HSFS 2008: Comb Ridge Camping Trip
Jul. 20th, 2008 08:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eisoj5Yes, it's time yet again for another Big Damn Weekend Entry. This one will get edited to add pictures at some point, probably later this evening or tomorrow.
Friday: while getting ready for said camping trip, Miriam from last year's HSFS came by to visit, and amidst all the running around, we got to catch up and I even roped her into, um, helping a bit. :)
Also...Batman!!!!!
It was freaking spectacular. The Joker was terrifying; after the aforementioned pencil trick, I was cringing every time he turned up onscreen because you really didn't know what he was going to do next...which was, of course, the point. I was really upset when Gordon "died" and very happy when he came back. Aaron Eckhart was great; Maggie Gyllenhal (er, sp?) was a good evolution of Katie Holmes' Rachel, and I was also rather upset when the Joker blew her up--well, I was genuinely surprised when Batman chose Harvey over her. I think the ending could've been trimmed off a bit...I get that Harvey's arc was inextricably entwined with the Joker's here, but I think I might've liked it better if his arc had continued on into the next one, like the shot of him from the trailer where he's holding the gun up by the window and you can only see half his face was his last moment onscreen. (Uh. I blame the incoherency on the camping trip.)
I loved having all these other famous people in minor roles. Like William Fitchner (from Contact and lots other things) and Eric Roberts (though I couldn't stop calling him "Eric Roberts" in my head everytime he was around) and MELISSA FREAKING SCULLY (okay, less famous but instantly recognizable).
So...yeah. Thought that was pretty great.
Lessee...we had 20 kids and 11 staff. We got the vans all ready to go by 8:30 and headed out to Comb Ridge, near Bluff, UT. We went to Wolfman Panel first; this time around I was actually, like, in charge of leading half the group down to it--though it was a really easy and obvious little hike, it was definitely a different experience than last year.
After that, we split up; half the group went to Long Fingers, where I went last year, and my half went to Monarch Cave, led by Ben. He took us up a prehistoric road to the site, which was marked all along the way by grinding slicks, hand-and-toe hold trails, and some rock art here and there. The site itself was really amazing; lots of rock art all along the back wall of the alcove, and a big pool of water down at the head of the canyon. One of our kids had a blister started before we even left Wolfman Panel...and then when we got to Monarch, he asked to go barefoot so his boots wouldn't hurt. I said okay, but then after we all walked around a bit, he came back and it turned out he actually had FOUR blisters, one of which was on his big toe and filled with dirt. So, eep, that sucked. Ben also took us back out to a great kiva and a Pueblo I site, which were also pretty neat; lots of midden stuff washing out all around it.
Oh, right--there's this one kid who's been making things a bit more difficult than they otherwise would be...all week long Paul and I have been checking a bit obsessively to make sure all our kids have two liter-size water bottles for the camping trip. We had a good opportunity to check this on Thursday for the La Platas hike, and at that point, this kid didn't have even one...so we lent him one from Crow Canyon to hang onto. On Friday, I gave him ANOTHER liter-size bottle for the field...so I figured he'd be good to go for Saturday. However, Paul was less certain, and even offered to bet me that he wouldn't have water. I was like "no, I gave him one, he's got to be okay..."
...Yeah. When we got off the vans at Wolfman Panel (after once again having checked that morning), the kid had this tiny little Aquafina-type bottle. He claimed we'd only told him, like, twice. *rolls eyes*
Anyway. We got to the campsite and got everything set up really easily...the evening went really smoothly; Jakob brought his electric guitar, and Johnny his banjo, so we even had music. Alicia sang and played a bit, too. After a while, Ben and I sneaked over to where the kids were hanging out by their tents--Ben snapped on the lantern and yelled "PUT ON YOUR CLOTHES!" whereupon they screamed as per the expected response :D
They came back over with us and some scary stories were told, and then I did a few stars with my laser pointer (which of course then they wanted to play with). Then, at night...it stormed like crazy; the wind was awful, and the lightning kept waking me up. So I didn't sleep terribly well.
This morning, after wandering around aimlessly from sleep deprivation for a while (and in Fumi's case, severe caffeine deprivation...do NOT get between that man and his coffee) we went over to Arch Canyon, where there's the biggest site in SE Utah (or so Ben says) with lots more awesome rock art (baby footprints!). Walking to the site was really, really nice, too...there was a creek running through and it felt SO damn good to wade through it after the heat of Saturday.
We drove back down through Comb Wash, which took fricking forever...I really don't want to do that again, because the kids were decidedly not pleased with such a lengthy drive to get to our lunch spot. But, of course, our lunch spot was by the San Juan river...so the swim made everybody a lot happier after.
