Favorite things about 1st Camp Host Job?

 #1 - Having a premium natural playland for the grandkids to visit.  It's a natural school...with plenty of wood for building (from felled trees) and all of the flowers and water and paths and rocks for creative play.  Did I mention mud?






And what about smores?  How did they ever become an essential campfire ritual?  And Sunday was incredibly special as we attended the Brighton Branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We overdosed on love from the members and The Spirit from the Lord.

 

Trails go to nearby lakes and ski runs

 

Ski Resorts are on either side of Redman...Paka is at Solitude



Snow drifts in July? Oh, certainly...in Utah's Mountains

These pictures still give me CHILLS. We were supposed to open, and being new to the campground, we didn't realize there were TWO more camp sites. They were so buried in snow we still couldn't see where the tables might be. The stick in this picture is my tough shovel handle. It held up much better than my leather gloves, and I was grateful for it. There really were tables in these drifts. The one in the second picture scared me. . . as there was a sizable cave under it . . . and I convinced myself it was a bear's den. (Three recent bear sightings in the Brighton Ski Area, just barely up the road, stoked my imagination.) I was sure if I dug any deeper, my shovel would part the hair of a big black bear.
The picture at the top of this post is the same site a month later. No bear. But we were required to pass out pamphlets and lecture campers about bears because of the sightings. The flower-lined trail leads to Brighton Ski Resort. We learned this site is a favorite because of its wild "back yard" that extends to a large "secret" tent site.

2nd Assignment - Dig out Redman Campground (Utah)

Happily buried under drifts of snow, Redman Campground was supposed to open for Memorial Day. The problem wasn't just record snow, but record downed trees. They seemed to have fallen in great numbers across every picnic table and fire ring in the park. But we weren't at all sure where the picnic tables even were... so we started digging for them--Eileen with a squared-end shovel and Bob with the front-loader.
Eileen was on the road to Solitude looking for the bridge that led into the lower end of the campground. We soon discovered it had been washed out by runoff. We couldn't imagine how the park would ever open. We were new at this, so we were totally in the "can-do" mode. We kicked our bodies into a mega-work mode.... and we were surprised at how good it felt to work that hard.

The last picture is of the "trail" behind bathroom #3 (of 7) that was supposed to go to our neighbor down-canyon, Solitude Ski Resort. Several trees (one HUGE) had fallen across the trail, so our trail was out of commission.