Bogley

[PaladinTodd]

Last Memorial Day the kids and I went to Moab for the weekend. The events of the weekend have made me realize that I am - at best - a poor outdoorsman or - at worst - a danger to myself and others. You be the judge:

First up, hiking to the tunnel in Arches. We attempted this last year, had a GPS but hadn't really looked at a map. Last year we took the trail from the parking, got to the wash, and followed the wash right. Wrong. Spent two hours whacking around, gave up.

This year.... had a GPS but didn't really look at a map. If going right in the Wash didn't work, the correct way is LEFT of course. Wrong. Spent an hour in the creek before giving up. On the way out, ran into a ranger who showed us that you go into the wash, straight across, and pick up the trail on the other side. Found the tunnel. We walked right past the trail in the wash at least three times this year without seeing it. (By the way, Shane's directions to the tunnel has a cruel joke for those of us with little faith in our navigation skills).

Next up, Cameltoe. Got there no trouble, lowered my 7 & 8 year-old down, setup the rope to rappel down myself. Got my safety sling tangled in the rope (don't want the 40 pound kid pulling me off the cliff by mistake). Dang, pull one side of the rope up. Wrong side. Unthread the rope from the rap ring, get the sling untangled, stow the sling, throw the rope back down.

Did you catch it? I didn't put the rope back into the rap ring. I THREW MY ROPE OFF THE CLIFF. That's an interesting feeling, watching your rope stream over the edge. I give myself credit for not lunging after it and falling off myself. From below, I hear my kids say "Uh, Dad?".

Lastly, we went up to Slickrock to bike. Wife told me I was crazy to take the kids. Guy in the ticket booth looked at me like I was crazy. I'm not going to ride the whole friggin' trail, people, just going up there to play around. Not on the trail two minutes when the 7 year-old rams her tire in a pothole and goes down hard right over the handlebars. While getting her calmed down and cleaned off, the 8 year-old is riding back and forth having a great time. So, I coax the 7 year-old to ride some more. We walk to a flatter part and let her ride there. Not satisfied with that, I coax her to some more hills. She stalls out on an uphill and goes down hard over the back of the bike. We walk back to the parking lot, crying most of the way.

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So there you have it. Am I danger and should stick to ranger-led hikes and well marked trails? Is a TV remote the most technical piece of gear I should be operating?

[PaladinTodd]

Kids at the bottom of Cameltoe.

[PaladinTodd]

Now what are we gonna do, Dad?

[PaladinTodd]

Showing off the bike injuries.

[PaladinTodd]

Yeah! We found the tunnel.... after three hours of being lost in the desert.

[Alex]

First, welcome to the site. :2thumbs:

Second, oh man, you made me laugh too hard, made my coworkers send me WTF messages! :lol8:

Great story dude!

If you are going into the unknown territory, post for some beta on the site here. That turn off to the tunnel is hard to find, the wash curves to the left and you take the trail on the right.

Glad you found it though, have you tried your luck at Fiery Furnace yet? GPS doesn't work there.... it's a good idea to take a ranger led hike first or go with some of the guys who has done it in the past.

[Mooseman70]

:lol8: Dude, no worries. It's part of being a Dad. I'm looking forward to having those experiences myself. Thanks for sharing - it let's me know that I'm not the only one out there kicking myself for bringing kids along in the outdoors. Besides, if you keep taking them, you help instill that love for the outdoors which will carry on to their adult lives. :2thumbs:

[Alex]

Mooseman70 wrote: if you keep taking them, you help instill that love for the outdoors which will carry on to their adult lives. :2thumbs:

I sure hope that's the case. My parents never ever took me outdoors and I am a fanatic now. I hope it doesn't work the other way around ....

[BruteForce]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. As parents, we've all had opportunity to show just how much we need to learn to our kids.

On my first attempt at ATV'ing, I took BOTH boys on my Kawasaki Prarie (600 pound machine) up and over Skyline drive (above Bountiful, Utah) and proceeded to attempt to get my machine on the Great Western Trail.