Anyway, it was a pretty great trip; I loved seeing new sites and I think the kids had a pretty good time (although they were definitely happiest when we weren't hauling them around in the heat to look at stuff...), and hopefully I'll get those pictures up sometime soon :)
Friday: while getting ready for said camping trip, Miriam from last year's HSFS came by to visit, and amidst all the running around, we got to catch up and I even roped her into, um, helping a bit. :)
Also...Batman!!!!!
It was freaking spectacular. The Joker was terrifying; after the aforementioned pencil trick, I was cringing every time he turned up onscreen because you really didn't know what he was going to do next...which was, of course, the point. I was really upset when Gordon "died" and very happy when he came back. Aaron Eckhart was great; Maggie Gyllenhal (er, sp?) was a good evolution of Katie Holmes' Rachel, and I was also rather upset when the Joker blew her up--well, I was genuinely surprised when Batman chose Harvey over her. I think the ending could've been trimmed off a bit...I get that Harvey's arc was inextricably entwined with the Joker's here, but I think I might've liked it better if his arc had continued on into the next one, like the shot of him from the trailer where he's holding the gun up by the window and you can only see half his face was his last moment onscreen. (Uh. I blame the incoherency on the camping trip.)
I loved having all these other famous people in minor roles. Like William Fitchner (from Contact and lots other things) and Eric Roberts (though I couldn't stop calling him "Eric Roberts" in my head everytime he was around) and MELISSA FREAKING SCULLY (okay, less famous but instantly recognizable).
So...yeah. Thought that was pretty great.
Lessee...we had 20 kids and 11 staff. We got the vans all ready to go by 8:30 and headed out to Comb Ridge, near Bluff, UT. We went to Wolfman Panel first; this time around I was actually, like, in charge of leading half the group down to it--though it was a really easy and obvious little hike, it was definitely a different experience than last year.
After that, we split up; half the group went to Long Fingers, where I went last year, and my half went to Monarch Cave, led by Ben. He took us up a prehistoric road to the site, which was marked all along the way by grinding slicks, hand-and-toe hold trails, and some rock art here and there. The site itself was really amazing; lots of rock art all along the back wall of the alcove, and a big pool of water down at the head of the canyon. One of our kids had a blister started before we even left Wolfman Panel...and then when we got to Monarch, he asked to go barefoot so his boots wouldn't hurt. I said okay, but then after we all walked around a bit, he came back and it turned out he actually had FOUR blisters, one of which was on his big toe and filled with dirt. So, eep, that sucked. Ben also took us back out to a great kiva and a Pueblo I site, which were also pretty neat; lots of midden stuff washing out all around it.
Oh, right--there's this one kid who's been making things a bit more difficult than they otherwise would be...all week long Paul and I have been checking a bit obsessively to make sure all our kids have two liter-size water bottles for the camping trip. We had a good opportunity to check this on Thursday for the La Platas hike, and at that point, this kid didn't have even one...so we lent him one from Crow Canyon to hang onto. On Friday, I gave him ANOTHER liter-size bottle for the field...so I figured he'd be good to go for Saturday. However, Paul was less certain, and even offered to bet me that he wouldn't have water. I was like "no, I gave him one, he's got to be okay..."
...Yeah. When we got off the vans at Wolfman Panel (after once again having checked that morning), the kid had this tiny little Aquafina-type bottle. He claimed we'd only told him, like, twice. *rolls eyes*
Anyway. We got to the campsite and got everything set up really easily...the evening went really smoothly; Jakob brought his electric guitar, and Johnny his banjo, so we even had music. Alicia sang and played a bit, too. After a while, Ben and I sneaked over to where the kids were hanging out by their tents--Ben snapped on the lantern and yelled "PUT ON YOUR CLOTHES!" whereupon they screamed as per the expected response :D
They came back over with us and some scary stories were told, and then I did a few stars with my laser pointer (which of course then they wanted to play with). Then, at night...it stormed like crazy; the wind was awful, and the lightning kept waking me up. So I didn't sleep terribly well.
This morning, after wandering around aimlessly from sleep deprivation for a while (and in Fumi's case, severe caffeine deprivation...do NOT get between that man and his coffee) we went over to Arch Canyon, where there's the biggest site in SE Utah (or so Ben says) with lots more awesome rock art (baby footprints!). Walking to the site was really, really nice, too...there was a creek running through and it felt SO damn good to wade through it after the heat of Saturday.
We drove back down through Comb Wash, which took fricking forever...I really don't want to do that again, because the kids were decidedly not pleased with such a lengthy drive to get to our lunch spot. But, of course, our lunch spot was by the San Juan river...so the swim made everybody a lot happier after.
Anyway, it was a pretty great trip; I loved seeing new sites and I think the kids had a pretty good time (although they were definitely happiest when we weren't hauling them around in the heat to look at stuff...), and hopefully I'll get those pictures up sometime soon :)
