Backpacking with Mom

Really I should be saying Backpacking with the Boys.

Kaleb and I have been talking about backpacking from Tony's Grove to Green Canyon since winter. I have just been wanting to get back into a place where there isn't much action going on. Really, I would love to hike deep into the mountain and then just sit for a day, listening to the birds and the breeze rustling through leaves.

Instead.....I kept up with the fast pace of the boys, hiking through the wilderness.

I have to chuckle at myself. I always walked fast when the kids were really little. They would be practically running their skinny little legs just to keep up. I told them that it's good exercise to walk fast. Well....now all of them are fast walkers, hikers, and now I am having to work harder just to keep up with them.

This is proof that I am a part of this adventure.

 We set off at 5pm on a Friday night after the boys got home from work and showered. 

It was a straight up incline to Naomi Point. These little kids and their Dad passed me up. But then again we had 35 pound packs on our backs.

 This looked like Whoville. 

I guess you could call these flowers. They actually looked like little old men with crazy hair. 

 I was taking pictures with my cell phone so they aren't super clear.

I didn't want to lug around the big camera. I've done that before and it is cumbersome.

 It felt so good to be outside at sundown.

My favorite time of day.

What do you want to do....

I don't know....

What do you want to do....

We could go to that rock......

 We ended up hiking in the dark down to High Creek Lake.

I was a little nervous because my night vision isn't as good as it used to be.

I had asked the boys if they were nervous that it was dark and when they responded with a look like

"what?" I knew that I didn't have to worry. If they aren't worried, I'm not worried.

They are way more experienced that me.

It was weird that me, their mother, was relying on my sons, ages 17 and 21 for security.

I trusted them and they never failed.

My sons are awesome!

 We woke up in this little valley with snow and the start of Spring in July.

Every square foot had wildflowers just about to bloom.

 Of course I was up earlier than the boys. The tents were drenched with dew.

It was crisp, damp, clean and absolutely beautiful.

 This guy is a well experienced coffee maker. Wish I drank coffee.

 We kept passing these Cairons. I think this one looks like a horse.

 The boys were so patient with me.

I was so excited about all the wildflowers. 

It was like being in a blooming wonderland.

 These purple stalks were sooo tall!

They came up to Jared's shoulder and he is 6ft 2in.

 I think a little mouse family lives in that hole.

It could be Tinkerbell.

 We were so tired. We had hiked 7 miles the first night, and then 8 miles the second day. 

I discovered my hiking boots aren't as good as I thought.

But Pizza for dinner with homemade dough was awesome!

 Kaleb made the meal plan and told me what to buy.

We had hamburger and veges the first night, scrambled egg (yes, we packed 6 eggs) burritos for breakfast, tuna for lunch, pizza for dinner and cinnamon rolls for Sunday morning breakfast.

 We even managed to get the top browned.

 As I was watching the boys pack up to head out I happened to notice that my Jared had all blue gear....his favorite color.

And Kaleb had all his gear in green....his favorite color.

It reminded me of when they were little and I would have color coded cups, toothbrushes, clothes etc...in their favorite colors. I guess some things you don't grow out of.

 Something went horribly wrong with our cinnamon rolls.

 We ended up making a big biscuit with cinnamon on top. It was good though.

 Something that we need to try again, maybe in the backyard though.

We hiked a total of 20 miles from Friday night to Saturday morning.

Kirk and the girls picked us up walking along side the road. 

I am so happy that I could spend time with my boys....really, I spent the weekend with men.

These guys can really know their stuff. Never once did they complain that I was too slow, or complain when I told them hold on a second, I need to rest a minute, or complain when I had to sit down and take off my shoes and socks to apply about 7 bandaids to three of my toes which I am sure that I will be losing my nails in the next month or so.

I enjoyed listening to their conversations and what their interests are in life...plans for the future.

It was a window into their young lives that I admire and love.

These guys are pretty amazing.

I trusted them when I had absolutely no idea where we were.

They even found me a couple heart rocks to add to my huge collection.

Spending three days, backpacking with a 35 pound pack, three bruised and blistered toes, hiking through wildflowers with my two sons was priceless.

Backpacking Right Hand Fork

 We headed up Right Hand Fork to backpack overnight. We were on limited time so it was just an overnighter unfortunately. We are all in better shape than we have in the past. The girls packs were 25 pounds. I think they did quite well considering that half the hike in was up hill.
I love being a family together, spending time out in the wild.

