Continue reading →

We’ve had a full week with friends at Snow Mountain Ranch.  This week flew by with all the activities we were able to share with the Beintums (friends from high school), Bloomquists (friends from home who have since move to Springfield), Doogans (friends from church), and Weavers (a family we have met through boy scouts over the years).  We love starting our journey here because it eases us all into roughing it in the national parks and other faraway places.  It’s easy to be here, with all the options for activities and proximity to Denver and big grocery stores.  The hardest part is always saying goodbye after all the fun was had.

We had an early start from home after a late night of getting everything in order back home. 

We find that it get harder and harder each year to find time to pack up amidst all the closing activities.

Our first night’s stop was the Walmart parking lot in Ogallala, Nebraska, which turned out to be a bust.  The huge pot holes in the gravel parking lot adjacent to Walmart were a minor problem compared to the windy dust bowl amongst the semis. 

It was so hot when we tried to stop at 7pm, we decided to drive on to Sterling, Colorado before breaking for the night.  Thankfully, that allowed us to take the drive up 70 the next morning before the heat rolled in again.   

The Beintums were with us for almost 3 weeks last summer, so camping together has become the norm for the kids, as well as us.  We were able to coordinate one week together this year before our paths separated.  Every year brings a different focus, and this year, aside from “hanging with the huskies,”

mini golf, rock climbing (first time for the girls, and despite the 30 MPH wind and shaking, Ellie made it to the top),

   

Kiva fun,

church,

cooking over the fire with the pie irons, tubing,

  

  

and craft center projects,

  

we were able to take the waterfall hike and trek up Snow Mountain before more guests arrived.  This was the first time we have taken the new trail on the short 2-3 mile waterfall hike. 

  

We were able to relocate many of the geocaches we planted last year also.

Snow Mountain was still very snowy this year, which compounded the difficulty. 

  

 

The 2000 foot climb is always hard with all the downed trees,

steep ascent,

and gravelly non-maintained trail, but this year was even trickier with the snow fields, forcing us to go further off trail.  The girls entertained themselves by talking to the big kids on the walkie talkies as we walked (and around camp). 

 

While Chuck’s Garmin showed about 5.5 miles, Kristin and my fitbits showed 8.   We all agreed, whatever the mileage, this 6-8 mile high altitude hike is harder than the long 17 milers we put in during our stay in Glacier.  We all had to wear our “Beast Mode” shirts created for our trip to Disney earlier this year (will have to post on that soon too). 

We were so proud of the 8 kids for braving it up that mountain with few complaints.  The kids came up with a new hobby called “sheeing,” skiing down the snow fields in the shoes.

We even caught sight of an eagle near the reservoir.

Shortly after all the fun we squeezed in the first couple days at Snow Mountain, two other families joined us.  While I absolutely love sharing this magnificent place with other friends, I always worry about balancing everyone’s needs within such a big group, whether it is to be with or without us on their vacations.  Both families went their separate ways for some activities, including horseback riding, taking the chairlift up Granby Ranch, rafting, and the alpine slide at Winter Park, but we were able to coordinate more tubing, a hike up 9 Mile Mountain,

“Weird science,”

a trip to the cave,

free smore’s,

  

painting a pony (as well as feeding dandelions to the goats),

and a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park to Adam Falls and beyond,

with a visit to Grand Lake for ice cream and the beach.  Rich and Chuck spent an afternoon helping Steve (the chaplain at SMR) build a new fence for the sled dogs at his new home

while we played on the beach, ate ice cream,

 and took a trip over to the favorite Granby Park.

Every year, there is a new favorite activity, and this year’s winner was gaga ball by the program office. 

We played once along with one of the program leaders, and quickly realized our group was big enough to organize our own game.  It got everyone’s competitive juices going, and got everyone covered in dirt.  We established “dirt shirts” just for playing in the crazy dust pit, similar to a pig pen.  Once the Weavers arrived, the party was in full swing.  Evenings up by the fire and campground provided grills were filled with laughs. 

