The Headleys House: Backpacking Temple Fork

We have been waiting 9 1/2 years to backpack as a family and it was well worth the wait. We were going to attempt to hike the Grand Canyon when Victoria was just 5 years old but decided that we had better wait. We might still do that some day....from the north end. I hear it is greener on that side.

Anyway, we put the trip on the calendar....which got changed twice and set our focus on gathering the supplies. I think the hardest part about this trip was making the time. I am so glad that we did it. We managed to piece together what we needed and found a backpack that would fit Victoria. Her pack weighed 12 pounds with her sleeping bag,pad, jacket and water. We dispersed the remainder of her supplies with the rest of us. She begged to bring her beloved Bolt (stuffed doggie) with us. I made her promise that she would carry him the entire way or he was going to have to walk on his own.

The owner at Campsavers in town told me about the Temple Fork trail. He said that it was beautiful with water and wildflowers. He was right. We hiked along a river the entire way, past beaver dams.

The dogs were completely ADHD with all the new smells to smell. They marked every blade of grass until nothing came out. Anyone who has a male dog knows what I am talking about. It was great because we were able to trust them off leash until they went gallavanting through the tall grass chasing a ground squirrel. Sammy almost caught one and freaked me out. I yelled at him just in time for the squirrel to get away.

We only hiked 4 miles in. We could have easily gone farther if we knew where the trail went. It was so overgrown that we decided to camp in the clearing where an old sawmill once was.

In preparing for this trip we all decided that we didn't want to eat freeze dried meals. For one, they are horribly expensive when you have to buy them for six people and second, who wants to eat freeze dried meals. The though kind of grosses me out. I have no idea what I will do if we go on an extended backpacking trip. I guess I will deal with that when it comes. We packed three compact stoves so only three of us cooked for two people. It worked out great. We had hamburger, potatoes, bell peppers and carrots. It tasted great.....in fact it is making me hungry right now. We even packed in eggs for burritos the next morning.

Once we established where we were to camp we put up 6 single tents. I wasn't sure how Victoria was going to do in her own tent in the middle of the night. I guess I didn't need to worry, she loved having her own tent.

I saw Kaleb resting with his hat over his face using his pack as a pillow and thought of all those years we spent jeeping with my dad. My dad used to sleep just like that when we would take a break from bouncing over rocks or splashing through creeks. It is freaky wierd how much my boys remind me of my dad when I was growing up.

We went for a walk.....like we hadn't just hiked with a 35 pound bag on our backs. We jumped across this creek. We hadn't seen Jared get across so I made him show me where he jumped. I remember my dad jumping across a creek with me on his shoulders one time in Monanche Meadows as a kid. I don't think Kirk could jump across holding any of our kids like that. No one is that little anymore. My legs were kind of tired when we did this. I wasn't too sure if I was going to have the strength to make it back across.

We woke to a beautiful, crisp morning. It is hard to believe that we needed jackets when the sun went down. I love it here. Of course Jared refused to wear anything more than a sweatshirt. The girls and I brought extra layers. We don't like being cold. Jared on the other hand is a minimalist so he will do whatever it takes to not bring extra stuff. On the other hand, Kaleb will pack the kitchen sink if he can. A true boy scout at heart. Always wanting to be prepared.

Daphne's tent was the only one that attracted this cute little caterpillar. We found it ironic because she absolutely hates caterpillars. She thinks that they are the grossest things in the whole universe and will let you and anyone willing to listen know how much she hates them. She called us over about four times to get rid of a caterpillar. We aren't quite sure if it was the same one or a different one.

Hiking out was much easier on the girls than hiking in. I think I actually pulled my neck back into alignment. It actually felt great afterwards. We were all tired but felt excited that we had actually done it. We didn't want to go home. We would have loved to have gone further but we actually only had two days that we could fit this trip into.