Its been a long winter, but finally spring is here, and with that rendezvous. I just attended the Anasazi Free Trapper rendezvous in southwest Utah. Thursday was cloudy and cold. I arrived in camp later than I wanted but still had time to do what was needed to set up and get ready for the night. I set up my tent as it was threatening to rain or snow, it did both on my way to camp. After I set up I had a dinner of parched corn, jerky, a biscuit, and some dried apples with some water to wash it down. I then dawned my capote and took a stroll about the camp. The thing I like the most about rendezvous is the since of family. I visited the camp of Hyrum and Kelly Hunter, of Richfield. Hyrum is an excellent blacksmith and a member of the American Mountain Men. An elite organization of men who have studied and learned the ways of the original mountain men. They not only know how they lived but practiced how they lived as well. For more information on them visit www.mtmen.org. I am in hopes that one day I will be a member of this group of men. Also around the fire was Tim (last name unknown). Also of Richfield. He and his wife are makers of some of the finest root beer, birch beer and cream soda. I hadn't had a soda for over a month but planned on visiting their booth often. As the evening progressed I decided it was time to retire for the night. My camp was farther away for the main camps as I was awaiting the arrival of friends. They were journeying two days on horseback from Cedar City, and would be leaving the following morning.
The night was cold. The coyotes sang me to sleep. I was camping primitive. For those who have never been to a rendezvous let me explain. When you camp at rendezvous there are two different areas to camp. There is the tin tipi, and the primitive camp. The tin tipi is for all of those who need a motor home, or a warmer place to lay their head. The primitive area is for those who want their camp to look as it would have pre 1840. Now that being said there are plenty of ways to make it look authentic and have some of the modern conveniences. I visited camps where they had a gas range and a refrigerator. These were hidden in wooden boxes and just looked like a wooden counter top. Now this is not my idea of primitive camping. I would have to classify these people as rendezvousers, not mountain men. My camp consisted of a canvas tarp 12x12, which I strung a rope between two trees and through the canvas over to make a tent, and then staked down the corners. My bed roll consisted of five wool blankets and a ground cloth. I had a pair of heavy wool socks to sleep in for extra warmth on my toes. For edibles I had parched corn, jerky, dried apples, drinking chocolate, water, and some brown sugar. My cooking gear was a small copper kettle in the Hudson bay fashion and a wooden spoon.
When morning arrived I built a fire to make chocolate. I started my fire with flint and steel. I added some Brigham tea to my chocolate for some extra kick. My breakfast consisted of a biscuit, jerky and parched corn. I had planned to wander around and see what goods some of the traders had to sell. I started to wander when I saw Hyrum and Tim. They were getting ready to go to the archery course. They invited me to shoot with them. I walked back to camp and grabbed my bow and arrows. Now this is a pre 1840 event. All bows and arrows are wood long bows or re curves. No compound of fiber glass allowed. After a few shots at the practice range I figured I was as good as I would get. The course consisted of 18 targets with two arrows shot at each and a possible six points per target. The course was fun and challenging. I scored eleven points. I need more practice.
That afternoon my brother in law and his wife and girl came to check things out. They are interested in the hobby and I have been helping them out. We wandered in and out of traders row checking out their goods. They left at dark and I found a camp fire to visit. There was much merriment and song in the air. It was a warmer night but still showed the possibility of rain.
On Saturday I decided I had had enough of the jerky, parched corn and biscuits so I decided to take a trek and go to the reservoir a mile away and see if I could catch some fish. I loaded my 50 caliber flintlock Kentucky rifle before leaving camp as you can never be to safe in hostile country. The trek seemed long. I didn't realize how much lava beds extended most of the way there. It was a costly trip. I lost a knife on the way and was unable to back track my way and find it. This is also dangerous to do in hostile country. You never now when someone is lying in wait for you to return. That is something a tenderfoot would do. I had no luck fishing so it looked like I would be stuck with the same meal as the last. When I got back to camp my friend Tim who runs the soda tent had a line waiting at the bar. His wife had left for the day before to attend other duties. I soon found myself behind the bar and soda's were flowing freely. It was a grand time. After having a good time at the bar I saw my family. The had made the journey to rendezvous to visit. This was not the first time women had come to rendezvous. The first white women to attend rendezvous were with the christian missionaries. They made quite a stir, as did my family with me. I took them around and traded some greenbacks to some of the traders so my kids would have some items they could show off back at the settlements. They also ate their share of candies. That afternoon my comrades arrived on horseback. My family left as it would be getting dark soon and they would need to watch out for dangers in the road. The night was warm and we gathered with friends were discussions of the Constitution, religion, astronomy, politics and the future of this great nation which we live in. At last our bed rolls were calling to us, so we all decided to call it a night. Oliver left earlier and had a nice fire going when Guy and I went back to camp. This was the best nights rest of the camp.
Sunday morning we woke with the sun, had some chocolate and a biscuit and packed up camp. We headed to the council fire where awards would be given. We then gave our farewells and wished our friends well till we see them down the trail.
uck. We dug down into the snow about 2 1/2 feet so the wind would blow over the top of us. Oliver got the fire going, I gathered some wood, then dug out my side of camp. Our fire pit melted down about 3 more feet, we figured we were still sleeping on six or seven more feet of snow. Oliver's bed gear consisted of two wool blankets, two water proof canvases, and a buffalo robe. He also had a buffalo coat, buckskin breeches and leggings, wool socks, and some moccasins made of buffalo and a coon skin cap. For myself, I had 4 wool blankets, 1/4 of a buffalo hide, a wool blanket capote, wool socks, moccasins, and a bear skin cap. Our water was frozen by the time we went to bed. We figured it got down to about 0 degrees. I was pretty worn out by the time we were settled into camp. I wasn't much company. I dozed off to sleep pretty early. As the fire pit melted, my bedroll began to fall into the fire. Oliver woke me up several times to say I was on fire. The night went buy slowly as I had a hard time getting comfortable, and had a headache, due to the elevation. When daylight came, I put my snowshoes on and gathered more firewood for the breakfast fire. We cooked breakfast over the fire. I had a couple of slices of bacon, cooked on a stick and melted some snow to drink. We had a lazy morning about camp and finally loaded up around 2 p.m. and started out for the beaver ponds. The snow had melted much that day and made going slow. We decided to head back to the truck and head for the lower country. When we got back down the the settlements we stopped at the first trading post and purchased a pepsi. It sure tasted good. While winter camp was shorter than we had planned it was a good time and much was learned.
