First backpack trip of the year! It was sure nice to plan a trip and not have to worry about stores or employees. Friday morning we decided to go, so we packed up and left Saturday morning. Easy as that!
For the first backpack overnighter we wanted a quick hike. Nothing too crazy because we knew Eli wouldn’t be able to go very far. We went up Mirror Lake Highway, and hiked up Shingle Creek Trailhead.
Me and my bear spray. Won’t stay the night without it!
Six years ago today, Eli was being carried up and now…
He carries his own pack! Sometimes in front, but at least he is carrying it! 🙂
We brought the hand held radios. These radios are a life saver on the trail. Eli is occupied the whole time. No complaints the whole way up.
Bribery helped as well. 🙂
About 1/3 way up we crossed a fun bridge.
I didn’t notice when I took the picture, but my watch didn’t say the mileage. We hiked about 1.2 miles to our campsite. We took our time and had to look at EVERY ant. 🙂 An hour later we came to the most beautiful clearing and set camp.
Paul made dinner.
We tried a new dinner from Backpackers Pantry. Three cheese mac and cheese. It was good. I still recommend the vegetarian lasagna, which I had for dinner.
Eli loved it. Not sure because it was just noodles and cheese or because he ate out of a bag, ha!
We did try something different. We brought up instant mashed potatoes and a steam zip lock bag. Extremely cheaper that the Backpacker Pantry meals. It worked just fine. We will be doing that again the next trip.
We played some games in the tent and it was lights out.
I need to take a picture of my sleeping bag. The outside says it will keep me alive 🙂 at 15′ . I know it wasn’t near 15′, but the temperature got down there a bit and I was chilled all night. Between the cold, my usual insomnia, and Little Pea waking me up, I think I got about 4.5 hours of sleep. Daylight didn’t come fast enough. How did Paul sleep? He slept fine!
After breakfast we did a little fishing.
Eli was fascinated by the bugs in the water. The water skeeters were his favorite. He also tried to catch the baby fish.
I don’t know what it is with boys and water, but he wanted to get into the river all morning. He started with putting his feet in the water.
Which led to getting into the water. He had so much fun this weekend.
Time to head back.
Eli found a lot of wooden “tools” over the last two days that he had to take home. Although he wanted them, I ended up carrying them. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to carry sticks!