Everyone was always on the hunt for free wood,

and the kids continue to build animal houses for their favorite camping toys.

It was so fun to meet up with the Weavers here too, who were able to camp right next to us for their stay.  While they were busy with wedding festivities for their cousin and other family members, it was great to squeeze in some time with them around the fire, at the campsite, and more. 

Rich and Steve developed a special bond, and I think the Beintums may be abandoning camping with the Hoffpack for the Weavers 😉 

The last days for these families were spent squeezing in all the fun we could, down at the homestead,

hiking up Granby Ranch,

lollygagging with llamas Lightning, Luscious, and Linnemon,

and playing with our scooters and the trikes at the trike park. 

Aside from the one windy day when we huddled up for a movie and games in the camper,

the weather couldn’t have been better.

The kids loved squeezing into the Beintum van.

As the Bloomquists and Beintums left (after a short birthday celebration),

we squeezed in our last bits of friend fun with the Doogans and Weavers,

as well as a night with our favorite locals, the M family and neighbors. 

Today, we say goodbye to the Doogans and Weavers, ready for a whole new shift of family coming in today!

We woke early this morning thinking our biggest obstacle was going to be our trek up Snow Mountain, a 6 mile, 2000 foot climb up the landmark mountain at Snow Mountain Ranch.  However, the Beintum girls woke up, and quickly shared that they could not find their shoes.  Rich and Kristin said, “Where did you put your shoes?  Did you look under the car and the camper?  How did you lose your shoes?!”  They discovered their shoes were missing, but not in pairs.  Unfortunately, these were the gym shoes needed for the difficult hike we were about to take.  The girls quickly defended themselves, stating, “We didn’t lose them.  They were right here.  I know it!”  Megan said, “I was sad because I couldn’t go on the hike without my shoes.”

As the Beintums shared their problem, we immediately knew where they had gone.  Many years ago, we spent 3 weeks kayaking around Isle Royale National Park, an island in the middle of Lake Superior, when a fox stole our shoes, something we couldn’t live without on the island.  We were able to bait the fox and find that he was stealing our shoes, hiding them away from our tent, and then coming back to carry them the rest of the way to his den.  I’m not sure why he thought they would be such a great addition to his den, and since this experience 15 years ago, we have never heard of anything similar.  I’m pretty sure those we told didn’t really believe us.

While Chuck was out running before our hike this morning, he saw a fox, which made us immediately suspect a similar situation.  We started scouring the campground for any evidence, and quickly discovered one of the missing shoes.  As we continued searching, we found someone else’s shoe. Next, we found Megan’s shoe, making a pair for her. 

We didn’t even realize that Allie’s Keens were missing until she stumbled upon hers, and she said “I was surprised the fox would want them considering how smelly they were.” 

Finally, we found Jillian’s, who said “while it was funny, I felt sad since the fox stole my favorite shoe.” 

Everyone was loaded up, ready to go, but Chuck was nowhere to be seen.  The campground was basically empty, so we yelled for him to come back.  He called back, “I am standing one foot from the fox!” 

While they were becoming fast friends, the fox was frightened away by the herd of running children.  The Beintum ladies and all the Hoffs continued on our way to the base of Snow Mountain while Rich stayed back searching for the last missing shoe before the fox came back to take the shoe away to his den for good.

An hour later, the hikers received word that Rich found the missing shoe.  Unfortunately, both of Allie’s shoes did not fair well.  The first was chewed through, and the one Rich found was clearly marked by the fox.  The hikers were thoroughly disgusted.

The girls were relieved that it wasn’t their fault… and that the fox did not win today!

After all the running and racing the boys have done over the last year, it was only natural that they chose ‘boot camp’ for this year’s birthday party theme. It was a grand celebration of 45 kids and several teen and adult “helpers.” Our friends, the M family, were even able to make it in from Colorado with their camper for the big party. Ethan shared his post-party perspective:

The kids got whipped into shape as soon as everyone arrived. For the early arrivals, we climbed in the attic climbing wall, war-painted our faces, and decorated our battalion flags.

