Take a hike

(photo stolen/borrowed from http://kitkat4real.blogspot.com/)
The weather this past Saturday was gorgeous. That morning was a bit on the cool side, but that was good for my oldest son who had baseball practice. The temperature was in the upper 70's, sunny and with a breeze by that afternoon. It would have been good kite flying weather. After the practice we went to my shopping partner's house, (I'll start calling her s.p. just to annoy her, it will be great fun) then to an outdoor car show. We ate lunch there and at some point I realized I had a sun burn. After spending a little time there we loaded up the car and headed for a camp ground where her sister and brother in law were staying.

Side note: We do travel a little bit so we have made a first aid kit of sorts. Do a search for many many ideas of what to pack. Our kit contains various over the counter medicines for adults and kids, pocket sized rain coats and the standard first aid type things.

Both of us had some empty drink containers that we reuse as water bottles. Buying it is just too expensive. A local sporting goods store is closing so I purchase a couple of small fishing backpacks (I took one of them with us) for the boys. Along with the water I packed extra socks, pants and shirts. My trunk was pretty full but we where well prepared. It didn't take as long to get there as she thought. But finding the correct site was a bit of a challenge even though there weren't that many occupied camp sites. All we had to do was look for a white mini-van. We drove up and back again and after we found the black mini-van we where in the right place. The sites are right next to a small stream which of course the kids would be playing in. But I kept them dry as we had planned on going for a long hike. Walking and wet feet equals torn skin and blisters. We repacked the backpack with things we'd want for the hike, water, snacks and the first aid kit. I adjusted the straps so it would fit me well. So we set off along with her sister, 2 nieces and another boy who's family was camping with them. The breeze kept the bugs away thankfully. As always my youngest and I scoured the ground for interesting looking rocks. The trails where well marked and our destination was a water fall. Following the stream, the trail went up and down and across the stream a couple of times. As we got close the the water fall it got steeper and one section was down right scary. A make shift hand rail of pvc pipe, rope and even some old electrical wire was put in (totally useless as a hand rail). At certain points in the trail we had to carefully navigate the small make shift bridges, some of which where just stones sticking above the water's surface. The water wasn't deep by any means, but it was still wet! So finally reaching the bottom of the water fall we next had to figure out a way up some huge boulders to see the pool at the bottom of the fall. My oldest was just loving it and wanted to climb everything and everywhere. He took a long way to the top because it meant climbing more rocks. On the other hand, I assisted everyone up a spot that looked like it had some foot holds. There is a trail that leads up to the very top of the fall, but it was too steep to try this time, maybe next time. The younger kids enjoyed throwing rocks in the water. My oldest noticed on the cliff next to the fall a snake who was attempting to crawl up the rock face. S.P. always brings her camera and they took some pictures of it.

Side note: More than once (many) times I stopped and waited while S.P. took some pictures along the way (and back again). She does get some really great shots which means I don't have to worry about taking any myself.

After the thrilling rock climb, my sons noticed some people not using the trail but walking up the stream instead, going from rock to rock. I guess it goes without saying but the next words where "Dad can I do that?" So after pointing out that some rocks had algae on them which made them very slippery I said sure, just be careful. At most they would get wet since the water wasn't even ankle deep in most places. I watched them from the trail as the hopped from rock to rock. They even looked ahead like a chess game to see what their next move should be. Not being mountain goats they did slip into the water now and then which is what I expected. After arriving back at the camp site we ate. After that they continued to play in the near by stream while we talked around the fire. Once it started getting dark it was time to dry off. My oldest sneakers where the only things that got wet, my youngest changed into some dry clothes. All the way back from the water fall and into the night they talked about our adventure (mostly my oldest) and how they wanted to go back and climb to the top of the water fall. Their shoes never did dry out and the next day when their mother picked them up they had to walk bare foot to the car. I'm sure she was thrilled. Sneakers will dry out eventually, but I don't think they will forget the fun they had any time soon. Should this become a regular activity we will all need to get proper hiking boots.

Is keeping clothes clean and dry worth more than making wonderful memories?