Memorial Day Weekend

It was a very busy Memorial Day Weekend for our family.  Saturday was a perfect weather day with highs in the mid 70’s and no clouds in the sky.  After cleaning the church we were trying to decide what to do.  I still did not feel 100% from the surgery 3 weeks ago, but I did not want to waste such a beautiful day.  As we bounced around ideas we decided to hike Horse Thief Canyon to Horse Thief Creek.  Horse Thief Canyon is a south facing canyon which means the snow melts there first.  The creek is small, but is full of brook trout.  I did not think Ashley and I would be able to go there with the kids as it is a strenuous hike.  Around 3 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 1000 feet.  Ashley packed Liv the whole way and I packed waders, fishing equipment, and all the food.  Soren to his credit packed his water, water filter, and binoculars.  Probably not smart, but we went.  The fishing is great, but so is the hike.

You can see – pretty steep.  Also lots of natural springs along the way which makes for varying types of vegetation, flowers, and ecosystems.  One of the favorite of a the kids is a flower called “snow plants” which is actually a fungus that attaches to the roots of trees.  We refer to them as “California Snow Cones.”
 
As you can see Svea is all decked out with hiking pants, shirts, hats, shoes, and poles.  She usually does not use her poles, but she wanted to today.  I am glad she did, she really used them. 
Svea might be decked out, but Liv is another story.  She refused to hike unless she could wear a tutu.  “I'm a ballerina.  I go ballerina hiking.”  She kept saying. She would hike the whole way if we would let her, but since it was steep and we needed to make it to the top before we all died of old age Ashley packed her 90% of the way.  Liv gets so mad when you put her in the pack.

The following are some pictures of some of the rest stops along the way:

We were actually planning on taking it slow so the kids could make it, but they did an excellent job.  Svea did the whole thing herself – no help! I thought she would be a good hiker next year, but she arrived a year early.  The last push to the summit was a little difficult, steep and sandy.  We actually lost Soren for about 5 minutes when he laid down and swore he was not going any further.  We discussed turning around, but we were really close.  We were able to coax Soren to make one more good push and he did it.

When we made it to the top we enjoyed lunch and cookies.  That was 1/2 the bribe to get the kids up there.

The stream is small with no danger of washing the kids away.  Soren and Svea have hiking pants that zip off at the knee and we brought swim clothes for Liv.  We brought water shoes so the kids could play in the water while we fished.  We did keep them within a few hundred feet of us and they enjoyed playing in the water and exploring.  I have done this hike 3 times before and always ran into someone (although never another fisherman).  I thought for memorial day we would see other hikers, but we saw no one the whole time.

As for the fishing, we gave it a few hours.  Ashley did most of the fishing as this stream is loaded and I wanted her to practice.  She got all the equipment for Christmas and this was the first post snow melt outing.  She caught 3, but had about 8 other hits.  She insists on fishing with barbless hooks to be fish friendly, so lots of fish slipped off.  Still great practice.

Pictures of the kids exploring

And of course, Soren’s favorite hobby is pumping fresh drinking water for the world. If you told Soren there was a place to pump drinking water up ahead he would hike Mount Everest.  If he could be a municipal water source for a career he would be happy.  He of course took care of the entire crew during this hike:

So, we did it.  We were gone for 7 hours.  I never expected to be gone that long.  Every time we do something like this part of me feels like I should be locked away for child abuse.  I can’t believe the kids can do that.  I need to make sure we don’t do another long one for a while.
After church on Sunday we took off to go camping.  We wanted to go to Big Trees State Park 70 miles away on the California side of the Sierras.  They were full for the weekend.  The kids don’t really know the difference between camping at the Grand Canyon or the backyard.  We also thought about going to Devil’s Postpile by Mammoth Mountain, but the road is still closed due to snow.  Alpine County runs two campgrounds about 1/2 hour away.  They are $15 compared to $35 for a California State Park or USFS campground and they have water and flushing toilets.  We were in luck as they had 5 spaces open and we grabbed one.
One investment we made this year for camping was a cargo holder on the back of the car.  We got a 1-1/4” hitch at Uhaul and the cargo holder to carry camping gear.  The Mazda 5 is fine 80% of the time, but cramped for camping.  Until I finally can afford a Nissan Pathfinder it will have to do and this bought us space we desperately needed. Just need to pay attention so I don’t scrape the ground which I only did once the whole trip and that was leaving the driveway going over the curb. Poor Mazda – we bought it in Phoenix as a reasonable way to transport 5 people.  Never expected to move to the Sierra Nevadas and need it to haul canoes, camping gear, fishing stuff, beach toys, etc.

