Camping at it's best

In February I informed my dad that I was going to take them backpacking this summer for his birthday. I am not sure if he considered this more of a punishment than a present but he played along and planned the trip. It's not that my parents aren't outdoorsy or don't LOVE camping, I mean my childhood is where I discovered my love for the great outdoors. I give them full credit for instilling this in me. They just prefer their camper to a tent these days, which includes all the amenities of their house.

Break numero uno at mile one :-)

My mom and Dad haven't hiked a whole lot on this side of the Eagle Cap Wilderness so I found a place about 5 miles in that I thought would be a good homestead for a couple of days and off we went. The hike in with a good long lunch break and multiple breaks took us about 4 hours and everyone was ready for the break when we arrived to the empty campsite. My parents did awesome considering they haven't done this in oh 15 years.

My dad promptly set up his tent, helped organize camp and then crawled in his newly purchased backpacking treasure and drifted off to sleep for a well deserved afternoon nap.

The photo's are a little out of order, but here are the kids at slickrock falls which is 3 miles in. We ate lunch and spent some time soaking our feet in the refreshing cold water.

This picture is a little creepy to say the least but my dad thought it was a great pose. Our kids earn a pocket knife the first backpack trip they do carrying their own gear, clothing, sleeping bag, pad, and any extra's they wish to bring along. For example Lex brought her slippers and a stuffed animal along for the ride and 2 years ago Nojah secretly threw in 3 star wars lightsabers. Nojah earned his knife 2 years ago and Lex earned her's this trip. She was thrilled to have earned her "pretty blue knife" and I was thrilled to have a competent, happy little backpacker.

The next day my dad, Nojah, and I hiked to Echo lake. It's not an easy hike either. About 2500ft elevation gain in 2.7 miles. This is about mid way up looking out at Matterhorn (the next peak I plan to climb)

Nojah and I in front of the lake. This man is a little mountain goat proving this by practically running up and down the trail giggling the whole way.

After we got back, my dad crawled in the tent for another siesta and my mom and I ditched the dog and kids at camp and went for another hike out the other direction that included beautiful views and wonderful converstation.

The next morning we left about noon and it took about 3 hours to get out with a quick stop at the falls again. It was so much fun to take the kids and my parents. I think they had a good time even though they were more than excited to get home to their camper and head out for the rest of the week. They will be gone all week but I will check in with them of course when they get back and see if they will join us again next year. As for my kids, we had little if any real whining, or complaining along the way. They did fabulous and made their mama (and grandparents) proud.