overnight camping in AF canyon

a couple weeks ago we loaded up the car and drove 20 minutes to the af canyon. we had loads of fun, well everyone except for me... i was busy worrying about running into a cougar, bear, or anything on four legs. i spent most of the night listening for noises by the river. somehow we survived the night, and here i am to tell the tale.

mid week camping is the way to go. thanks am-ex for laying off my husband, otherwise we would not be able to take these wonderful mid week excursions....

on our way home we decided to do the timp cave. we had a 90 minute wait, so we ate lunch, and used the bathrooms (running water is a treat even after 1 mear night of camping).

so i did not know what to expect with the cave, all i had heard was that it was a steep hike. i did not link steep to paved... so i was pleasently suprised to see a paved trail. it was kind of tiring, especially caring a 1 year old in the baby bjorn. maui ended up carrying riley (3) about half of the way. it is only a mile and a half up, but it took about an hour and a half to get to the top. then the tour was about 30 minutes, and then going down the trail was much quicker.
the cave itself was interesting, beautilful, magical, a little boring for a non nature apreciator like myself... what can i say -nature equals animals.


here are the kids around the camp fire pit, the fire has hypnotized them.
my eagle scout made us a wonderful fire. notice the raging river right behind our tent. our children are not wonderers , so camping next to the river did not seem like a bad idea. until the bears came down to catch some fish, right next to the tent. this is what i had imagined going on the whole night. so i did not actually see a bear in this river, but i do have a very vivid imagination.