So out here in Arizona, we have a very diverse landscape.
Besides the scorching Sonoran Desert, we have the "high country" or Mogollon Rim (pronounced Mogi-yawn) which is over 5,000 feet in average elevation. Flagstaff, Sedona as well as Payson and Showlow are located there in the Tonto National Forest. The largest stand of Ponderosa Pine in the world is located on the Rim, and is one of the favorite destinations for myself and a multitude of friends when it comes to escaping the Phoenix Valley heat.
This year we decided to head up to Christopher Creek which is East of Payson. This is a fairly popular campground that we've gone to before which is pretty nice as far as the campsite layout as well as the facilities that are there. My wife Julie and my two girls Tierney (8) and Mabel (4) went so having bathrooms and access to drinking water is a necessity. We also went with our friends who have girls the same ages as ours who we all hang out with a lot normally. One other lady went with her youngest that is friends with Tierney and her older girl who is 12. Those three had NEVER been camping before... More on how that went later.
There are no reservations at this campground so we loaded up and headed out by 7am Friday morning. We lucked out and got a spot big enough for multiple tents and parking for three vehicles, right next to the vaulted bathrooms.
I brought with me a bevy of tools, knives and various camping items, but chiefly among them (and why I posted this thread) was my Best Little Friend, the venerable and most capable BK11.
First order of business after setting up camp was making kindling for our fire:
Using the 11 for this all but made my hatchet redundant.
While scraping off some bark, the damn wood bit me!
After the fire was built, it was time for lunch. Sandwiches with spicy pickles!
Later, I tried my hand at a fuzz stick, with limited success:
We took a walk down to the creek (which splits the two camp areas in half):
I wanted to catch a crawdad and pose it holding my 11, but alas the water was too cold and the daddies too elusive for such a photo op.
Later, it got dark and we played with the kids:
I went to bed pretty early that first night. Must have had something to do with starting drinking around 11am?
Woke up the next day and used the 11 to stir my coffee:
Our friends Sarah and Mark brought along some pre-made homemade "egg mcmuffins" and I took a picture of one sliced in twain by my knife because reasons:
There was fresh fruit as well.
Later, I got bored and gave the 11 a rest and played around with my KA-BAR ZK Famine that I recently got for my B-day and modded...
(Obligatory "stabbed-into-a-tree" pic):
I did do some chopping and stuff with it, but this is a Becker forum so I won't bore you with those photos.
On another note, while bored in the middle of the day (and well away from the other campers and kids), I found that the ZK Acheron can make a decent throwing knife in a pinch!
"THOCK!"
We went into town to get some more firewood and some fresh supplies and I brought back one of Northern Arizona's finer microbrews: Grand Canyon Brewing Coffee Bean Stout,
This stuff is really, REALLY good.
Random knife pose shot in a cool piece of wood we scavenged from the forest:
Later we roasted up some mini-weenies for the kids and I cut them up:
Note: During all of this the daytime temps never got above 65˚. The first night the temps got nearly to freezing and none of the adults slept very well.
The only downside to the entire trip was that we could have prepared for the cold better for ourselves, but the kids were fine.
I took a nap and before passing out for a couple hours decided for some reason to take a picture of my "load out":
All essential!
Later, I whittled each of the girls a stick with it. The only help I needed was for carving their first initial so a finer tip came into play with the Para2:
The second night was similar to the first where we all had drinks, ate fatty foods laughed and had a good time.
It was cold again but we slept a little better than the first night.
Now here is the part where the camping "n00bs" really had an issue. Well, the younger girls were okay but their mom practically lost her sh*t in the middle of the night because she thought if she went outside she'd immediately be eaten by a bear (it is bear country but we took all of the proper precautions with storing our food, etc.). Their tent was right next to ours and I could hear her yelling at her kids that she was terrified to go out to use the bathroom by herself and wanted them to go with her, but they weren't having any of that...! My wife spoke up that she would go with her to the bathroom only after we heard her say she was going to literally pee onto a pile of dirty clothes!?! It was really bizarre. Needless to say, they left that next day. Of course she says she wants to go camping again but, uh... we're "busy" that weekend. Or something. One of the weirdest situations I've ever been a party to while camping.
Anyways, the next day we did much of the same and hung around the campsite.
That is until we noticed the clouds building and wait, was that...? A raindrop! Oh crap!
Yep, we totally got poured on! Extremely rare to happen in May in Arizona but not unheard of because we got soaked!
Luckily, the kids and ladies went into our friend's huge 8 person tent and hung out for the 2 hours it came down while myself and my buddy Mark stayed by the fire and drank.
We did have a "shade sail" that we erected above the fire which helped a ton to keep it relatively dry.
Everything else though, got wet:
I had a string of paracord across our camp which made a great clothes and other things drying line:
I got decently wet, but it was still pretty fun.
The BK11 is a definite camp champ!
We're planning another trip in about a month and the 11 is for sure going with me.
