INEXPERIENCE

One of our campsites that is located right down on the banks of the Conejos river, has a wonderful , ancient Ponderosa Pine tree that provides shade.

The tree is very large and has that golden bark color that tells us that it is well over 100 years old.

We have learned over the years that our campers come in all experience and skill levels. But, this year has been a bit different. The closing of two large National Forest and the evacuation of cities due to encroaching forest fires, have sent us a whole new crop of campers. Some of which come from inner cities and have zero camping experience.

Some of our novice campers decided that it would be handy to hang stuff on a tree using a nail. When they left, we found eight of these 10 inch tent stake nails left in the tree.

After our initial astonishment had passed, we figured we needed a way to remove them. Several attempts later we found a way.

This view shows how deep they had been driven.

Our old crow bar wouldn’t stay on the head of the big nails, so we used a pair of vise grips to help with that.

A block of wood provides additional leverage as Betty removes one of the spikes. Here is a closer look. Note that we had slid the green plastic tent loop retainer down out of the way so it wouldn’t be broken.

And, our reward for the effort ? First, we learned something, then, we harvested a few free tent stakes ! However our best reward was seeing that wonderful old ponderosa back to it’s natural look.