High in the Hills, Deep in the Trees, on the shores of many lakes, it's Camp Tonsager!

 

CAMPING 2012!!!

Our old car top camper we had re-canvassed didn’t make it through a hard winter outdoors under tarp. It got moldy. With all our allergies we decided maybe it wasn’t such a great idea. We still hope to get it cleaned up and useable, but it actually cost less to buy a new tent altogether. For our anniversary last year we got this tent from Ken & Gayle…..

We absolutely love it! There’s 3 rooms providing plenty of sleep space as well as a common area to eat and hang out in inclement weather.

We were so excited, we immediately filled every remaining weekend last summer with camping destinations and rearranged a couple other weekends to camp. When Luke’s bump turned up as a lymph node and surgery was scheduled less than a week later that could result in lymphoma, we coped by going off grid up in the hills to a beautiful spot where we could concentrate on each other. For us, camping is an enrichment of life. With four boys and a tom-boy mother, there will not be a weekend at home between Memorial and Labor Day. This area has so many wonderful places to get away, you could spend all 52 weekends a year in a different campground without hitting half of them. It’s an opportunity I don’t plan to ignore.

 

Our first camping trip was to Angos Tura with our friends Jordan and Carrie Lent and their two daughters, Emily and Madisyn. And our best friend Andy Borah and his daughter Dayna. Some others came and went as well, mainly Carrie’s family.  We set up in Shep’s Canyon where it’s free to camp.

We got a shower/shitter tent with a potty bucket, complete with a seat and liftable lid and deodorizers. The sower tent has towel racks, drains, a toilet paper dispenser caddy, shower shelf and hook to hang the solar water bag. I used it quite a bit this summer and loved it. It is a really quick and easy set up and a compact pack down.

There was a small cliff with a trail to the waterfront, reminded me of Harlan Country Reservoir back home.

 

The weather was sketchy. The night before we got there the wind almost blew Carrie’s tent, inhabitants and all into the lake! It was cool and dreary the first 24 hours we were there, which is my kind of weather.

 

 

 

Camping Entertainment.....

 

Scavenger Hunt Items

The men and Carrie went fishing, and I was nominated for childcare. We played, had bug and scavenger hunts, went on walks, played I Spy and then it rained, so we all retreated into the tent and lined up lawn chairs in front of the iPhone for some Netflix. Got to love 3G. Everyone took turns holding baby Jake and ate snack. Then we played UNO. Perfect timing, the rain stopped just as all the others got back (of course).

 

There was a fire ban Hills wide this year and so so so many wild fires burning this year (Colorado's big one was right then as were Montana's and a few in our hills) so we couldn't do a camp fire with smores. It just felt wrong sitting there in the dark in a circle drinking our beverages, so we put Carrie's LED lantern in the middle, with only one panel lit on the opposite side. That thing was BRIGHT!

The only things I didn't like about camping here was the lack of shade and the ants that were everywhere!!!

Luke and Jake woke up early in the morning and the rest of the camp was sleeping in, so I took them on a walk and ended up with some amazing pictures along the way....

 

 

Camping food is the best! I had made up some breakfast burritos to take that we warmed on the grill.....amazing!!! All the other meals I had separated by baggie in the cooler (brats, burgers, fry sausage), it made it so much easier come meal time. I also had a hard sealed tote for dry goods separate from all other camping supplies. Then the camping supplies were divided by tote too. This way we only have to take certain ones in to be unloaded and restocked, while others stay in the garage.

Then the last day it got HOT. We spent as much time in the water as possible, but by 11am Jake had had enough. We tore down camp and headed to town to visit Grandpa and Grandma before going home.




In June we also "camped" at Custer State Park. We had a duplex cabin with our sister & brother-in-law and the rest of the Tonsager clan was spread out amongst the park for Uncle Karl & Denise Tonsager's wedding. What a great time had by all. The cabins were nice, but for the life of me I can't find them on the website to book them for my family this summer.