Victoria planted herself hiking between the boys who were in the lead.

 There is just something about rushing water. I love the sound of water. It reminds me of the ocean that we miss deeply. Being near running water and beautiful green foilage in the forest is awesome too. 

 Kirk says this is proof that I was there. I am always the one taking the pictures so you rarely see me.

 There were butterflies everywhere. They fluttered down the gullies and followed the creeks. This pretty blue one is a Silvery Blue. There were tons of Swallowtails.

It was very magical.

 This is Willow Creek.

 This has to be the largest beaver lodge I have ever seen. Off to the right I even saw a beaver.

Cha-ching. I can mark that one off my bucket list. I've now seen a beaver in the wild. We usually only see their tracks or where they dragged trees leaving their footprints behind.

 Break time in the shade.

 Something that I love about our family is that we didn't hear a single complaint out on the trail. Okay, well maybe Victoria asked how much longer when we were hiking up hill for over an hour.

To me that doesn't really count. I was getting tired too but loving the fresh air and the assortment of flowers all along the way.

 The guys cooking!

I have trained them well!

 Sammy staring at the food drooling!

It's all that basset hound in him. Look at all that extra skin in his neck...wow!

 Our little campsite.

The girls had the tents up before the boys even started.

My motivation was to remove my shoes! I hate shoes.

 And to take a nap...Kaleb already started.

 It was fun to just lay around and talk. It is always a perfect time to catch up and find out what is really going on in our family.

 My cute son, the carpenter!

 Nothing like reading The BFG (for the 4th time now) in the forest with a 35 pound lap dog halfway curled up in my lap. Sammy is my baby.

 This little creek looked like fairies lived here.

 One pooped out pooch. 

About the only time that Henry is under control is when he's tired.

 It is quite an event to wear this guy out. Hiking will usually do it.

King's Peak

Kirk and I helped the Fallentine's lead a group of 9 older Scouts of Troop into the Uinta's to King's Peak, Utah. We had to drive through Wyoming only to get into Utah again. The plan was to backpack in about 8 miles and camp at Dollar Lake which is at an 11,000 ft elevation. Then we were to day pack 13 miles round trip up King's Peak which topped out at the highest peak in Utah at 13,572 ft. Then backpack out the next day another 8 miles coming back down in elevation around 7,000 ft. 

That was the plan.

 Hiking in was really strenuous with the elevation change. If you felt like you weren't out of shape, you would now feel that you don't exercise a day in your life. Kirk had been in Seattle all week doing 12-14 hour days and then flew in at midnight the night before we set out. He had packed his backpack with the boys checking to see that he had everything. But with only 4 hours sleep and being exhausted to begin with, among other things, he felt like the oldest one there.....even though he was. It was a little scary.

 Everyone hiked at their own pace. Kaleb and Jared were in the front of course with the Fallentine's who have a very fast pace. I could never keep that pace. I am some where in the middle. Kirk took of the rear of the group with a couple others who actually wanted to hike that pace. We all hiked where we were comfortable. No pressure. We had some pretty interesting conversations in the back as we hiked. The boys talked about what their plans were for college, what games they like to play, what type of vehicle they want to drive and ammunition.....It's a boy thing.

 This place is absolutely beautiful. It was hard to take it all in because our goal was to get to Dollar Lake and set up camp, rest and hike up to King's Peak, early, early in the morning. With the elevation change I was very wobbly on this bridge. It was so hard taking secure steps with the water rushing under. Visually it was extremely disturbing. (I met a robust guy who had troubles coming across on our way back down who had the same trouble. So I didn't feel so bad.)

 We must have passed about 100 hikers coming out as we were coming in. Each of the scouts had a topo map of the area so they could see where we were. I didn't want to be a typical "girl" on a Boy Scout High Adventure so I carried my own weight...no pun intended. I am fully capable. No worries there until I picked up my 28 lb pack one of the times we rested. I was okay until I went to sling it onto my shoulder. Oops. I pulled a muscle right over my hip. I didn't make a peep about it. It didn't start giving me problems until about an hour later when it began to creep around the front of my leg. I started having trouble bring my leg forward. Oh great! Not quite what you want to happen out on the trail with two days of hiking ahead.

