Everyday is a learning experience; and sometimes, lessons have to be learned over and over again.

For Mother's Day this year, we decided to do another canoe-camping trip (my choice).  Although we had owned our canoe for more than a year, we had only one successful canoe-camping trip under our belts.  And then there was the unsuccessful trip, the one that didn't go so well.  That was the trip that we had to abort right before dinnertime, after our lighter broke and our matches were soaked in the rain; we ended up paddling back to the boat ramp, through the wind and rain, in the dark.  We learned a good lesson that day: always carry extra fire-starters.

We kept that lesson in mind as we packed for our Mother's Day weekend trip, when we would be returning to Blue Ridge Reservoir.  We packed several lighters, waterproof matches, and yes, even a striker.  We certainly weren't going to abort this trip for lack of a fire-starter - not this time!

We also packed sunscreen - lots of sunscreen - because that was another important lesson that we had learned on Blue Ridge Reservoir, many years ago.  John and I became severely sunburned while canoeing on the lake, and ever since then, we have made it a point to bring that tube of sunscreen with us wherever we went.

We just had to remember to use it...

On Saturday, May 9, around 7:30 a.m., we loaded up the backpacks and the paddling gear into the 4Runner, then secured the canoe onto the top.  We also packed a small Styrofoam ice chest with sodas, juice, sandwich fixings, and yes, even a bottle of wine to enjoy with dinner.  Once that was done, we all got into the truck and started out towards Blue Ridge Reservoir, on the Mogollon Rim.

The trip to Blue Ridge Reservoir was rather uneventful.  After passing through Fountain Hills, we took the Beeline Highway (SR 87) to Payson, where we stopped to use the facilities and to buy a few forgotten supplies.  From Payson, we continued north on the Beeline, through Pine and Strawberry, to the top of the Mogollon Rim.  From Strawberry, it was another nineteen miles to Clint's Well and another ten miles after that to the FR 751 turnoff.

We arrived at Blue Ridge Reservoir around 10:00 a.m. - much earlier than we had anticipated, but much later than all of the other boaters.  The parking lot at the top of the boat ramp was already very full, and there were still two trucks at the bottom, unloading kayaks.  Quickly, we unloaded our canoe and all of our gear; then, I immediately drove the 4Runner up the ramp, to allow the other trucks to leave as well.

Finding a parking spot proved to be a chore.  After circling around the parking area on FR 751 for several minutes, I finally had to settle on a spot that was just on the other side of the "No Parking" sign; it was a legal parking space, but it was at a bit of an incline.  Of course, just as I set the parking brake and locked up the truck, one of the primo parking spaces opened up!  Figures!

It had taken me so long to find a parking space that John was curious and came looking for me.  Instead of walking up the boat ramp, though, he decided to scramble up the cliff, leaving Mary behind with the boat.  It was a shortcut, of course, but not one that I would want to take.

We walked together down the boat ramp, to the canoe where Mary was waiting for us; she already had her lifejacket on and was ready to go.  So, without further ado, we pushed the canoe into the water and embarked on our adventure.

Since we already knew that there were plenty of campsites to be found there, we decided to follow the same route as before - past the dam and into the eastern arm of the lake.  Just as before, that meant that we had to deal with the same log jams - a task that was much easier to accomplish in the daylight hours.  We also had to deal with windy conditions, same as before, but at least we didn't have the rain to go with it.  The wind did make the lake a bit choppy, but not so choppy that we weren't going to make it.  I mean, it was nothing like our first attempt at canoeing on Bartlett Lake, in high winds, when it took everything that we had to paddle forty feet from the shore before we gave up! 

Unlike our last trip on Blue Ridge Reservoir, the lake was nearly at full capacity.  True, that was going to make it harder to beach our canoe once we found a campsite, but it was good to see the lake so full, after so many years of drought.

We paddled past the dam and soon began to look for a campsite.  The first site - the small one that we had considered before - still didn't quite appeal to us, so we kept going.  The next site - the perfect campsite, with the perfect beach for parking a boat - was once again taken.  On the other side of the rock wall, we came to the site where we had tried to camp during our last trip and found that it, too, was occupied, but by day-users.  They offered to let us camp there, but we politely told them that we were going to try elsewhere.

We finally found a nice campsite, about a ten-minute paddle from that site.  Although we had neighbors to the south and to the north, we decided to take it anyway, hoping that we would still be far enough away from them that we wouldn't have to hear them.

