6 nights 7 days.....

.....of no cell service, no work, no bills to pay, grocery shopping to do, lawns to mow, chores to do, or responsibility to have. It's called camping :-) and I LOVE it! Especially when I am surrounded with my family!

Evening 1 and Day 2

Was all about unpacking camp and the fishing poles, pulling worms apart into small pieces, bating their hooks

and catching fish.

Unfortunately the first couple days we mistaked some of the kids brook trout for the "endangered" bull trout and threw them back. This beauty Makenna is holding got a second chance at life.

If it wasn't for Grandma and her fisher-woman skills we probably wouldn't have been quite as successful :-)

DAY 3

Was all about a day hike up to main eagle meadow, enjoy each others company and introduce my niece the beauty of the wilderness.

On our way up to find bear lake, Lex had collected just enough flowers to do my hair so on our break I got my hair done.

Bear lake. I went ahead and found this lake, completely missing Culver the one we were trying to find but it ended up being a little too much for my niece who hadn't really ever hiked before. Honestly 10 miles was a good day for her and I am really proud of her.

Grandpa found this beautiful little creature in the meadow.

and after several pictures and kids gawking at him, he became quite irritated and urinated on grandpa.

DAY 4

Relaxing, huckleberry picking, bear hunting, and more fishing.

Tob showed up unexpectedly the night before and went bear hunting with Nojah in the morning. He's been working too much lately so it was a nice surprise.

Day 5

I got up early and was to the west eagle trail-head by 7:00am, ready to embark on a 21 + mile looped I had mapped out a couple days before. Since I started early I beat the sunshine up to Echo lake and I must say it was very pleasant.

Another favorite of mine is the beautiful flowers in the Eagle Caps. I am always mesmerized this time of year when they are blooming to the fullest. My pictures don't do them justice and if you would like to be mesmerized as well you must go see them for yourselves.

Two of my favorites, Echo and Traverse lakes.

When Myah and I reached Echo lake we were greeted by an over abundantly friendly somewhat familiar looking dog and it followed us around the lake much to Myah's dismay although I could sense she almost wanted to play with it which was weird. Then a boy from down below us yells "waffles" "Waffles get back here." Uh, believe it or not, I do know a dog named waffles and honestly there couldn't be 2. So when one of my best friend's son came running up the trail to retrieve waffles and told me I had already passed his mom, giving me directions back to camp I was so excited. I ran back to there camp and got to visited for about 15 minutes. I love it when you see your friends unexpectedly almost 6 miles into the wilderness when you're by yourself. However I did forget to get pictures of us in all my excitement and determination to stay on pace. The last time I ran into Dort randomly was at the Huston airport of all places on our way to Guatemala. I guess when you don't see your friends enough good things just happen.

After getting up to Wonker Pass about 9 miles into the journey my dog took off and chased some goats. She caused quite the ruckus trying to be a goat herself causing them to dislodge some ginormous boulders. I actually had to put my hike on hold another 5-10 minutes again to watch the goats and stay clear of the what could have been deadly boulders. They are SUCH amazing creatures to watch and I don't get to see them often so this was another treat.

The rest of the hike was beautiful and I was happy to be hiking through an area I haven't gotten to see before. I ran across 2 guys backpacking and a lady camped near the end of the trip but otherwise was pretty much by myself out there. The trail wasn't maintained for about 7 miles of my trip but we made it ok and hopped over a lot of down tree's. The views were amazing, the lakes beautiful and the solitude was kind of nice as well. My mom was concerned about me of course while I was gone so I didn't take many breaks because I wanted to make sure I made it out on time. It took me between 8-9 hours with an average 24 min mile pace and I made it out before they came to retrieve me.
After I got back and we went to get my car from the other trailhead, I came back to camp and washed up in the creek. I came back up to camp and found my poor dog pooped out from our journey, literally in a fetal position.

The rest of the family fished up and down the creek all day and so we had wonderful trout for dinner that night. A perfect ending to the day :-) YUM.

Day 6

Was another laid back day where we road motorcycles, went for bike ride up to the trail head and played in the river, played wiffle ball and card games.

Grandpa forgot grandma's battery for her motorcycle so we were limited to just grandpa's bike and short rides. The kids each got in 3 rides throughout the trip and loved every moment of it and I even got to go for a ride with my daddy.

DAY 7

Even though I have a million more pictures and I am sure a ton more stories I should just post this and get it done. Day 7 was mostly packing up and cleaning up camp and sulking about having to go home and go back to work.

I don't know if I worked her too hard but she kept stealing the butter. Pretty sure she consumed over 2 lbs while we were gone :-) I guess I won't be surprised if she dies instantly from a heart attack......I wonder what it would look like if a dog had a stroke?.....hmmm.


Anyway, we had a fantastic time, I love my family, wish my husband and brother could have been there, but it was good as it was. Thanks mom and dad for instilling the love of camping in me and for a WONDERFUL week. I love you guys.