We left for Heron Lake, three hours North of us, at 4:00 pm on Thursday afternoon. Though we searched high and low the day before, we couldn't find our camp stove anywhere, so we stopped by REI on our way out of town for a new double burner one. It turned out to be a great asset. The weather was looking ominous in the direction of our destination, but as we arrived at our campsite, the clouds parted and we had enough light to set up camp and briefly check out our surroundings. We were all excited to be there, but no one slept particularly well that night.
Day 1:
As is typical with camping, Most of us woke with the sun. We started the day off with hot chocolate, hash brown's, eggs, and yogurt. For future camping trips, I'll remember that we aren't really big breakfast eaters and provided there's a warm drink, smaller/less involved meals are sufficient.
Our home for the weekend was site #111 in the Island View camp ground at Heron Lake State Park. The picture on the website showed the lake a mere stone's throw from our picnic table, but it was apparently taken over ten years ago because the reservoir is currently the highest it's been since 2008 and it's a solid five minute walk from our tent. Speaking of our tent, it was too big for the space designated, so we had to put it up in what should have been our parking spot. This meant that instead of sleeping on grass and pine needles, we were laying all night on compacted dirt and gravel. Since we picked the spot for it's view of the lake, we also ended up with the site least sheltered from the wind, which blew ferociously most of Friday and Saturday.
Our main event Friday morning was a "tour" of the dam. The flyers advertising the event were somewhat misleading as it was much more of a talk than a tour. The guy that monitors and maintains the dam told us about the history, the construction, and current use of the reservoir, then showed us some of the equipment inside the tiny little structure that sits to the side of the dam. I thought it was particularly interesting to note that this dam was constructed of sediment rather than concrete, it's tributaries are all man made, and it's main directive was to take water from the East side of the continental divide and divert it to the West side. Much of the equipment was pretty old school, but the guy said the mechanical stuff from the 1970's is more reliable than the digital stuff of today. I don't know that the kids got much out of it, but Matthew and I thought it was pretty interesting. After the tour we walked across the road to look down on where the release waters flow into the Rio Chama.
After our morning adventure, we went back to camp and had sandwiches for lunch. The wind really picked up in the afternoon so we spent most of the hours between lunch and dinner in the tent. The kids drew pictures and played chess and Uno while Mom and Dad napped, then I spent an hour or two reading aloud Wayside School is Falling Down, which the kids loved and was one of the highlights of our trip. Hamburgers were on the menu for dinner, but it was far too windy to cook at our site, so we drove to a day use spot that was more wooded and protected. After our burgers, we drove up the road a bit further and checked out some of the primitive camping areas. If we ever decide to come back, that's where we'll camp.
The temperatures that night got down below 40 degrees, but thankfully we convinced Mercy to wear socks (unbeknownst to me, she had replaced the feety pajamas I'd packed with a pair less suitable for keeping one warm) and she consented to sleep inside her sleeping bag rather than just using it as a blanket. The boys slept fine and Matthew and I had a slightly better night.
Day 2:
On Saturday morning we joined a small group for a guided nature walk. Unfortunately, the lady who was supposed to be guiding us had just started her stint as a volunteer that day and didn't really know what to point out to us. But the morning was lovely, and the company reasonably friendly, so it wasn't time entirely wasted. We walked about two miles in total, then went back to our campsite for a simple lunch of sandwiches and snacks. The wind picked up even more than the day before, so again we spent a couple afternoon hours inside our tent. Boy were we grateful for an awesome tent! During that time we also made boy's and girl's trips down to the showers where we bathed and got cleaned up.
In the late afternoon we made an attempt at hiking down to the Rio Chama to try our hand at fishing. The trail down, which actually looked to be an interesting one, was closed. We tried a path that we thought might lead somewhere, but it turned out to be a dead end. We figured out we could walk down what I think is probably a service road and end up where the dam lets out water. It isn't currently releasing any, but it was still kind of neat to see. Matthew pulled out his rod and tried a little fly fishing for about 20 minutes, but didn't even see a fish, let alone catch one.
It was still pretty windy at our site, but I was able to cook our dinner inside the tent. We had one of our food storage packages (fettuccine alfredo) to which you just add water and boil, and I added a chicken breast which I had previously cooked sous vide and frozen. It stayed nice and cold since it started frozen and was so easy to add to our meal. Definitely something to take more advantage of on future trips. That night the visitor's center had a movie night and was showing Charlotte's Web. Since we'd already started our no screen time summer, the kids were especially excited for a show. It was nice and dark when we got in for the night and after two hikes and a late movie, everyone fell asleep within minutes of hitting their pillow's.
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