Besides the scorching Sonoran Desert, we have the "high country" or Mogollon Rim (pronounced Mogi-yawn) which is over 5,000 feet in average elevation. Flagstaff, Sedona as well as Payson and Showlow are located there in the Tonto National Forest. The largest stand of Ponderosa Pine in the world is located on the Rim, and is one of the favorite destinations for myself and a multitude of friends when it comes to escaping the Phoenix Valley heat.
This year we decided to head up to Christopher Creek which is East of Payson. This is a fairly popular campground that we've gone to before which is pretty nice as far as the campsite layout as well as the facilities that are there. My wife Julie and my two girls Tierney (8) and Mabel (4) went so having bathrooms and access to drinking water is a necessity. We also went with our friends who have girls the same ages as ours who we all hang out with a lot normally. One other lady went with her youngest that is friends with Tierney and her older girl who is 12. Those three had NEVER been camping before... More on how that went later.
There are no reservations at this campground so we loaded up and headed out by 7am Friday morning. We lucked out and got a spot big enough for multiple tents and parking for three vehicles, right next to the vaulted bathrooms.
I brought with me a bevy of tools, knives and various camping items, but chiefly among them (and why I posted this thread) was my Best Little Friend, the venerable and most capable BK11.
First order of business after setting up camp was making kindling for our fire:
Using the 11 for this all but made my hatchet redundant.
While scraping off some bark, the damn wood bit me!
After the fire was built, it was time for lunch. Sandwiches with spicy pickles!
Later, I tried my hand at a fuzz stick, with limited success:
We took a walk down to the creek (which splits the two camp areas in half):
I wanted to catch a crawdad and pose it holding my 11, but alas the water was too cold and the daddies too elusive for such a photo op.
Later, it got dark and we played with the kids:
I went to bed pretty early that first night. Must have had something to do with starting drinking around 11am?
Woke up the next day and used the 11 to stir my coffee:
Our friends Sarah and Mark brought along some pre-made homemade "egg mcmuffins" and I took a picture of one sliced in twain by my knife because reasons:
There was fresh fruit as well.
Later, I got bored and gave the 11 a rest and played around with my KA-BAR ZK Famine that I recently got for my B-day and modded...
(Obligatory "stabbed-into-a-tree" pic):
I did do some chopping and stuff with it, but this is a Becker forum so I won't bore you with those photos.
On another note, while bored in the middle of the day (and well away from the other campers and kids), I found that the ZK Acheron can make a decent throwing knife in a pinch!
"THOCK!"
We went into town to get some more firewood and some fresh supplies and I brought back one of Northern Arizona's finer microbrews: Grand Canyon Brewing Coffee Bean Stout,
This stuff is really, REALLY good.
Random knife pose shot in a cool piece of wood we scavenged from the forest:
Later we roasted up some mini-weenies for the kids and I cut them up:
Note: During all of this the daytime temps never got above 65˚. The first night the temps got nearly to freezing and none of the adults slept very well.
The only downside to the entire trip was that we could have prepared for the cold better for ourselves, but the kids were fine.
I took a nap and before passing out for a couple hours decided for some reason to take a picture of my "load out":
All essential!
Later, I whittled each of the girls a stick with it. The only help I needed was for carving their first initial so a finer tip came into play with the Para2:
The second night was similar to the first where we all had drinks, ate fatty foods laughed and had a good time.
It was cold again but we slept a little better than the first night.
Now here is the part where the camping "n00bs" really had an issue. Well, the younger girls were okay but their mom practically lost her sh*t in the middle of the night because she thought if she went outside she'd immediately be eaten by a bear (it is bear country but we took all of the proper precautions with storing our food, etc.). Their tent was right next to ours and I could hear her yelling at her kids that she was terrified to go out to use the bathroom by herself and wanted them to go with her, but they weren't having any of that...! My wife spoke up that she would go with her to the bathroom only after we heard her say she was going to literally pee onto a pile of dirty clothes!?! It was really bizarre. Needless to say, they left that next day. Of course she says she wants to go camping again but, uh... we're "busy" that weekend. Or something. One of the weirdest situations I've ever been a party to while camping.
Anyways, the next day we did much of the same and hung around the campsite.
That is until we noticed the clouds building and wait, was that...? A raindrop! Oh crap!
Yep, we totally got poured on! Extremely rare to happen in May in Arizona but not unheard of because we got soaked!
Luckily, the kids and ladies went into our friend's huge 8 person tent and hung out for the 2 hours it came down while myself and my buddy Mark stayed by the fire and drank.
We did have a "shade sail" that we erected above the fire which helped a ton to keep it relatively dry.
Everything else though, got wet:
I had a string of paracord across our camp which made a great clothes and other things drying line:
I got decently wet, but it was still pretty fun.
The BK11 is a definite camp champ!
We're planning another trip in about a month and the 11 is for sure going with me.
:thumbdn:
. I'm not there anymore, but thats where a good majority of my family is. My parents have a cabin about 5-10 miles farther up the rim from Christopher creek, and it is beautiful up there. We go up there for family reunions all the time
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