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Adventures in Puppyland: 1st Camping Trip

Posted in Family, Outdoor Adventures, and Photography

Wyatt on trailer steps

Our Bear loved camping from the first time that we took him out. He just loved being outdoors. As he got older, he preferred camping in the trailer over tent camping which is completely understandable. I mean sleeping on a bed is much easier on an older body than sleeping on the hard ground. As we said goodbye to our beloved pet in December, we also felt the grief of not being able to take him out camping one last time. When we rescued Wiley and then adopted Wyatt, we were hoping that they too would embrace our adventurous spirit. This past weekend, it was finally time for our first camping trip with our puppies.

Wiley at campsite

D was finally feeling up to heading out camping again, so we headed over to do a once over on the trailer to make sure things were good to go. I didn’t realize how emotional this first trip to the trailer would be as we hadn’t been to the trailer since Bear passed away. Everything was just as we left it with his basket of toys, his food & water dispensers, and even his hair scattered here and there. Grief washed over me again, but this time, it was also mixed with hope as we looked forward to the new memories to be made.

campsite

Because it had been some time since our last camping trip, we did have to make some maintenance type repairs on the trailer which delayed our departure a bit. Munchkin was a little hesitant about going out camping without Bear – too many memories. Daddy and I decided that while we were still heading to our old camping grounds that we’d look for a different location, so the trip wouldn’t be a constant reminder of our pup. It would instead be a time to create new, good memories.

Wyatt and Wiley at firepit

Normally, we head out and scout a camping spot, but this time we just headed out which worked out pretty well. Our first camping trip was plagued with a few issues which lead to some frustration. (We ended up with a leaky water pump which meant very limited water usage.) Wiley and Wyatt were both afraid of the trailer and generator at first. Wiley slipped his collar the first evening that we were out, and it took some coaxing to get him back to us. Thankfully, while he did run away from us, he did not take off. He stayed right around our campsite. At this point, we were considering just heading back home and calling it quits for the time being, but we stuck it out.

Wyatt on firepit

It turns out that both Wiley and Wyatt do like camping once they get past their fear of the unknown. (Wyatt decided that he liked digging in the fire pit, so we had to cover it as he was covering himself in ash. After that, Wyatt and Wiley decided they liked climbing on all of the rocks.) It wasn’t exactly an easy first trip by any means, but it was still a good trip. The highlight of the trip was taking the pups on their first hike through the desert which I’ll talk about in my next post.

Adventures in Puppyland First Camping Trip | Kofa National Wildlife Refuge | Explore Arizona | Camping with Dogs | Marine Corps Nomads

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