More El Morro

So, the retaining wall is underway. Summer had her doubts, so she agreed to a bribe to encourage me to actually get some work done. We decided on a dry-stack wall made of the interlocking blocks you can buy for about $2 each, running straight across the backyard. If I laid the first course by the end of the week, we would go camping. As the project unfolded, we changed the plan a few times, which slowed me down, but my 2-3 hours/day of manual labor were impressive, so with 12 blocks laid down (very near perfectly straight, I may add), we decided to make a trip.

However, the weather was not promising. A storm is to come through the state today, and, not wishing to get rained out, we opted for a mini-trip. We would leave after school, have a picnic dinner, and stay up late to stargaze with Ryan's still-unused telescope. Then we'd come home and sleep in our own beds. Like camping but with less gear.

Looking at the chance of rain, going west seemed our best bet, so we hit the road for El Morro, a place we visited last year. It looked to stay dry, and the distance to any sizable towns made it likely that we'd see some good stars. If only the clouds would break...

We got to El Morro around 4:30 and decided to hike to the top. It was odd doing a hike that we tackled last year when Summer was with child, and to make it fair, I promised that I would carry Evan this time. It turns out that he was a lot lighter and less squirmy last year.

We first hiked along the loop by the pool of water and the inscriptions. Here the kids pause by the water that made El Morro a frequented stop over the ages:
We then hiked up. The ascent is pretty decent, and the trail up is a bit slow going. Plus, as mentioned above, Evan would rather walk than be carried, so that was a struggle too. But the joy of hiking with children truly is the journey, as they look at the world around them:
We finally reached the top, where the view is amazing. Here Summer and the kids watch a horned lizard and take in the sights:
And on the hike down, after passing by the pueblo ruins atop the mesa, Ryan took a chance to see what there was to see:
In the Visitors Center afterwards, I saw a book about how children need wild places in their lives. The argument is that without exposure to wilderness, children's development is stunted and their relationship to the world around them is impoverished. After a hike like this, it's easy to agree. Our kids appreciate the natural world more after having been in it, and that is a great source of joy. At one point on the hike I said, "If any of you want to be a park ranger when you grow up, that's fine with me," and they all jumped on the idea. I'll have to visit them at work often, of course...

Now, the goal of this trip was to stargaze. After the hike, we got a campsite and ate dinner. But the clouds (and the mosquitoes) rolled in, so by about 8:00 we hit the road. The clouds kept us from seeing any stars, but we did get to see the moon rise over the mesa before we left: