Annual Brotherhood Camping 2008

This year, we joined the Deckos and the Havenses at good ol’ Folsom Lake - Beals Point to be exact. Having last been here in 2002 we were looking forward to the combined camp sites - especially since the Deckos were actually camping in tents and the lil’ ones are older now.

To say the first day was hot would be a major understatement. The local newspapers had called it the hottest day of the year. With the mercury soaring to 110 degrees right about the time we arrived at camp and started to set up we weren’t doubting that one bit. There was still a pretty bad haze in the air from all of the local fires and we thought we’d not see blue skies for days.

On Thursday we made our way to one of the only parts of the lake where we could swim. The day use area near our camp, where we spent a lot of time 6 years ago, was a ghost town. The water was so low that the beach extended at least a quarter-mile. Ken, Tony, Christina and I went by bike, using the vast mountain bike trails that surround the lake to get there. About half-way through the 3+ mile route I took a hard turn to fast and spilled my bike (my MTB, of course) pretty bad. After I picked myself up and assessed the scrapes to the elbow, knee and back I realized that I smashed the LCD of my camera. Interestingly, it was the same fate that the previous version of our camera met on our Disneyland trip in 2005 - the smashed LCD that is, not the bike crash. Tony also crashed a few minutes later and broke his derailer. Don’t fear, though, bike fans, Tony rigged it up nice and pretty when he got back to his truck.

Later that evening, Shauna and the kids joined us. We headed out to the lake again on Friday afternoon. The temperature had fallen to below 100 and the skies were actually starting to clear from all of the fires buring in Northern California so it actually felt a little “chilly”. The big girls, Emily, Kaela and Maryssa, covered themselves in mud and entertained the adults while Christian spent the better part of the afternoon in the water, eventually bringing up a water-logged tree trunk that must’ve weighed 200 pounds.

On Friday night, Ken, Tony and I took a late night ride out toward the water. We made it a couple of miles out on the trails and decided to turn around; riding in the dark was fun until we got to the climbs, and worse, the descents.

All in all, even given the extremely hot weather on the first day, it was another great year of camping, aside from smashing the LCD on my camera - good weather the rest of the trip, including blue skies, awesome bike trails and well behaved kids.

To get a better perspective on ABC ’08, check out the pictures here.