Once the canoe was beached, we unloaded our gear and lugged it up the hill to the campsite.  Then, while John set up the tents, I made sandwiches for lunch, which we enjoyed while sitting out in the warm sunshine.  So far, it was turning out to be a nice, relaxing day; maybe - just maybe - it would stay that way!

With our campsite set up, it was time to relax.  Mary crawled into her tent and read a book, so John and I retired to our tent to take a nap.  Neither one of us had slept very well the night before, thanks to our ten month-old kitten, Bootsie, who, like clockwork every morning, woke us up between 4:00 and 4:30 with his meowing.  The reason?  That was first light, of course.  Once he saw the first hint of light in the sky, he wanted to be let outside, to begin carousing the neighborhood with his friends!  Unfortunately, Bootsie's behavior, though innocent, was keeping us from getting a good night's sleep every night, so we took the extra sleep whenever we could get it.

Mary attempted to take a nap, but she soon gave up because she had a tummy ache.  So, she decided to sit outside of our tent until one of us got up to snuggle with her.  I took her out to the tarp and sat with her for a while, until she finally fell asleep, with her head pressed against my leg.  I covered her up with her jacket; then, I returned to the tent to try again at taking a nap...

...only now, John was awake...so I didn't get to take a nap...

Later that afternoon, once we were all rested and energized, John decided to take the canoe out for a spin on the lake.  Mary wanted to go, too, so John thought that this would be a good opportunity to teach her how to paddle.  They took the canoe into a side canyon that was across the lake from our campsite; John had discovered this side canyon during our last trip there and thought that it would be the perfect little place to show Mary what she needed to know about canoeing. 

After exploring the canyon, they returned to camp and announced that they were going to explore downstream and invited me to go with them.  I was enjoying the quiet time at camp, so I declined. 

While they were gone, I decided to sit down next to the lake and watch nature for a while.  There were hawks flying overhead, mallards swimming on the lake, and minnows schooling just below the surface of the water.  The only sound that could be heard was that of the wind blowing.  It was incredibly relaxing just to sit there and take it all in. 

When John and Mary returned, they talked me into going with them on a short paddle into the side canyon.  "You will love it, Mom," Mary insisted.  "It's really cool!"  Now, how could I turn that down?

I climbed into the canoe - this time, in the middle, not at the front - and John and Mary paddled into the side canyon.  It didn't take us long to get to the end of the canyon; it was only a couple hundred yards long.  At the end of the canyon, we came to a small creek, which was one of the many small creeks that helped feed Blue Ridge Reservoir.  We later learned that this was in fact Houston Creek, which ran along the Houston Brother's Trail!   (Been there, done that!)

Our intention was to beach the canoe at the confluence with the creek, but there was one little problem: there was a giant log blocking the way, about four feet above the water.  "Um, we can't go under that, can we?" I asked.

"Mom, yes you can," Mary insisted.  Apparently, they had already done it, and now they were going to demonstrate how it was done.  At the last second, she instructed me to lay backwards in the canoe, and that allowed us to coast gently under the log.

After beaching the canoe, we hopped out and began exploring.  John explained that, the last time he was there (in September), he couldn't even get the canoe in that far; but now that the lake was full, it was possible to get in there and explore.  He thought it would be fun someday to hike upstream, to see how far we could get, but not this time.  It was already too late in the day.

As we left the creek, John noticed that the base of my back - the part that was not quite covered by my T-shirt - was sunburned.  He also noticed that his legs were sunburned as well.  Did we not learn anything from canoeing on Blue Ridge Reservoir?  Were we so concerned with making sure that we had fire that we forgot about "Lesson #2: Sunscreen"?  Sure, we had slathered on the sunscreen at the boat ramp, but apparently, we had forgotten that you have to reapply periodically!  That was going to hurt later...

We returned to camp around 5:00 p.m. - dinnertime!  During our last trip, we had bailed by that time, but not this time.  This time, we were going to spend the night!

And that is exactly what we did!  After dinner, we relaxed by the campfire with our wine.  It was still kind of warm outside; but once the sun set completely, it cooled down enough that we had to change into our sweats.  At 8:00 p.m., Mary retired to her tent and read a book by the light of her lantern; before she was done reading, John and I retired as well...

