Ten years ago, our daughter, Mary Verley, began her adventure on this planet.  At the age of 19 days, we took her on her first day hike, on the Clover Creek Trail; at the age of 26 days, we took her on her first overnight backpacking trip, on the same trail.  Over the next ten years, she has traveled on hundreds of miles of hiking trails and spent many nights in tents.  So, it seemed only fitting that our wild child should celebrate her tenth birthday in the wild, on the trail where her first outdoor adventure took place.

The whole thing was Mary's idea.  In May, while John and Mary were doing a Daddy-Daughter backpacking weekend on the Clover Creek Trail, Mary indicated that she really wanted to have her birthday party there, with her three best friends.  Although we wanted to throw her a big birthday party and invite all of her friends and family, we liked her idea better and decided to go with it.

As the date for the party grew closer, I sent a note out to the mothers of her three best friends - Abby, Alana, and Zoey - to invite the girls to Mary's birthday party camping trip and to give them the details that they would need to pack for it.  All three of the girls replied that they would be there, and Mary was ecstatic.

Mary's best friends had diverse experience when it came to camping.  Zoey, of course, had been camping and backpacking and hiking with us before, so she knew what to expect.  She also camped often with her family.  Abby had camped before with her uncle and cousins; she had also done some motorhome camping with her parents and sister last year.  Alana, on the other hand, had never camped before and had no idea what to expect; nonetheless, she was excited to be going, knowing that she was in good hands with us.

As we prepared for Mary's unconventional birthday party, I saw an article that was posted to REI's Facebook page, just days before the trip.  It was published on the REI Blog website, and it was titled "Best Birthday Party Ever".  The blog was written by an REI employee, who took his six year old daughter and several of her friends camping for her birthday.  It was comforting to see that we were not the only ones to attempt such a crazy feat; it was also comforting to see that their trip was a great success.  As long as we did it right, our trip would be a huge success, too.

When I said that this was going to be a camping trip, that was only half-true.  In reality, it was going to be a backpacking trip, but with most of the luxuries of a camping trip.  We were going to make the girls hike to our destination, but the destination was only going to be a third of a mile from the car (we were going to camp near the old bridge on the Clover Creek Trail, just outside of the wilderness boundary). Although John and I would be sleeping in a backcountry tent, Mary and her friends would be in our brand-new car-camping tent - the Big Agnes Big House 4, which we had recently purchased at REI.  (The poles on our Coleman 10X10 completely broke after our camping trip with the Daggerts and the Breckleys in June.)  Our food would be cooked over our backcountry stove and eaten with our backcountry dinnerware; however, there would be cupcakes for dessert and marshmallows to roast in the evening.  And yes, John and I would have wine, too, because it wouldn't be a luxury backpack without it!

The big day (August 7) soon arrived, and at 8:00 a.m., the three girls arrived at our house one by one.  Ironically, they arrived in order of how long Mary has known them.  First to arrive was Alana, who Mary has known since they were six months old, when Mary first started going to the day care center they both attend (where Alana's mother is the director).  Alana is just a mere ten days younger than Mary.  About one minute later, Abby arrived.  Mary has known Abby since they were babies at the day care center; she also attends the same elementary school as Mary.  She is exactly three months younger than Mary - and therefore, one grade behind the other girls - but she is the tallest of the four girls.  (She is almost as tall as me!)  Last to arrive was Zoey, who walked over from her house (Zoey lives four houses up the street from us).  Mary has known Zoey since kindergarten; the two of them because fast friends.  She is only twenty-three days younger than Mary - like Mary and Alana, she is an August baby.

While John checked the girls' packs to make sure that they had everything - and repacked them as needed - Mary opened the gifts that her friends had brought for her.  Zoey gave her a Zumbuddy - a winged Webkinz toy - to add to her growing collection of Webkinz.  Alana gave her a Littlest Pet Shop toy, which she named after her.  And Abby gave Mary - and all of the other girls - yarn with which to finger-knit during the trip.  It was the perfect gift for the girls, especially if the rain that was in the forecast kept them in their tent all afternoon.

At 9:30, once all of the backpacks were ready and loaded and the girls had finished watching Hannah Montana, we herded the girls into the 4Runner and hit the road.

In order to break up the long road trip - and to keep Alana from getting carsick - we made several stops along the way.  During one break, we stopped just north of town to look for a geocache, something which Abby and Alana had never done before.  We spent a lot of time looking for it, but sadly we never found it.  The girls were disappointed. 

