Taking It Up a Notch: Camp Fire Teens Face the Weather at Guadalupe Mountains National Park

A challenging yet rewarding trip exposes these youth to the joys of backpacking and kindles their love of the outdoors.

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Seven youth ages 13-16 and two adult trip leaders signed up for this trip. We didn’t have a lot of time for advance planning - teens and their families tend to have crushingly busy schedules - but fortunately everyone had been on at least one mountain trip with Camp Fire so we all had a pretty good idea of what to bring and what to do. Backpacking “The Bowl” in Guadalupe Mountains National Park is more challenging than most of our trips because of some steep elevation changes, because there are no water sources in the high country, and, in spring, because of potential rough weather. This story is how a group of young people met these challenges. Mistakes were made, but overall everyone did very well and we all had a good time on the trip.

Cast of characters: Mina’s kids are all grown up but she continues to volunteer for Camp Fire Central Texas, coordinating the backpacking program and helping to lead some trips. Chris is a program dad and volunteer trip leader. The kids on this trip, four girls and three boys, ranged in age from 13-16 and varied in experience. Camp Fire makes an effort to encourage kids, and parents if so inclined, to get out on the trail for personal growth and deeper involvement with wild places. Everyone is welcome in our programs.

On Saturday we drove in Chris’ sedan and Mina’s minivan from Austin to Guadalupe Mts. NP, with a picnic lunch at a rest area on I-10. We made good time but not good enough to get a campsite at Pine Springs, the main campground for this increasingly popular national park. At park headquarters we got a map to the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) camp area in New Mexico, approximately the same place we’ve used on previous trips. We still had time to hike around the Smith Spring Trail from Frijole Ranch. The kids chose a social trail that wandered out on the desert on the other side of the ravine for part of the route, just to see how far it went. We had plenty of time, nice to explore.

# WORDS: 3000
# PHOTOS: 28

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Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

Author

Posts
Jun 9, 2015 at 4:10 pm #1329715

Ryan Jordan
Admin

@ryan
Locale: Central Rockies

Companion forum thread to:

Taking It Up a Notch: Camp Fire Teens Face the Weather at Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Jun 11, 2015 at 3:43 pm #2206429

Luke Schmidt
BPL Member

@cameron
Locale: Alaska

Cool trip Mina! I love that area and it was fun to see pictures of places I've been. I liked your ideas for non-backpacking fun like the sandhills, I'll bet those kids remember it for a long time.

Jun 14, 2015 at 9:35 am #2207104

Mina Loomis
BPL Member

@elmvine
Locale: Central Texas

Luke, thanks for your comment. Youth trip reports aren't likely to spark controversy leading to a lot of posts but I do hope folks get a chance to read about it anyway. And maybe it will inspire others to volunteer for the next chance to take some kids out. Even if it is just family and friends. We have another group going out to Pecos Wilderness at the beginning of July. That's where we usually go with the beginners for their first mountain trip (unless it's closed for fire). I have some other folks leading that one this year. We wouldn't have this program without the volunteers.

One thing I didn't put in the article that later I wished I had: During the evening we camped in the cold rain, with everyone just trying to warm up, the three girls in the Haven 2 spent a long time just singing–folk songs learned from grandmother, favorite pop songs, whatever. They raised their own spirits and everyone else's. Teenagers are so awesome.

Mina

Jun 14, 2015 at 1:25 pm #2207160

Laurie Gibson
BPL Member

@lagibson
Locale: Northeast

Super enjoyable trip report! Thanks Mina.

Jun 14, 2015 at 8:04 pm #2207248

Jennifer Mitol
Spectator

@jenmitol
Locale: In my dreams....

That was a great trip report, Mina!

This being BPL, you very well may have stirred up some controversy with that comment about "teenagers are awesome…"

Jun 15, 2015 at 7:40 am #2207331

Mina Loomis
BPL Member

@elmvine
Locale: Central Texas

"This being BPL, you very well may have stirred up some controversy with that comment about "teenagers are awesome…"

Dear Jen,

With all that energy and exuberance and creativity? I'm sure even the fabled curmudgeons on BPL will be with me on that one!

: )

Besides, we all know the marvelous effects the outdoors can have.

Mina
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