...but wouldn't you know it?  We could hear our neighbors, even as we tried to sleep!  There was a group of young guys across the lake from us, and they were SINGING!  (John called them the "Glee Club".)  They were still singing at 11:00 p.m.!  So, to tune them out, I turned on my iPhone, inserted my ear buds, and watched Wall-E until I fell asleep.

We awoke to a very cold Mother's Day morning - much colder than expected, considering how warm it had been during the day.  John was up first, at the crack of dawn.  Thinking that it wouldn't be long before I was up, he prepped a pot of hot water for my breakfast and coffee; but when I continued to sleep, he left the hot water on the camp stove and took the canoe out instead.  He was still out paddling on the lake when I finally got up, at 6:00 a.m.  Seeing me emerge from the tent, he decided to return to camp.

Mary awoke at the same time.  While I reheated my water, she and John brought me Mother's Day cards. Their gift - a new coffee maker - was waiting for me at home; it was, of course, too big to bring along in the canoe.

After breakfast, we took our time getting our campsite packed up; it was still a little chilly outside, and we didn't want to leave until it was warmer.  Once the sun came up and bathed our campsite in warm sunshine, then it was time to go.

We loaded up the canoe, and at 9:00, we launched.  At the very same time, a light wind kicked up.  We had hoped to be on the water before the wind started, but no such luck. 

It was very quiet on the lake that morning; the "Glee Club" was just waking up, and there were very few boats out on the lake.  We decided to take our time paddling back to the boat ramp, to enjoy the quiet morning on the lake.  Along the way, we watched the birds and saw a large blue heron land on a log in a cove.  We paddled as close to it as we could to get a picture of it but only managed to get one before it flew away.

We also checked out the dam on our way back to the boat ramp.  John was curious to see if the spillway was active; considering how full the lake was, he was certain that the spillway would have been turned on.  He warned us that, if it was indeed active, we had to be prepared to paddle like mad, because it would cause eddies in the water, into which we could get stuck.  That wasn't the case that morning, though, because the spillway was not active; it had been turned off.  That said, we were able to get close enough to it to show Mary where the water flowed into East Clear Creek.

At 10:00 a.m., we arrived at the boat ramp.  Now, by this time, we were all thinking, "Wow, what a great trip this had been!  We didn't have to bail early, the weather was beautiful...nothing bad has happened to us..."

And then, John had an idea.  Instead of walking back up the boat ramp to get the 4Runner, he decided to take that shortcut again and scramble up the side of the cliff.  While he did that, Mary and I began unloading the canoe.

Suddenly, we heard cursing, and when we looked up, John was falling down the side of the cliff!  He had made it up about seven feet before his foot slipped on the loose dirt, and down he went.  He tumbled head over heels and just barely avoided a large metal rod that was sticking out of the ground.  Mary and I were stunned;  before either of us could say or do anything, the man who was unloading his fishing boat next to us called out, "Are you okay?"

Miraculously, John managed to stand up on his own, and he indicated that he was okay.  Shaken up, but otherwise okay. 

"Let me give you a lift," the man - whose name was Steve - offered.  He was just heading back up the boat ramp with his truck, so John hopped in and accepted a ride from him.  John also returned the favor by driving him back down the boat ramp in the 4Runner.

After he returned - and before we could start loading up the gear - John took a moment to assess the damage he had done to himself.  He was really starting to feel the affects of his fall, and when he lifted his shirt, we could see that he had a large bruise covered with scratches, about six inches in diameter.  Everyone on the boat ramp cringed when they saw the damage, except for John, who simply said, "Chicks dig scars."

"Yeah, but there's a limit!" I piped in.

Fortunately, that was the only damage that he had done.  There were no cracked ribs, no broken bones, and certainly no gushing blood.  Just a big bruise and a bruised ego to go with it.

Naturally, the injury needed medicine, so we stopped in Clint's Well to purchase some.  John bought a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, which he applied to his wound with a clean sock, and some beer to dull the pain.

Now, whether or not he learned his lesson...well, that remains to be seen...

We stopped off in Payson for lunch at Cousins Subs, on our way home from the lake.  The rest of our drive home was uneventful, and we soon arrived at home around 1:00 p.m.  After unloading the 4Runner, Mary and John presented me with my Mother's Day gift - my new coffee maker - then, for the rest of the day, they allowed me to relax while they did the grocery shopping and cooked dinner.  (I even got to take that nap finally!)

And so, another great Mother's Day adventure came to an end...

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