Go camping they said, it'll be fun they said
I didn't camp with my family growing up but when I turned twelve I joined a boy scouts troop and for three years I did a good amount of hiking, camping, and backpacking. The time I spent there gave me confidence and a sense of independence that I have carried with me ever since. I want to expose my children to nature and develop that confidence and sense of independence that I experienced by spending time in the great outdoors.
My wife and I are always looking for activities we can do as a family. We've ventured out to some stroller-friendly trails close to our home. Hiking season for a family of six in Phoenix is rather short, the sweet spot for us would be the month of October when it's neither too hot nor too cold, for our children's standards that is.
In the summer months, we've ventured north to Prescott, Sedona, and Flagstaff to enjoy cooler weather. We've hiked Bell Rock in Sedona several times, so we started looking at other family-friendly hikes in the area to get our Ponderosa pines and red rocks fix.
One day we found an Instagram reel showing the West Fork of Oak Creek Trail in Sedona. This is a moderate yet popular hike and even though it is an out-and-back six-and-a-half-mile trail we thought we could hike for about forty-five minutes, have a picnic, and then head back. We did our research and found out it would be better to go on a weekday to avoid crowds and secure a parking spot at the trailhead. We figured it would also be an excellent opportunity to go on our first camping trip as a family so we booked a campsite at Cave Springs campground.
On Sunday, October twenty-third, van packed and children strapped we started our family adventure. The check-in time for the campsite was three in the afternoon so we had some time to kill. We decided to go to a family favorite, Bell Rock.
The hike was a success and everyone was in good spirits, as you can see here and here. We worked out an appetite so we headed over to downtown Sedona. By the time we were done with lunch, it was time to get going to our campsite.
The weather forecast for that day high of fifty-nine and a low of forty-one. The sun would be setting around six o’clock which gave me three hours to set up camp and fix dinner for everybody. My wife and the kids went exploring the campground while I was finishing up. We grilled hot dogs, roasted marshmallows, got everyone in their pajamas, and put on a movie while it was time to go to sleep.
Originally we thought of putting our baby in a pack-and-play inside the tent but he wouldn’t have it, so we pivoted and wrapped in a couple of wool blankets and put him next to my wife. The three older kids were on a double sleeping pad with thirty-five-degree sleeping bags, my wife had a thirty-five-degree bag with a klymit static v sleeping pad and since the second sleeping pad was punctured I was sleeping directly on the floor with an old rectangular Coleman sleeping bag of which we didn’t know the rating.
I have no way to prove this but I’m pretty sure the temperature dropped to freezing that night. We were grossly unprepared for how cold the night was going to be. Our tent, a Coleman six-person skydome has mesh on the top of three sides of the walls, which allows for air circulation. Air circulation is a great thing, except the air was so cold that it felt like we were inside a refrigerator.
None of the sleeping pads were insulated so the cold from the floor was making it to the bottom of everyone’s sleeping bag. I learned after this experience that whatever rating a sleeping bag has means that you won’t die at that temperature but it doesn’t warrant a good night's sleep. Now I know that adding ten degrees to the bag’s rating is a more realistic comfort rating.
I was frustrated to the point of tears since my kids were able to fall asleep but couldn’t remain asleep because they were being woken up by the bitter cold. My wife and I kept whispering to each other in the dark, what we should do? Should we pack everyone in the van and find a hotel? Should we pack everyone and everything and go home? It was around midnight that with three out of four children awake because it was too cold to sleep my wife took them to the van, turned on the heat, and had them sleep in their car seats.
My oldest son slept all night in his sleeping bag and didn’t seem bothered by the cold so I stayed with him inside the tent. I would go in and out of sleep, shivering, checking on my boy to make sure he was alright. Thinking about what would be happening inside the van, were they alright? Would we get kicked out of the campground? Could they call CPS on us for this? I was for sure spiraling due to the lack of sleep, stress, and cold.
Then all of a sudden, twilight. It was about six in the morning and my boy woke up as if nothing had happened. We got out of the tent and reunited with the rest of the family in the extremely toasty van, it was heaven. Everyone was alright, tired but alright. I took out my stove, boiled water, and prepared coffee for my wife and me. We fed the children and cleaned them up a bit. Then I furiously started breaking down camp.
It probably took me half the time to break down than to set up. I have never been so happy to leave any place more than this campsite. We canceled the hike to West Fork of Oak Creek Trail and headed home with our brand-new stripes. Even though it was bitter cold, our children couldn’t wait for our next camping trip. And redeem this camping trip we will.
Epilogue
Ever since we returned from that trip I’ve been researching and upgrading gear to not repeat what happened on this trip. I even took my oldest son camping at Timber Camp near Globe, Arizona in November and we were in nice and toasty sleeping systems. However, there were other complications that I will probably write about in a future post.
Have you taken your family on a camping trip? Do you have any tips and tricks? If so, leave me a comment below.