Camping at Smith & Morehouse

Smith & Morehouse Res.

We motorhome-camped last weekend at Smith & Morehouse reservoir.   Normally we would tent camp, but my folk's motorhome was the only thing I had access to that would sleep all six of us going.

The only tech I used this weekend, other than the heater on the motorhome and a couple Coleman grills, is my phone for writing blog posts.  Having a tech-free weekend is something everyone should do.  It helps refocus the mind on what is important.  This is my second tech-free trip this year.  The first one was a working vacation to Capital Reef.


The kids weren't totally tech-free.  We let my friend's daughter and ours watch a movie on the motorhome's tv and my daughter played some games on my wife's phone while waiting for dinner to be cooked.

Daughter relaxing

Bought fishing poles, including a Barbie fishing pole for my daughter. It even came with a fish shaped weight so she could practice casting.  She had a lot of fun.

Important safety tip for a motorhome: the propane tank that runs the generator that works the fridge and keeps your food cold...  Well that doesn't work if the motorhome isn't level.  And ours wasn't, almost but not quite. It wasn't until the fridge hit 60F that we figured it out.

Backing up the motorhome another 10 feet further fixed that.

Friday night we had burgers, hot dogs, & cod cooked on a camp stove. I drank a Wee Heavy homebrew.

The first night we couldn't find my daughter's toothpaste.  She can't stand the taste of mint, so we have to buy her bubblegum flavor.   Well, not being able to find it, we made her brush with our toothpaste.

You would have thought she was possessed by Gollum from Lord Of The Rings, "IT BURNS MY MOUTH!"

View from campsite

The weird thing about this campground, very little in the way of nighttime forest sounds. Even with the windows open all night, there wasn't much to hear. I think I get more nighttime nature sounds at my house than we got here.

Saturday morning, I was the first awake... As usual. (I was also in bed not too long after the children... But let's not talk about that). For work, I'm usually awake between 4:30am & 5:30am. It's kind of ruined me.

So I'm up, literally, at dawn and I have to scour the motorhome for coffee, the stovetop espresso maker, poptarts (holds me over until others wake up), creamer, and the keys to the motorhome -> because someone locked the camp stove up after I went to bed.

So there I am in the semi-dark searching for stuff trying to be stealthy like a ninja, sounding more like a bear in a china shop searching for food.

The local muscle stealing
leftover roasted marshmallow

By the way, my wife picked up some awesome coffee: Rio Grand Roasters - frangelico blend.   I mixed it with some Italian Sweet Cream Coffeemate.

I'm not nearly the coffee snob that I am a beer enthusiast. I have just three grades of coffee: 1) coffee I enjoy drinking, 2) coffee I will tolerate drinking, and 3) coffee that I will not drink even if I am desperate. To fall into the third grade means that I would rather risk a caffeine withdrawal migraine rather than drink that coffee.

And it was quite funny. I think I must have been the first to make some breakfast in this section of the campground. No sooner did the coffee start bubbling, releasing that exquisite aroma, did a dozen squirrels and three scrub jays swoop down upon me like miniature racketeers.

"Hey Buddy, if you want to eat breakfast in these woods, you have to give us 5% for protection."

Fishing...
Smith and Moorhouse reservoir is famous for its complete lack of shade. Well, if it isn't, then it should be.  Actually, many of the older reservoirs around utah have very little shade near the shores.

I caught 3 sticks, a rock, some old fishing line and a little sunburn. Only one of our party caught a fish and it was the first cast of the day.

I wasn't expecting to find much in the way of fish.  The reservoir is pretty low at this time of year and right now is only being stocked with rainbow trout.

After such a hard day fishing, I went back to the motorhome and napped for 2 hours.

Dinner on the second night: pork chops, rainbow trout (catch of the day), catfish, fried zucchini, and salad.

All in all, it was a very nice and relaxing trip.  Camping is something that I need to start doing more of again.