We started off with typical boot camp warm-ups with Drill Sergeant Hoff.

We did a battalion relay and obstacle course to collect rations of water, candy, and cliff bars and granola bars to last throughout the party.

  \

Our “helpers” did a great job of making for smooth transitions.

(we even had cousin John play “Reveille,” a military trumpet wakeup call into the megaphone for transitions)

Then Dad commanded us to break off into stations with a memory game and “keep in mind” activity,

an obstacle course including a rope climb,

balance beam,

slack line,

rope swing,

and climbing wall,

 

and we all had fun during our nerf war.

It was awesome because if you got shot, a medic (neighbor Thomas or Dad) would pick you up in the lawn mower cart and bring you back to the medic tent.

Next, everybody collected their dog tags and fished their “dogs” out of the creek.

A massive tug of war game ensued,

and then we broke off into groups to play hide and seek.

My friend and I brought ghille suits (best thing ever!), so the kids couldn’t find us.

Dad even extended the point value if we were found. (The kids have a blast looking for these two jokers). Many of the kids brought along their favorite nerf guns to use during a capture the flag/nerf battle. Then the adults hid, trying to snipe us in the forest. I was cornered by a rival nerf artimis, (the gun I want most. Hey mom, every kid has something they want)! Then we had a grenade water balloon toss.

We all got soaked, we hid in boxes, but that did not work. The biggest kid (and main target) got completely soaked during the water grenade war.

Lots of calories were burned, so these kids were more than ready by the time cupcake and snack time came around.

 

Overall, it was the best birthday party ever!

Half a million calls in one morning, 2000 in the first four seconds of opening time, everyone calling on the first of the month, 13 months in advance of the highly coveted June spots to hike down the Grand Canyon to Phantom Ranch. As popular as it is, Phantom Ranch is only able to give out 64 spots per night after allotting other spots for groups and professional tours. It’s hard to imagine a vacation destination infinitely more competitive than Disney, but this is it. Xanterra said “all hands are on deck” for the first of the month, meaning 150 employees (including maintenance workers) answer the many calls from desperate hikers, hoping for the slim chance to hike to the base of the Grand Canyon.

We have been waiting for this day for the last year, planning our best plan of attack through groups, which entails faxing your request for your group of 10 or more at 12am Mountain Standard Time (in Arizona, with no daylight savings time), in other words 2am central time. After several of our parties were unsuccessful in earning a group reservation in the middle of the night, all of us called this morning to try getting an individual reservation of 9 or less. I am still shaking my head in disbelief, but I managed to snag 3 of the 4 4-person cabins at Phantom Ranch. When I told the operator I would take as many spots as I could get, knowing it was only possible to get 9, she managed to book 3 cabins for 2 nights, and explained that I would be able to call back once the phone lines cleared later this afternoon to switch our third cabin (which at the time only had one of our nine) to a different person’s name and fill the cabin with four people, allowing us and the original family that had dreamt up this plan to go on a once in a lifetime adventure. I can’t believe we are already booking our 2018 summer vacation before we take our 2017 trip!

Our other option to stay at the bottom of the Grand Canyon was to camp, but with only 2 group campsites available to groups over 6 (our family), our chances for this opportunity appeared to be slipping through our fingers. In addition, campsites are booked 4 months in advance, which would be after our entire 2018 trip would be booked next January, quite possibly forcing us to rearrange our entire summer of reservations due to the flexibility required for us to try getting a campsite any day next summer. Because the chances were so slim to get anything, we couldn’t even split our family because each family would likely get a different date. In addition, if a group is found to be travelling to separate campsites, their permit would get revoked. It seemed that roadblocks were popping up everywhere we turned.

Regardless, we are forever thankful for this new opportunity. Check in with us if you are heading to the Grand Canyon and looking for reservation tips. Let the 2018 planning begin!  Phantom Ranch, here we come!