Lockett Meadow Campground July 2009

As you've seen in our previous posts, we really enjoy camping. We camped in Flagstaff Az at the Lockett Meadow Campground.
The campground surrounds this beautiful meadow that views the San Francisco Peaks. You will see in the pictures below how mesmerizing it was. It really felt like a mystical place. The Aspen trees were so tall and such a vivid green.
The camp has 17 campsites. We were able to secure a spot right across from the meadow. We just purchased a new 3 man tent (eureka)so we were looking forward to the extra space when sleeping. We were using a 2 man tent. With the two of us and Abbys small dog kennel that just wasn't enough room:)
We set up tent and had plenty of time to spare. We headed off to Lava River Cave. It was more fun than I expected! It was a hole in the ground! It is roughly 700,000 years old. It is a mile long lava tube cave that was formed by a volcano that erupted. I was thankful that I brought my head lamp and jacket. It was about 40 degrees at the coldest point. It is very damp, slippery and not a friendly terrain. There is nothing flat about this cave, everything has a point, hole or slope.
It is so dark in the cave that when we turned our head lamps off we couldn't even see our hands in front of our faces. I think the cave freaked Abby out a little. But thankfully we had a front dog carrier for her so she was strapped to me the whole time.
If you are in Flagstaff we really recommend this outdoor museum!
Greg's cousin Tony and his friend Neeral met up with us later that evening. Now Greg and I were so looking forward to enjoying our 3 man tent, and then Tony shows up with his 5 man tent! It was a beast!!! It took all four of us to set up, pretty much in the dark. We had lamps but still, with never having set up this tent it was a fun challenge:) We joked that we were going to have a dance party in the 5 man tent later that night. Disco ball and all.
The next morning after Greg made us a great breakfast. We headed to the Inner Basin Trail which started in our campground. Abby is getting older, but she made it about a mile before we had to put her in the doggie carrier. That is the best investment of the year so far! HA!
The Inner Basin Trail is an upward 4 mile hike. The scenery is just breath taking. The Aspen trees fill every space so the sun was only able to poke thru in a few spots which left us with cool shade and a nice breeze. Once you reach the top you have the perfect view of Mt Humphrey. We were very close to an elevation of 10,000.
After our hike we headed into town to pick up some more ice and take a tour of Tonys home in Flagstaff with hopes that his new motorcycles had shown up. It hadn't:( But Tony does have a great home in a cozy neighborhood. We headed downtown and ran into some locals in character for Celtic days. We enjoyed a nice lunch at the Collins Irish Pub. We sat outside since we had Abby and every single person stopped to pet her. She was loving the attention. It really felt like EVERYONE had their dog out in Flagstaff. We really enjoyed the environment. Honestly we felt like we were right at home!
It wouldn't be a true camping experience without some fun fire building:)Tony kept himself entertained by melting glass bottles together:) Greg and Tony were able to find one sweet log that burned the ENTIRE night! It was amazing and perfect for smores and card games:)
It was definitely hard to leave this story book location and head home. So we are already planning our next visit:) Enjoy!