the dark spot on the right and near the top.  We weren't sure if Strawberry could make it all the way, but we figured we may as well go for it, and she did great.  Apple made it about 1/2 mile, on the flat part, before she was up in our arms; not bad for her (we really regretted not bringing the Kelty Kidpack).  It took us a while, but we made it up there and Strawberry was very proud of herself.  She had climbed two mountains in less than 24 hours.  Not bad.  On the way back, she got pretty tired and had to have a couple good pep talks, but made it to the last 50 yards where she got a piggy back ride.  Luke and I both had pretty sore arms from packing Apple around, but it was definitely worth it.