It had rained the past few days, the ground was damp and the trail up was a 40% grade with a 25' drop-off to the right. Needless to say, the machine rolled off the side and I had just enough time to throw the kids up the hill before the machine and I went rolling down, me landing hard against a pine tree and the machine falling on top of me. We were there for 45 minutes while I struggled to breath and extract myself from under the machine. This could have been a lethal experience for myself and the kids, as we were well away from other humans.

As with other adventures, it was a learning experience and we (as a family) adapted and learned. We never put more than one person on a quad, always have a whistle or some other emergency alert system in place (I used a SPOT, whistle, firearm, etc) and ensure that other family members have a general idea on where we're going to be.

Learn from the experience, continue the adventures and enjoy life!

[Alex]

I use SPOT now, great device, keeps mom/paps and wives sleeping at night while I am gone. :2thumbs:

[Ih8grvty]

Alex wrote: Mooseman70 wrote: if you keep taking them, you help instill that love for the outdoors which will carry on to their adult lives. :2thumbs:

I sure hope that's the case. My parents never ever took me outdoors and I am a fanatic now. I hope it doesn't work the other way around ....

I wonder all the time how that works out.
I got to go alot as a kid, but I go much much more now than I ever did as a kid. I tired to take my kids alot when they were younger, but it didnt instill a damned thing in them. THe bride had kids before me and her met, they had never had the chance to go camping, had no idea that th uintas existed as their dad is afraid of the woods. So me and the bride took them camping, for 4 days all we heard was bitching about how bored they were, they couldnt catch a fish, they wanted a tv, can we go home 2 days early. blah blah blah.
Now her oldest and my middle are desperate to go packing with me this summer. Apparently when you load 60 lbs of shit on your back and hike 15 miles thats different than pulling up in a car and pitching tents.
My oldest likes going fishing, but is happy to skip camping trips and refuses to pack in.
mine have had every opportunity to camp, hike, fish, climb, pack, hunt, and one is against it and the other is less than excited to do most of it. Hers never got to and hate it and refuse to go. I think either they like it or they dont.

[Alex]

Ya I guess you never know what works and what doesn't. A couple of weeks ago we vacationed in San Diego. I rented some sea kayaks to take my family out. My wife and I dragged my 5 year old boy into the kayak, he was screaming and crying refusing to go.

Once we put him in and the wife sat in front holding him (a tandem kayak, I was doing all the rowing of course). We had to break through the crashing waves to get into the open ocean. He was hysterical! But as soon as we were past the waves, we saw dolphins, sea lions and pelicans.... his attitude totally changed and he enjoyed the rest of the ride.

On the way back into the shore, we had to surf the wave line and not tip over. I gambled and gave him the paddle to "help" me paddle and keep the bow into the wave. He got very serious because the job was for the grown ups. Sure enough it kept him occupied during the whole ride back and he worked very hard to try to help me.

By the end of the ride he was one happy kayaker and we even went back into the waves to surf some.

I think it depends on the kids, with mine I have to make him do something and him adopting to it to enjoy it. Some kids are just natural outdoorsmen.

[JP]

Too much faith in modern technology :lol8:

Howdy and Welcome :wavey:

[Ih8grvty]

I think all kids have one outdoor thing in common, everyone I ever met loves to sit by the fire, and toss stuff in to burn!
I have 3 brothers, they had the same life as me, all the same trips and vacations, me and the oldest love the mountains and caves and desert, fishing hunting, packing, all of it, the other two only worry about the new tv, how fast the computer is and what car they drive.
Its also only me and the oldest that have any interest in motorcycles, the other two are afraid to ride them, but one of them had one for years as a teenage, just outgrew it after he hit 18 and joined the air force. Sold his bike and has never been on one again. Hes been out of the AF since 1989.
Odd as with he 4 of us there is the oldest thats most like me who is 47, the next at 44 me at 37 and the youngest at 34.

[Ih8grvty]

To the OP:

everyone screws up, get over it and learn from it, its only bad if you continue to make the same stupid mistakes time and time again. Move past it, dont repeat it, just dont quit going!