Norbek Visitor Center

Cloud Window made at Jr Naturalist Program

Learning about SCAT

They all decided to be omnivors

Eating their own scat they made ;)

Our duplex cabin



Buffalo in the campground behind the cabins

Stupid Tourist

Stupid Gaurdsmen who went and posed for a picture

We gave a Lemonade Picnic Basket

4 Generation Tonsager Men

4 Generation Tonsager Men & Women

1st Father's Day Together

Jake pooped, Daddy doesn't want him anymore

Amazing grill bought for the rehearsal dinner, then donated to the church in Hot Springs

The Ken Branch

There were a couple of bouncy houses at the wedding

had to get our hike on

the second time I have hiked Custer State Park in flip flops

Luke was determined to hike it too

Andy

Zach

Taa Daa

Up was by far easier than down. Andy froze up and had to be pried and pleaded down.

We made it!

Jenn & I took the wedding pictures..... oh my passion that I eagerly embark on at every offer!

Love this girl!!! She smashed that buffalo chip!

 

Then our last day there was Father's Day......

1st Father's Day for Jake

We did interview questions from each boy to dad and a candybar poem.

Our Next adventure was above mentioned off grid adventure when in limbo on Luke’s inguinal mass discovery. It was also our friend and next door neighbors’ sons/grandsons triple Batman birthday.

It was stormy from the start this weekend. We left during one storm, got there and set up, went to bed in time for another storm. Then woke up and had some sun for a while after breakfast.....

road treats, bulk twizlers!

 

 

hammering stakes with rocks

We stayed at Roubaix Lake near Lead. It was high on the mountain, deep in the trees making the temperature and the scenery perfect. The little lake had a great swimming area and a large sandy beach. The boys loved it. We loved it.

 

Then the weather hit. Thunder, lightning, torrential downpour and hail. I loved it. Unfortunately it was right during the birthday party so that was sad. Andy had his own best buddy’s bday to go to so we drove back into Spearfish to drop him off. On the way we actually had to pull over under the trees with some other cars because it was raining and hailing so bad.

 

 

 

There were lots of bikers seeking shelter as well. Felt bad for them. After that the neighbors packed up and headed home.

We toughed it out through two more rounds of storms and had a blast right up until being booted an hour after checkout. We had everything packed up and were finishing up lunch before leaving when the site manager drove up and asked if we knew check out was an hour earlier (seriously? The place was empty anyway, it was Sunday at noon and not in high demand.) We said we were all ready to go, just finishing our lunch before heading out. All is well that ends well anyway. It was my favorite destination yet!

The next weekend we met the Tonsager Besich clan at Deerfield near Nemo and Rochford. I had always heard of the place. The Canyon Hills crew liked to go camp there, but I had never actually been. It is a small lake with a few campgrounds surrounding and some 4 wheeler trails.

on the road again

Days of '76 parade in Deadwood shut down the highway an hour after its start we still were stopped for about half an hour.

S'mores Pie since we could have no campfire

 

Always weather :)

We warned the crew that when we camp, it rains at least once. They laughed. We arrived. It rained before we were unpacked.

It was a great time. Yummy food, good company, including a squirel…..

SQUIRREL!!!

A few games…. Lots of dirt…. Fresh picked raspberries…..

Some off the dock swimming…..

That was one thing I didn’t care for, we were unable to find an actual swimming area. I did like that it was up in the hills and most of the sites had good tree cover allowing it to be cooler for the most part.  Mark and Jenn brought their 4 wheeler and found some nice trails. One had the raspberries growing near it, YUMMY!!! We had a great time and can’t wait to make it an annual event!

Before we had gotten the tent, when Jake was only a little over a week old, we went down to Custer State Park to visit the Tonsagers, Besichs and Jensens at their campsites. It was a really foggy and really cold Memorial Weekend. We even saw a patch of snow toward the top of CSP. The fog made for some awesome pictures.

 

 

Maddie and Megan were so excited to meet Baby Jake.

This was before the summer's fire ban was in effect, so we got to roast s'mores once!!!

Zach had the most hilarious facial expressions when he would catch a whiff of the smoke in his direction.

We didn't stay too late because we still had to drive through that fog which was hard enough to see through on the way in at noon. If the temp dropped anymore it would be below freezing and freezing fog means black ice. Not a happy combo. We did see buffalo on the way out. Always fun.

We had intended on hitting Orman before school stated but we were busy, stressed and exhausted. We also had started to volunteer regularly at Bountiful Baskets on Saturday mornings. We have BIG plans for camping this summer and plan to hit many different and new campgrounds. Our weekends are nearly full already. Can. Not. Wait.