24th of July hike!

 What a great hike we did for July 24th!  We went up the Mill Flat trail that rangers have been clearing!  They had it cleared to within a half mile of being done, but it is so crazy after that there will be a lot of things that have to be done in order for it to be remade.  We met a group of 3 girl rangers coming down from working on it.  They had their big saw and said they had cleared over 300 logs out of trails this summer.  After we got to the end point of that trail we started back down and decided to take the Cut Off Trail up the mountain to get to the Summit Trail.  Neither of us had ever done it before.  As we were going up we sort of lost it, but then we saw a group of guy rangers coming down it with a horse and a couple of mules.  The girls had told us they had taken that route.  The guys told us that in order the clear the rest of the Mill Flat Trail it will probably take "lots of ologists" meeting to work out the environmental and other impacts that will have to be taken into consideration.  It was interesting in to talk to them.  Since they had just come down the Cut Off Trail it was easy to find after they headed down.  I really enjoyed this quicker ascent route to the Summit Trail.  It was so much faster, lower and easier than when we did it via Forsyth Trail a few weeks ago.  It was all very beautiful and there was still quite a bit of water around.  We looked at the view and ate a snack at the top and then headed back down to go out the way we had come.  I wasn't looking forward to the afternoon sun shining on us, but clouds came in and even sprinkled on us a little bit, so it was actually very nice.  We did a total of 11.36 miles and were pretty tired by the end.  We started at 8:30 am and came out at 3:30 pm.  We did it pretty leisurely like and ate lots of red and purple raspberries along the way.  We saw a couple coming in on our way back and other than them and the rangers we saw no one else.  It was a beautiful, peaceful day of hiking.

Then we came home and cleaned up and cooked a wonderful steak, baked potato, salad, bread dinner and had RB floats for dessert and then watched Mr. Destiny.  It was a really relaxing day for us. Happy Pioneer Day.  We did hear a great pioneer story on the way up to go hiking too.  

 

July Birthdays

Beacher, Jem and Supe all have their birthdays in July!  These pics are from Jem's #4 birthday!  He got the presents...and Kai got the ribbons and box!  I think she was having as much fun with them as he will hopefully have with his presents!  Happy Birthday to almost the whole family!  Love you all!  

Kai had his #7 birthday this month.  He loves Hot Wheels and soccer.  Happy Birthday Kai!  We love you!  

Ellie Celebrated her birthday the Sunday after with her cute boyfriend in attendance.  (He's headed off on a mission to Brazil soon).  This was #18 for her.  This coming year is going to be a big one for her.  She will do one more year with her homeschool group so she can go on their Paris trip, but she will also be starting college classes via BYU Pathways.  She has a job at Costa Vida as well.  She's a sweet, hardworking girl and she's getting all grown up.  Happy Birthday Ellie!  We love you and we are proud of you too!  

Family Camp 2024 - Glamping at Brian Head #20

This picture shows most of the people that came for Family Camp.  We are missing Landon, Derek, Brynnli and Ryan, Kennis, Brady, Ellie and Bryan who came after this or did not go on the hike.  

L to R:  Beacher, Gem, Supe, Kaia, Kaebri, Brynn, Eden, Madi, Essie, Jared, Clara, Tahlia, Lou, Koen, Joel, Noah, Trigg, Zade, Tasia, Bonnie, Paul, Lorin, Eliza, Brenden, Kai, Lance, Julene, Zion, Sarai, Afton, Ferf, Torin.  A total of 41 people in all came at one time or another.  We missed Tavin and Gaige who could not come at all.

This year it was Supe and Beacher's turn to plan for Family Camp (with a lot of assistance from Mom and Dad).  Supe decided that we should go to the Sheffield's Cabin at Brian Head.  It was arranged that Paul would do some repairs on the artificial stonework that needed to be done in trade for the time at the cabin.  We have done that in the past.  The work got done in June and we went to the cabin on Wednesday - Saturday, July 17-20th.  We had a really good turn out only missing a few people.  Some could only come up for a day, or even just part of a day, but we only missed Tavin for the whole time.  Some came, but had to leave a little early for other family activities.  But actually, it was a better turn out than most years. There were only beds for 28 people at the cabin, so there had to be some bed additions like some girls sleeping in the sauna room and we brought out little camp trailer that Bean slept in.  There were some cots and airbeds used too.  But, since we were inside, I think everyone was pretty much more comfortable than when we camp outside in tents!

We had great meals as usual and for outside the cabin activities we did a beautiful and family friendly hike at Cedar Breaks and went to Yankee Meadow for a kayaking outing.  It was wonderful weather in the low 70's most of the time with afternoon rain showers. We did our outside activities in the mornings and then played games at the cabin the rest of the time.  Some took walks at different times of day.  We had a fun S'mores night on Thursday after dinner for dessert.  Saturday morning we had a big cabin clean up (part of our agreement for the trade) and it ended up spic 'n' span looking even better than when we arrived.  Everyone that was still there worked very hard on this.  

It ended up being a really great time and it was nice to be inside because these dates that everyone could be available for are right during Monsoon season and it was easier to be inside out of the rain for it.  It made cooking and many other things a lot easier.  Staying at the cabin may have been a big reason why we had such a good turnout.  It will probably be Lou and Bryan's turn for 2025.  (It would be Mom/Dad/Bean's turn next, but Mom and Dad pretty much did it this year since Supe was way too busy being up to his neck in a new job.)