 We finally got to Dollar Lake and set up camp. It had been raining/sprinkling off and on, on the way in. I think almost everyone went to bed before 7 pm, except Jared of course. He was one of the last ones in his sleeping bag. (It is amazing how he is always the last one since he was a newborn!) I guess the best way to wear out a group of Scouts is to hike the daylight out of them. This was definitely a strenuous hike.....but I loved every bit of it.

 Unfortunately, I was the only one who didn't make it the next day up to King's Peak. I stayed behind to rest my pulled muscle, take ibuprofen and watch the peak from the foothills. I was really disappointed and could easily become teary eyed thinking about being left behind until I realized that God had had other plans for me. I needed the break. Really? Out here where there was not another living soul...unless you count the moose. All the other hikers in the area had left for home or were on the peak with Troop 1. I spent 10 hours all by myself. And I wasn't scared being alone in the wilderness. The chipmunks kept me company. They are quite bold. I spent the day lying on flat boulders taking naps. My back was painful but I felt like it was on the mend by the afternoon. I was relaxed until I saw an afternoon storm rolling in with a vengeance. I was hoping that they had made it to the top before it came in. They should considering that they had left at 6am to make it to the peak by 11:30.

 This is proof that they made it up there by the time it started thundering and lightening. I was so nervous. I sat in the rain for an hour watching for signs of life coming off the mountain. My Mom instinct was on high alert. Kaleb said that there was finger lightening all around them as they were coming off the peak. It was really scary for the boys. One of the boys had altitude sickness and was rushed down the trail as fast as they could get him. Remember, the peak was over 13,000 ft. He recovered quickly just being down off the mountain and at 11,000 ft. Whew! Kirk said it was difficult with sore legs to scale the boulder size shale. I am glad that I rested my back.

 I am really proud of this group of Scouts, my Hubby Buddy whom I called "Bubby" everytime we did a buddy check. The Fallentine family is amazing with all their planning. There was never a moment that I didn't trust Mark. He had this trip so well planned out, there was never a moment that I felt like any of the boys were in danger. Maybe except for the lightening. There were a few hikers who didn't make it to the peak. I talked with quite a few as they were coming down while I was waiting for our group in the pouring rain. The other hikers had to turn around just 300 ft from the top because of the lightening. It was just too risky and dangerous. Our group had started out early enough to make it to the top. All because of Mark's planning.

 I was really relieved to hear about their adventure that day when they made it back down. I felt like I could relax a little with everyone back at camp. It was a little stressful with the thunderstorm, knowing that they could easily be zapped by lightening. In spite of it all, I felt like I got the mental rest that was intended for me. There is just something about lying in a tent in pouring rain listening to the sounds of nature or lying on a huge flat boulder, using a jacket as a pillow, watching beetles, inspecting lichen up close, listening to the birds......
I had a great time.

 The next morning was beautiful of course. Bright sunny day. We set out early once again for the hike out.

 This is proof that I was there. I did hike in and out the 16 miles. And I am a new person. I feel rested even though my body feels exhausted. Mentally and emotionally.....God knew exactly what I needed by providing me with 10 hours of solitude. The next morning, I started hiking the trail to the lake to sterilize more water. I looked up just in time to almost run into a mother moose and her baby. Oops. I backed up immediately and waited for them to move on.

 The same moose family was blocking our way out. We had to go around the moose.....way around the moose to get past them. They are amazingly HUGE animals.

We hiked out in quite a bit of mud. It was much easier coming down in elevation than it was going up. That was a no brainer. We made really good time. This time someone helped me with my pack going on and off, which is what I should have done to begin with but then I wouldn't have been able to "restart" myself. I really needed the break from everything and everyone. It was the only way to recover from severe burnout.

Thank you Lord!

One of the incentives that the scouts had is if they hike out before 12 noon then we would stop for pizza in Mountain View, Wyoming. We did it with Kirk and David hitting the trail head at 12 noon on the dot. Noon also brought another thunderstorm. By the time we reached the vehicles it was dropping buckets of water. We were so soaked. We all looked like drenched rats, not to mention the wet dog smell in the van....Ugh!

 We stopped for pizza and this little 4 year old girl was having a birthday party with a zebra cake. The mom didn't have a match to light her four little candles so Jared ran out to the van to find a lighter. He lit the little girl's candles for her while her family sang Happy Birthday. It was cute. Next thing we know, Jared walks out of the restaurant with a zebra cake. They didn't want the rest of it so they gave it to the boys to eat.

David sneaking bites of  leftover pizza from behind the seat.

Time to wash the van!