We drove up to Fenton Lake in the Jemez mountains at lunchtime on Thursday, arriving at the group site we'd reserved about 2:30 pm. We set up camp, chopped wood, and explored while we waited for the Brown's, who got there around 5:00 pm. I started dinner while they set up their tent and got settled. Dark clouds quickly rolled in and it started raining just as I was adding the chicken to the pasta. I wasn't able to heat our shared meal all the way through before we had to hastily put the stove away and run for cover. Both families fit very comfortably in our tent and we ate cold pasta with baguettes and Brie while we waited out the storm. It rained rather torrentially on us for over an hour, soaking all the shoes that got left outside, as well as much of the stuff in the Brown's tent. We were nice and dry in our Stout tent though, and decided it was definitely worth having despite it's unwieldy size and weight. It was around 8:00 pm and already pretty dark when the rain stopped. Matthew tried lighting a fire, but all our wood was drenched and completely unwilling to burn. We mucked around for about an hour but without a fire, both families ended up retiring to their own tents for the night. We brought an air mattress this time and I had probably the best night's sleep I've ever had while camping.
Matthew got a fire going in the morning, and both families coincidentally brought Pop Tarts and banana's for breakfast. Matthew took the children up the road to the hatchery where kids can fish for free. The Brown's went first to the little country store a few miles from the lake to get a fishing license, then Hannah got dropped off back at camp with me while Jeb took his girls to meet up with Matthew. The hour or so when I was alone at camp was a highlight of my summer so far. I was in the woods, it was beautiful and quiet, and I soaked up every second. When Hannah returned, we sat in the shade chatting and that was lovely too.
Our families returned at lunch time and the afternoon was spent lounging around camp. The men collected and chopped up more wood, Hannah and I read our books, and the kids spent hours whittling sticks, exploring the surrounding forest, and drawing pictures in the dirt. It was perfection!
We got dinner cooking around 5:00 pm, and not long after other families from the ward started to arrive. Joining us in the camp that night were the Haltli's, the Jensen's, the Smith's, and Bishop's family. We got a roaring fire going and the party lasted until the Park's quiet hours started at 10:00 pm.
A ranger had told us we needed to be packed up and out by 9:00 in the morning. It seemed odd to us all, but we complied. A different ranger happened to stop by right around 9:00 am and contradicted his co-worker letting us know we could stay until 2:00 pm. Unfortunately, we had broken camp and half our group had already left. Instead of enjoying a couple more hours of laid back campsite time, most of us headed over to the lake for a bit of fishing. There were no fish to be seen and nothing at all was biting, so after about an hour we packed up the poles and headed home. While it was perhaps a bit of a let down not to have had more time with the larger group, it was certainly nice to be home at a reasonably hour with plenty of time to prepare for the Sabbath.
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