We love camping, Mogollon rim and Bear Canyon Lake Hikes

This last weekend is the type of weekend that really makes it hard to get up for Monday!Actually I had such a great weekend I think I can tolerate this Monday.
We started the camping season off at the right time. As Greg and I were driving up to Bear Canyon Lake, just North of Payson, we noticed the temp in the car read 110 degrees. We are finally starting to feel the Phoenix heat:)Pool weather here we come.
Bear Canyon Lake is a rustic environment. Its about 12 miles from where we camped last year near Knolls Lake. We had to bring in our own water and enjoyed the joys of vaulted toilets.
Greg and I headed up after work, so Mike and Mara (The Syrings) were able to go up earlier and secure a nice spot for us. Great spot guys! We were tucked in and rarely saw any other campers. Maybe a few ATV's that flew by. I still think it was hilarious when Mara said "wow there are some young kids driving those I hope they are safe" and then a few hours later we had to take the SUV somewhere and the father who was the leader of the ATV's stopped to get out of our way. His son right behind him didnt see him and plowed into him, then the son following the first son plowed into both of them. As we drove away you could see the father jump off his ATV and start waving his hands around. They all seemed to be ok though.
We enjoyed hot dogs, beans, corn, smores and pudgy pies. Thanks Mike and Mara for Pudgy pies, they were good:) Plus we cant forget salty chips and fish crackers.
Saturday we went on a few hikes. All were beautiful but my favorite was the 3 hour hike around the lake. The meadow at the end was just breath taking. The pictures don't even begin to describe how beautiful it was.
When we returned to our camp Mara spotted a few things out of place. Poor Mike, lost his Cheetos, we are thinking the birds ransacked our camp. They got into the coffee and Ro's diapers! Every last one of those Cheetos was gone!!!! We had all kinds of visitors from mother nature this last weekend. Greg had a run in with a nasty looking spider. We had squirrels, snakes, Elk and huge ants:) I had spotted the snake as we were walking back from the rim, it was little but enough to freak me out! Plus it entertained the boys:)I was still a little paranoid though.
Saturday night we were a little tired from our long hikes so we wanted to relax and get a nice fire going. The boys discovered a nice piece of wood on our way back to camp. Or should I say a small tree. As you can see from the pictures, it was a NICE BIG fire! We actually had to back away in order to enjoy it. Dare Devil Abby, who is always cold, tried to get right up next to the flame, thankfully Aunt Mara scooped her up!
We all enjoyed a game of Apples to Apples, discovered a few things about our sense of humor and made smores. I have to say Mara, that wine in a box was pretty darn good!
little Ro had slept for all of our hikes so he was wide awake for a majority of the night. He was a great little camper though. Greg and I were very impressed with his camping skills! Such a happy little guy!
With the beautiful scenery I tried out a few of my new camera settings. Still getting used to all the fun gadgets. I hope you enjoy!
Please don't mind the sound on some of the videos, it seems every time I hit record the boys had interesting stories to tell:)



Gregs Snake