Applicable to Payson in June, July, Aug, September
[Temperature ranges of 80s- low 90s in the day, to 70-60s at night]
Tips for success
The UV ranges from highs of 10 to 12.5
This is brutal on polar-descended melanin-challenged progeny. Hats and sunscreen. Avoid dehydration
- Water. Each kid carry 2 water bottles on hikes
- Water. Keep some spray bottles of water, and some rags you can dip into water and put on the back of your neck.
- Water. Try to have every hike access water at some point (e.g. Creeks or lakes. Somewhere you can get your feet wet)
- Apply sunscreen at 7am, and Reapply the sunscreen on at noon! One application is not enough. Keep sunscreen in my pack.
- Safety pin their hat straps to them! This is for Irene the Hat-Hurler, who despite mommy finding it once, managed to lose it on the 2nd time when mommy still ran back along the trail and couldn't find it...
- Keep mineral sunscreen lip balm in your pack, and reapply to kids faces a few times to kids lips on the hike. Otherwise everyone comes home with sunburnt lips. Just take lip balm, microwave, mix very well with 1/4 the weight with Zinc Oxide powder.
- Cookies/Trailmix/Sweets are a MUST for the hike. And only to be eaten on the hike. This is the bait that sweetens the deal for them.
- If it gets down to the 50s at night, throw one extra polarfleece blanket per kid into the car.[only an issue for May in AZ]
- !!Don't pack too much food for the weekend. I always end up packing about 3x as much food as we end up eating. Then bring sad squished lukewarm food home that no one wants to eat. So, don't pack like we're leaving for the Oregon Trail. If I somehow don't pack enough food, there's literally a Walmart 30 min away from the campsite in Payson.
Hot Camping List [days 91-82, nights 70]
- Hats, Sunglasses
- Sunscreen & jojoba oil & aloe vera gel
- DIY Mineral Sunscreen lip balm [MUST for the kids burned lips]
- Waterbottles on belts
- 2 empty gallon jugs, 5 gallon jug
- Toothbrushes, Toothpaste, Xylitol mints
- Hairbrush & hair ties
- Babywipes and Hand Sanitizer
- Bandaids, Ointment
- Allergy Meds, emergency benadryl
- Bugspray [and anti-itch cream]
- Clothes [doubled per days, because of the creek]
- 2x short sleeve shirts/tunic/dress x # of days
- 2x leggings/loose long pants x # of days
- 2 x underwear x # of days
- 2 x socks x # of days
- long sleeves and a pair of leggings for jammies
- Cotton Hoodie Jacket
- Polarfleece Jackets [wear over long sleeved cotton jammy shirt, at night if it gets chilly]
- Stow away some oversized VBS T-shirts and extra underwear and shorts for emergencies.
- Extra Sock Bag for emergencies
- Sleeping Bags and Pillows [if night is under 52, 1 polarfleece blanket per kid]
- Mattress Pad for Josh, and his pillows and knee pillows
- Tarps
- Tents
- Flashlights/Lanterns
- Firestarter/matches
- Foil
- Disposable table-cloths
- Paper plates and Paper towels
- Trashbags
- Dutch oven [foil packets are a joke] for open fire OR cast iron pan for rocket-stove
- Pot for boiling water for tea
- Mugs for cocoa and cereal
- Forks, spoons, knives
- Cutting board
- dishpan
- Campstove with propane
- Branch cutter* [not if fire restriction]
- Rocket stove* [not if fire restriction]
- Garlic salt, pepper, salt, sugar, tea
- FOOD
- Cheese block
- Potatoes, onion, carrot, ketchup, mustard
- Hamburgers{frozen} and Buns
- Sausages/Hot dogs {frozen}
- Cereal & Milk & BOWLS/CUPS
- Marshemellows & marshamellow forks
- cocoa, coffee, sugar
- Shade Tent/Shade tarp with ties/Shade structure for hot camping
- chairs
- Duct tape
- LED string lights
- little broom & dustpan for breaking down camp
- Tubs for feet-water in hot camping
- Neck-rags for water in hot camping
- spray bottles for misting faces at noon for hot camping
- Sturdy rubber sandals with very good treads for hot camping and wet hiking, LOTS EXTRA SOCKS FOR HIKING
- 3 Old towels, for hot camping
- Books and art supplies for the "lay low" time of hot noontime/afternoon.
Camping Food
Day 1—lunch on the road | Left Overs |
Day 1 dinner | Hamburgers/Hotdogs, bell peppers, carrot sticks |
Day 2 Breakfast | apples & cheese & peanut butter BREAKFAST BARS, hard-boiled eggs Croissants & hard-boiled eggs, or cheese OR Cheesy Grits and hot tea |
Day 2 Lunch | Cold cut sandwiches Cold Cereal and Milk Cold sausages from last night. Boiled eggs bell peppers, carrot sticks |
Day 2 Dinner | Sausages & Potatoes and cheese [pre-cooked potatoes in Tupperware] Hot Cocoa [[Ramen noodles + eggs]] |
Day 3 Breakfast Day 3 Lunch | Apples and cheese & Breakfast Bars PBJ's. Cheese on potatoes. Precooked hot dogs |
- Buns
- Bread
- Marshamellows
- Boiled eggs
- ?Raw Eggs? [if outside temps cold enough, or if you bought ice]
- CHEESE
- Milk
- Lunchmeat [freeze before]
- Sausages [freeze before]
- Onions
- Carrot sticks
- Bell Peppers
- Apples
- Cocoa mix, Tea
- Salt, Sugar,Garlic Powder
- Ramen noodles
- Grits
- Peanuts & minimarshamellows & craisins [trailmix]
- Savory trailmix---peanuts, pumpkin seeds (pepitas), chex, cheddar powder
Arrive at 2:30 pm. Set up camp.
Big Hike #1 [either a lite hike and gather wood, or if you have the time BIG HIKE, to the SEE SPRING CANYON TRAIL]
[Gather wood, Lite Hike]
Dinner and Fire.
-------SLEEP
Cold Breakfast, be leaving for the trail by 7am!!
Morning Hike BIG HIKE [Big Hike #2]
Rest at basecamp
Afternoon/Evening Lite Hike [Lite Hike #3] and Gather Wood for fire
Dinner and Fire
------SLEEP
Pack up Basecamp (Goal: 1hr, current 2 hr) AND make lunch sandwiches, put in tupperware.
Check Out.
Early Morning Lite Hike [Lite Hike #4]
Church (Christopher Creek Community Bible Fellowship, 10:30)
Church (Catholic church, Philip the Apostle bilingual 11am, Holy Nativity 10am)
Afternoon hike [Big Hike #5]
Go home