It was not, however, a wasted stop.  In fact, Alana took this opportunity to answer the call of nature.  Having never squat to pee behind a bush before, she wasn't quite sure what to do, but Abby gladly showed her how to do it.  She followed Abby's instructions and successfully relieved herself; however, she ended up peeing on her shorts!  I guess squatting to pee really is hard to do when you have short legs.  Mary promised to show Alana how to use a "potty-rock" as soon as we got to camp.

Our next stop was in Payson, to have McDonald's for lunch.  We also encouraged the girls to burn off some of their pent-up energy at the McDonald's Playland; they did so...loudly.  We needed to get those girls out into the woods fast, or they were going to explode from excitement.

It was raining when we arrived at the Clover Creek Trailhead.  Although we could have waited it out, we went hiking anyway, knowing that there was no way we could keep the girls cooped up in the 4Runner any longer.  So, we geared them up as fast as we could, and then we marched them down, a third of a mile, down the Clover Creek Trail...in the rain.

Naturally, the rain let up as soon as we arrived at the old bridge, where we planned to camp.  While John scouted out an appropriate campsite in that vast meadow, the girls dropped their packs and burned off more of that energy by running through the grass.  When John returned, we gathered them back up again and led them across the creek, to a bench less than 500 feet from the wilderness boundary.

As soon as we dropped our packs at the campsite, Mary took her friends to show them how to use what she calls a "potty rock": a rock on which to answer the call of nature.  Meanwhile, John and I quickly set up the tents, trying to do so before the skies opened up again.  Although the rain had let up, we knew that another storm was coming; the clouds were low and heavy with rain, and the air was damp and cool.

Immediately after the tents were set up, the rain began anew, so the girls gathered up their gear and crawled into the tent to set up their sleeping bags and to play.  It wasn't long before the inside of their tent looked like a hurricane had blown through it.  Socks were misplaced; Webkinz were buried under sleeping bags; and yarn was strung from one side of the tent to the next.  It reminded me of what Mary's room would have looked like, had we done the standard slumber party instead of a camping trip.  And the best part was that this mess, as bad as it looked, was contained and could be easily cleaned...unlike Mary's room!

As soon as it started raining, John and I stole away to our tent, where we drank a little wine and relaxed for the next hour, while we waited for the rain to abate.  At one point, it rained so hard that we couldn't hear the girls. By the time it let up - and we could hear them again - we could tell that they were getting bored of sitting in the tent; they wanted to go exploring.

Once the rains had stopped, John took the girls exploring, while I stayed behind at camp and relaxed.  (My leg was still healing from the bad bruise I received while backpacking in the Chiricahuas, so I was taking it easy.)  He marched the girls into Snake Draw for a half of a mile, to look for a geocache.  When they returned, they all excitedly showed me the swag that they had gotten out of the container; each of them was allowed to pick out one item, and that was almost as fun as getting a Happy Meal prize!

The girls were still feeling energetic when they returned from their hike, so they played in the creek while John took a nap.  They had a wonderful time climbing on the rocks and wading through the cool water without their shoes on.  The highlight, though, was when we were joined by another hiker, who was passing through with his friendly dog.  He stopped to chat with me when I asked him how far up the canyon he had hiked, and the girls crowded around his dog.  Before we knew it, they were playing fetch with the man's faithful companion, and he graciously let them play for about a half an hour before he had to leave.  It was a very kind gesture!

When John awoke from his nap, he took the girls for another exploration; but this time, they didn't go far from camp.  Less than five hundred feet from camp, on the other side of the West Clear Creek wilderness boundary, there was a small grotto that he wanted to show them.  They loved the cave so much that they played there by themselves for most of the afternoon.  It was the perfect place for them; they were close enough to camp that we could see and hear them, but they were far enough away from us that they had a little bit of freedom.

Their other favorite place to play was on the old bridge.  In the early evening, before dinnertime, John gathered up the girls to play a game of Frisbee; but only Alana seemed inclined to play the game with him.  The other girls had fun climbing on the old bridge like it was some sort of castle.

When they grew tired of playing on the bridge, John encouraged them to go for a little hike, while I prepared their dinner.  They hiked a quarter of a mile into the wilderness area - up to an old fallen log and back - and made it back to camp just in time to eat.

