Camp Gooseberry

we went up the canyon somewhere in b.f.e. central utah to camp!! i love to go, brandon is another story. he will go, but usually hates the whole process and doesn't really like to just go and sit. he totally ended up having a great time though...and i've got the crazy pics to prove it:O or rather, blackmail for the future! anyways, here we are trying to get to the site and of course we run into construction. we ended up sitting in this spot for about 20 minutes or so and then had to follow the long line at about 10-15 below the speed limit for another 30 minutes. very annoying, but we survived! it took so long that people were getting out of their cars and socializing.

this is little gooseberry reservoir. it's smaller than most of the standing water in ND that accumulates on the side of the road. but that's the difference between utah and ND. utah is 1/2 national forest the other 1/2 desert. so we have green pastures for the most of spring and the beginning of summer, then everything turns brown because there is not enough water. but, even though it's a little small fishing hole, it's still pretty against the mountains.

right after this pic of us we got pulled over by the po-po. she told us no off-road riding. the weird thing was that we were on trails but apparently that is not legal. we must ride ONLY on the main numbered roads. she gave us some maps of rides in the area that we could do and blah blah blah. buzzkill!! at least we didn't get any tickets.

the run-off from the reservoir.

i zoomed in on this one. those snowy mountain caps were pretty far away from where we were but they looked really pretty behind the lush green vegetation in front.

well, we had some pretty effin crazy weather up there. which is to be expected in the mountains. it was forecasted to rain. actually a 30% chance of precipitation to be exact. well, it was sprinkling when we got there. luckily one of the guys we were with came prepared. he had suspended several VERY large tarps over the campfire and tables. we were pretty dry...UNTIL the massive hail storm. It went on for about 30 minutes and threatened our little fort. our tent collapsed on one side too. but we just brushed off the hail and it popped back up. the point is after that we got super muddy and cold. but did that stop us from having fun??? NO! we had a great time, that is, until we went to bed in muddy clothes in the freezing tent. my little feets were not happy! brandon and i had to sit in his truck for 20 minutes the next morning to warm up our toesies. it was really cold but we still had an awesome time and slept really well the next night at home.

okay, ready for your PSA on why not to misuse alcohol?:

this is brandon.

this is brandon on alcohol.

need i say more? well, i will anyways. the campfire was great. you know, it's my favorite part of camping. everyone was more than tipsy and it was a riot. i'm not going to post some of the crazier pics because future employers may be reading...or our moms or grandmas. anyways, long story short, i don't want to embarrass brandon. so, just know that we had fun and felt a little sick the next day. nothing 2 pieces of plain bread and 3 water bottles couldn't cure. by the way, there were still piles of hail in the morning. that tells you how cold it stayed all night.