Camping in a Frozen Forest

For Alvin's extended New Year's holiday weekend, we took the opportunity to drive 6 hours north to Grand Canyon National Park. The drive took is through a wide range of terrains. It's hard to believe it is all the same state! We started off in the agricultural farmland around Yuma which soon turned into desert wasteland. Eventually we drove up to higher elevations and miles upon miles of ranchland. We saw roadrunners, coyotes, and antelope as well as fields of cattle and horses. Finally, we entered forest land where the roads are lined with majestic ponderosa pines. We expected it to be colder, but weren't quite prepared for just how cold it was once we reached our destination. I had done some research ahead of time and had found some county fire roads that RVers can boondock off of. We soon discovered the road was covered in ice and snow, something we haven't seen in almost a year.  

Once we were parked and setup at our new campsite, we settled in for the night. I cooked hot soup--the first time I've felt like the weather called for soup in quite some time. We then made hot chocolate and snuggled up to tell stories. Liam has reached the age where he is fascinated with stories from our childhood and so we went back and forth telling different stories from when we were little. Liam listened with wide eyes and rapt attention and I was reminded of the many times throughout my childhood when we would beg Dad to tell stories from his life. Such sweet memories!

Unfortunately, the camper battery chose the middle of the night, when the temperature was in the teens, to go bad and we woke up to see our breath coming out in great clouds of steam. I bundled the boys up as best I could but they were thoroughly unimpressed with the cold and wailed when I took them out from under their cozy blankets.

The weather warmed as the day progressed and the cooler temperatures were quite refreshing. We enjoyed exploring the woods around our campsite. We discovered an elk head and hide just a few feet into the woods. We enjoyed collecting pine cones and looking for signs of wildlife. 

We were a little more prepared for the cold temperatures our second night in the forest. We went to bed bundled up and piled every blanket we own on top of ourselves. Alvin woke up early and hooked the truck battery to the camper so we could warm the camper up a bit before we had to get up. It was a mostly fun adventure but it never felt better to get back to Yuma and a balmy 75 degrees!