Lucas Denny March 7, 2011 English 20-1

Every year my family and I pack up our trailers and go out west camping. The destination every year is Jackfish Lake AB, located halfway between Rocky Mountain House and Nordegg. Jackfish Lake, AB

Starting in the spring, once most of the snow is melted we go camping with our close friends and family. Everyone loads up their quads and trailers and drives out to our favourite spot. All sorts of quads and side-by- sides are hauled out to the camping spot and unloaded off the trucks before anything else happens. This is the best part about camping if you ask me.

During the days we look for new places and trails with lots of mud and beautiful scenery to go quadding on. At the end of every trip we stop on our way back to camp and cut down a tree or two for fire wood. On average we go through about three full sized trees a day for the bond fire.

During the August long weekend my dad and the rest of his close friends and family drive down to Jackfish from distances as far as Saskatoon. This is the weekend that we plan out friend/family reunion. This is the best weekend of the entire year without a doubt. Last year out camp was home to over 20 trailers and tents with a total of over 60 people enjoying the ten day vacation. Everyday of this trip we get the smaller children occupied with coloring books and movie while the rest of us play our own games such as Poker, Lawn Darts, and Beers-bee tm. During the afternoons we go out on day trips with our quads to places we have found in the previous years.

The nights at Jackfish Lake consist of a big fire with everyone sitting around it making smores and drinking hot chocolate. Once all the little kids are sleeping we sit around the fire talking about what we seen on our trip quadding during the day. One night of every long weekend my dad puts on a firework show out in the field behind out trailers. When it rains we spend all of out time under tarps and trailer awnings.

Once the snow starts falling again we plan for a different kind of trip. The fall months at Jackfish Lake are used for hunting wild game such as deer and elk. In many ways hunting is very similar to camping during the summer. The only differences are that there are not as many people and when we go on quadding trips we are looking for animals instead of mud. The nights are still used to sit around the campfire and talk about what we seen on out trips and to plan where we are going to go In the morning.

Jackfish Lake is my favourite place to be in all seasons of the year. I would rather go camping out there than have the opportunity to go on a vacation anywhere else in the world. The trails, wildlife, and scenery cannot be compared to anywhere else I have been..No matter what happens while we are out there we never fail to have a great time. I am glad that my parent introduced me to this place and I hope to be able to show my kids the same experience later on in life.