| Dear Friends,
Most of you know that we have taken up rendezvous (primitive camping) as a hobby. Thought we'd share a bit about it. We went to "Rocky Mountain College Rendezvous" in Colorado in August and took these pictures.  The Rendezvous site is at just over 10,000 feet and about 80 or 90 miles west of Denver. There were almost 300 camps at College this year. Rendezvous rule is that everything (at least everything visible) is pre-1840. No nylon tents, no pop-up chairs, no propane stoves, no motors, no noisy boom-boxes, radios or TVs, no cell-phones, no wrist watches or any other modern items are allowed. No aluminum or plastic. Cameras are just barely tolerated. Shooting competition is with muzzleloaders only. From Sunday to Wednesday vehicles are allowed in long enough to unload. From Wednesday afternoon until Sunday morning no non-emergency vehicles. The specifics vary with event and duration, but the general idea is the same. At Nationals the rule is no vehicles after 10:AM Sunday.
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 JJ Watching the Fire |
Cooking is over a wood fire. Rangy Lil considers this the low point of the entire experience. Luckily there are food vendors in attendance. Note the cheat of hiding an ice chest inside the wooden box. |
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Camps run from some of the men using a bit of tarp as a lean-to to some elaborate family camps equivalent to a suburban house under canvas. We use the wall tent as bedroom, tarp as kitchen-dining and the wedge as closet-pantry. When Cap'n Ball and JJ go alone to a weekend rendezvous, it is enough by itself. Strollers/buggies are a period authenticity problem, so Cap'n Ball built the little wagon for that purpose. |
Our Camp |
Rangy Lil and Don |
This was Don's third rendezvous outing. We asked for a written report on "What I Did This Summer", but he hasn't turned in his paper yet. The main mountain man skill he has developed is getting dirty, but he is highly proficient at that. |