 

I think it is pretty amazing that through thick and thin we have managed to keep doing Family Camp, one way or another, for 20 years now.  I didn't even realize it was the 20th year until I started writing this up.  Sometimes I want to quit when I get really tired of some people's being less than helpful or enthusiastic about doing it.  And sometimes when some people are crabbing at me about it I just want to bag it, but I hope we can keep doing something until Paul and I are not longer in the picture.  I doubt we'll be around for another 20 years.  

North Cascades, Stehekin, Yellowstone

 We had a grand vacation going to see North Cascades National Park and catching a little section of Yellowstone that we hadn't seen before because of roads closed for construction.  It was so wonderful!  We drove mostly backroads to see the scenery and lessen the traffic and that was great too!  We left on Monday, July 1st and drove via Ely, Elko and other small towns and made it to Boise, Idaho the first night.  We stayed at the Inn America motel there and it was pretty nice.  Along the way there we went through a small town area in Ruby Valley and there was a cattle drive going down the road.  The head cowboy took his horse ahead of us and opened up the herd so we could drive through instead of just following them slowly for a long ways.  It was fun.  In Boise we ate at a Burger King that took so long.  Then that evening we walked through a beautiful park with trails and a nature center along the Boise River.  It was a lovely evening.  

Tuesday, July 2nd, was another long driving day, but we enjoyed the beautiful scenery, stopping in at Leavenworth, Washington, driving through a beautiful canyon.  Our destination for that night was Chelan, Washington.  We had a dinner at a good Mexican restaurant and found another wonderful walk around Chelan Lake.  We stayed at the Apple Inn Motel, which was very nice, for the next two nights.  

Wednesday, July 3rd, we got up and boarded a ferry boat, the Lady Liberty, for a 50-mile boat ride up to Stehekin, a little town you can only reach via boat or hike, that borders North Cascades National Park.  When we arrived there we got on a bus with no top and took a great tour of the area.  We stopped at the best bakery along the way, twice.  The first time we had the most delicious pastries.  The next time we had lunch.  We went clear up to Highbridge, which boarders North Cascades and also got to set foot on the Pacific Crest Trail there.  Along the tour we also took a hike to Rainbow Falls and visited a historic one-room schoolhouse.  They still do a one-room school in Stehekin, but they have a new building.  We also stopped in at an historic apple orchard/ranch and an organic garden as well.   It was a great boat ride (I didn't get sick at all) and the tour was fantastic. We loved it all.  That night we just ate dinner out of our ice chest in our motel room.  It was a great meal!  

Thursday, July 4th, we left Lake Chelan and drove the North Cascades Park Road 20 coming in at the East entrance.  It was a beautiful day seeing Washington Pass, hiking Rainy Lake trail. We stopped in at Newhalem WA and while there hiked the Trail of Cedars which was great. We found thimble berries that we had learned about in Stehekin along the trail and ate them up!  We also ate a snack in the park there. We went to the Cascade NP Visitor's Center at the West side of the park and watched the movie and hiked the River Loop Trail, and enjoyed seeing amazing Cascade Mountains all around us and several lakes/dams.  We wished we had had more time to spend in the park, but the time we had was awesome!!!  We ate dinner that night at a park out of our ice chest.  We stopped in at Monroe, WA, and had Dairy Queen to celebrate the 4th.  That night we stayed in a little town called Sultan, WA at the Dutch Cup Motel.  It was old, but great and we even found the town's firework's show to watch that night to celebrate the 4th! It was one of the best firework shows we have ever enjoyed.  It was set up in the middle of a big pasture and we just parked on a dirt road front row seat!  

Friday, July 5th, we made the drive to Missoula, Montana, to stay at the Brooks Street Motor Inn.  Along the way we stopped to hike the Deception Waterfall Trail.  It was so beautiful!  We were so glad we stopped.  We also stopped at the Grand Coulee Dam and watched the movie about it being built.  It is huge and generates more electricity than any other dam in the US.  We needed more time, but didn't have it. We stopped in a little town, Waterton, and had lunch at a park.  We stopped for dinner along the way at a place we have eaten before - Wink's.  They have great huckleberry shakes and the hamburgers were good too.  It was a great day.  The motel in Missoula wasn't our favorite, mostly because it didn't have the advertised fridge that we needed to cool off our ice chest contents.  But we got by.  

Saturday, July 6th, we drove into Yellowstone NP via the north entrance at Gardiner.  We have been to Yellowstone a couple of other times, once during Covid.  But there was one road in the canyon section of the park that had been closed for work, so our goal was to see that section.  We did, and it was beautiful!  We did a hike on the north rim down to the Brink of the Lower Falls.  Then we hiked along the north rim trail to see the other viewpoints as well.  Driving the road in from Gardiner was so beautiful and we also stopped and hiked to see some waterfalls along that road.  It was a great day and we used it all up.  We left the park via the west entrance and stopped off to eat at a Subway along the way to our destination motel, Henry's Fork Inn at St. Anthony, Idaho.  It was a really nice little motel along the Henry's Fork of the Snake River.  

Sunday morning, July, 7th, we attended a ward that started at 9 am so that we could get back and load up to head for home.  It was a nice testimony meeting.  We talked to Tahlia along the way home to wish her a happy birthday #12!  We stopped in at Evanston, Wyoming, to eat a snack and then snacked more in the car along the scenic route for dinner.  Finally, at Orem, we left the scenic route (we went through Bear Lake, but got no pictures), and got onto I15 to make getting home a little faster.  We got home and found all well and found our own bed at last.  This was a wonderful trip!!!  One more national park to check off and lots of wonderful memories to enjoy!