Dinner that night consisted of their choice of Chef Boyardee raviolis or lasagna, prepared over the camp stove.  (We vacuum-sealed each container ahead of time, then boiled them in hot water to cook them.)  While they ate, John and I then made our typical one-pot meal, consisting of Lipton pasta, canned chicken, and pre-sliced vegetables.  After dinner, we had dessert: a dozen store-bought cupcakes, which we had carried with us on our hike.  Each of us had two cupcakes, which probably wasn't a wise idea considering that we were pumping them full of more sugar before bedtime.  But it was a special occasion; it's not everyday that your little girl turns 10.

After dark, as if the girls weren't sugared up enough, we then roasted marshmallows over the campfire.  They only had about two marshmallows each before they discovered that it was much more fun to just throw them into the campfire to watch them burn.  I would have protested about them wasting food, but at least they weren't ingesting more sugar...

Once the marshmallows were gone - and John and I could no longer keep our eyes open - we herded up the girls and corralled them into their tent for the night.  We told them that they had to change into their warm pajamas and get tucked in, but they were allowed to play quietly for another hour or two.  I mean, it was a slumber party; it wasn't like they were actually going to get any sleep, right?

I think John was the only one who got any sleep that night. He was the first one to fall asleep, and as soon as he did so, he began to snore so loudly that there was no way I could go to sleep.  I poked and elbowed him to no avail. It wasn't until 1:00 a.m. that I was able to wake him up; of course, by then, I wasn't able to sleep!  I think I finally fell asleep around 2:30 a.m.

We learned the next morning that I wasn't the only one impacted by John's snoring.  As the girls finally settled down to sleep that night, Alana kept hearing a strange noise, and eventually, she started crying out of fear.  When the other girls asked her what was wrong, she said that she thought she heard a wolf!  They listened for a while; and finally, Mary told her, "That's not a wolf!  That's just my Dad snoring!"  They all giggled about it; and, despite the noise, they were all able to fall asleep.

Starting at 6:00 a.m., the girls awoke one-by-one and emerged from the tent to sit by the fire.  They started out slow and sluggish, having gotten to sleep kind of late, but once we fed them breakfast, they were reenergized and ready to go play in the creek again.

While John and I cleaned up our campsite, the girls got dressed and wandered over to the grotto again to play.  We gave them a thirty minute time limit; after that, we wanted them to come back to camp to begin sorting out the mess inside their tent.  When they were gone longer than thirty minutes, I went to the grotto, only to discover that Abby had slipped and fallen while trying to climb down from the cave.  Alana announced that Abby couldn't walk, and I hoped that she wasn't injured like I was. 

I turned out that Abby could walk after all; she just couldn't get up because she was in an awkward position.  I helped her to her feet and made her put weight on her injured leg, which she was able to do easily.  Then, In inspected her leg and found that she had a couple of scrapes, but there was no blood.  I think the only injury she had was to her pride, and even that was a minor one.  She sniffled all the way back to camp; but as soon as the girls were back in their tent, she forgot about her fall and went back to having fun.

It took a lot of effort - and a lot of packing and re-packing - but we eventually got our campsite cleaned up and packed for the return trip.  Once the girls were geared up, we marched the girls, a third of a mile down the trail, to the Clover Creek Trailhead.

It was a good thing we left when we did, for the Clover Creek Trail suddenly became very crowded.  When we arrived at the trailhead, we were met by ten other day-hikers and their dogs, who were just getting ready for their trip into the wilderness.  The scene became a little chaotic; the girls played with the dogs and the hikers came to talk to me and John - all while we tried to load the gear back into the 4Runner.  Eventually, we got everything sorted out; we bid our fellow hikers a good day, and we left the trailhead.

Our trip back to Phoenix was uneventful; except for a potty break in Payson, we drove non-stop back to town and arrived just in time for lunch at Applebee's in Scottsdale.  Since it was Mary's birthday, we let the girls order whatever they wanted; they all had fruit smoothies and their favorite food.  And at the end of the meal, the wait staff sang "Happy Birthday" to Mary and brought her a sundae, which she shared with her friends.

After lunch, we took the girls back to our house and sorted out their gear, to make sure that they didn't leave anything behind.  John then walked Zoey home, while Mary and I drove Abby and Alana home on our way to another birthday party.  All of the girls said that they had a wonderful time, and for the next week, they asked Mary, "When are we going camping with you again?"

I'm sure that it won't be long...

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