Yuru Camp in the Jemez

In the process of unlocking my inner girl, I’ve been watching a bit of anime recently. Current favorites are xxxHolic (thanks to Alecia Snowfall for pointing that one out) and Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. But I also stumbled across Laid-Back Camp (Yurukyan). The show is cute but engaging and has a lot of good tips for beginning campers. The first season was actually a tutorial and each episode features some tips. There is even a cookbook compiling the recipes they present! So, as an active camper, I had to check it out!

A group here in New Mexico has been organizing campouts for the broader Queer community for about 10 years now. I attended my first one three years ago. But this year they decided for the first time to organize a dedicated camp for the transgender and gender non-conforming community. There’s another camp in June for the Black, Indigenous, and People Of Color (BIPOC) community. So of course I chose the TGNC camp.

So, I thought I would do as much Japanese or at least Asian cooking this time as possible. We don’t have a site as spectacular as Mount Fuji, but the Jemez Mountains northwest of Albuquerque are beautiful in their own right. I did a lot of food shopping and prep on Thursday. Then I loaded up my car on Friday morning and drove out to the site.

The group reserved the whole campground for privacy and security. So there were plenty of individual sites for campers to choose from. Three prime sites near the pavilion and main toilet were reserved for campers with disability or requiring assistance (DART). I picked a smaller site with a nice view out to the west. I checked in, took a Covid-19/flu test and then set up my campsite. Then I gathered my melodica and a few other items to wander up to the pavilion to hang out and meet other campers.

One of the major organizers was Eli from The Trans Love Project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi6Gnlkx6qo

Shuly was also there, but River had to go back for something they had forgotten and drove back up on Saturday. We had 60 people signed up including several children and about 50 had arrived by Sunday morning when I left. So it was a nice sized group. The first afternoon was very laid back because most people arrived later or Saturday. I had fun practicing on my melodica. I’m going to do some serious practice on Pink Pony Club since people really got into hearing that.

We had an opening circle at 5 pm for people to introduce themselves. There was a discussion of general camp rules and introduction of the main groups who make camping an enjoyable experience like Medics and Care Bears for conflicts or medication. As an icebreaker we split into small groups to try to write and act out a haiku about Queers in the Woods. Here is what our group came up with.

Queers don’t fear the bears.
Their food they’re glad to share.
Careful what you wear!

We also emphasized respect for the native tribes like the Jemez whose land we were camping in.

For supper, I cooked up some noodles with some of my pre-grilled chicken, green onions and terikiyaki sauce. I liked it.

Firewood was in short supply because a vendor back at the highway intersection had run out and his truck was broken. Only local wood was allowed to avoid introducing new insect species. But someone had left a pallet which was torn apart for firewood. And people gathered pine needles and some deadfall pieces or leftovers from a few previously cut down trees instead.

One of the attendees was a serious birder who always wore their binoculars. They reported spotting 25 different bird species the first evening including several that were migrating.

I was a little tired from my long day, so I went back and settled into my campsite a bit early.

I also woke early on Saturday and walked around the grounds warming up my body and snapping pictures.

Then I boiled some water for tea and heated my skillet to cook a couple sausages and Okonomiyaki. Different from my usual pancakes but quite good!

Then I walked up to the pavilion and checked in for a shift as a greeter. While waiting for campers to arrive, I met some more people and worked on my current crochet project, a Fable Pixie Hood. This will look quite kawaii when it is finished and it’s a perfect project for some phased out tweed yarn I have! But it does feature several more elaborate stitches that give it a special texture and look. I finished two rows but had a problem with one of those special stitches. So I set it aside and chatted with some of the other campers.

I took a break to cook up some miso soup for lunch with precooked shrimp.

It was about time for a shift change, so I gathered a walkie talkie and took over as on-call medic. I did some reading and chatted with three people leaning to play cribbage, which I hadn’t played in ages.

Eventually I set up my cooking supplies to prep for dinner.

But before getting into the actual cooking, I took advantage of one camper who had brought a portable PA system to do an open mike hour. People were slow to step forward, so I sang two songs I had been practicing while listening to K. D. Lang. Crying by Roy Orbison and Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.

Then I walked back to a long table and resumed preparing Thai Red Curry with fried tofu, shrimp or chicken as protein options. Camping weather was quite nice, 80s in the day and mid 40s at night. But it was quite warm, so I shed my tee shirt and worked in a red sports bra. One person asked for a picture, so I posed holding my knife and lighter!

After about an hour, dinner was ready so I invited people to help themselves. Many people were cooking back at their campsites but those who did try the food enjoyed it. One woman wasn’t sure about the curry, so she dished up rice with some of the chicken and added teriyaki sauce. She liked that!

I gathered my own food and joined a couple at one of the tables to chat and eat.
Before it got dark, I packed the rest of my supplies back in my car.

Eventually people started preparing the campfire. One person had brought some coffee flavored marshmallows from Mexico for toasting. Someone else was offering sweet potatoes to bake on the coals. And a bag of popcorn was passed around. Another camper with a guitar played while others sang along. Quite a nice ending to the day.

It was also a gorgeous night for stargazing, The surrounding mountains block lights from nearby cities. And the skies were exceptionally clear! I picked out the Big and Little Dipper and a couple other constellations. Then I settled in for the second night.

I awoke early again, but decided to be lazy since most of my stuff was loaded in the car. So I took down my tent, loaded my chairs and other things and drove down to Bernalillo for breakfast at McDonald’s!

When I returned to home, I got all the food put away and most of the stuff brought in, and took a nap!

But a good friend joined me for supper with plenty of Thai Red Curry!

A very nice weekend!