The campground was nice – picture of the layout and Ashley cooking dinner:

This campground has 18-holes of Frisbee Golf.  We played 5 holes with everyone taking turns.  Liv was so excited whenever she got a turn.  She would throw it about 2 feet and then jump around and clap.  Soren has developed a good Frisbee arm.  He can throw pretty straight and gets good distance (Soren standing by the hole in the first one while Ashley takes aim):

We found the old campground water tank.  I had never seen a wood water tank before.  Now its full of woodpecker holes.

We had a good amount of rain Monday and Tuesday which actually allowed us to have a campfire.  Liv was scared – she was worried about dinosaurs believe it or not.  She watches a kids show called “dinosaur train” and now she thinks they are real.

The night was not bad.  Temps were in the low 50s which may have been a little cold, but not unreasonable.  Soren and Svea slept like logs.  I think Liv might have made it through the night, but I got up at 4:30 to use the restroom and that woke her up.  She was so far down in her sleeping bag I think it scared her.  Took awhile for her to fall asleep after that.

The next morning after breakfast Ashley and I sat around the fire while the kids entertained themselves in the tent.  I went to check on them and they had piled anything soft (sleeping bags, air mattresses, pillows, clothes) and were steamrolling around:

After we packed up we went to Red Lake to fish.  Still at snow level up there!

Unfortunately, it was super windy and our 10-lb anchor could not keep us stationary.  We were not able to fish or really paddle around.  We made it out to a beaver dam and explored.  The water was straight snow melt and so cold:

We went home at 4:00 – basically a 24-hour period of camping, but it might as well have been a week.  Talk about fitting in as much possible with your time.  When I first saw the job posting in Minden, Nevada, I had never heard of the place.  After google mapping “Minden, Nevada” and zooming out until Heavenly Ski Area and Lake Tahoe were in the picture, I suspected that this could be a special place.  I have been thinking about it this week and this place has far exceeded any expectations I had.  It has been wonderful for an outdoor lifestyle. The job is boring, but the last two months have been better than Dec-Feb – those months were torture just due to lack of work.
On the way home we stopped at our favorite convenience store “Maverick” where we buy ice cream, sodas, doughnuts, cinnamon rolls, etc.  Maverick’s slogan is “adventures first stop.”  Well since yesterday was Sunday and we don’t shop, today Maverick had to be “adventures last stop.” I got a soda, Ashley a soda and ice cream, Svea an ice cream, Soren a nut roll, and Liv a Slurpee.  I had to take the picture because Liv is a mess and tired after the trip, but she sure looks happy.


So last year we went camping to Silver Lake with Papa.  After we got home Dad, Ashley and Myself were absolutely worn out and the kids were running around in circles in the family room just because they still had energy and had nothing better to do with it.  Dad was amazed that they still had that much left to give and realized they were in a different energy bracket.  Now Ashley and I are beat to heck and the kids are chasing each other around the house – how??? How can they do that??? Papa Ralph said “fill them up and knock them out.”  I can fill them up, How do you knock them out?

Also – it is SO MUCH WORK to do a campout like that.  Ashley works so hard (as do I) preparing food, packing the car, getting to the site, setting up the tent, cooking, getting them to bed, breaking camp in the morning, loading/unloading the canoe, paddling, fishing, driving, unloading the car, cleaning up the equipment, getting the kids clean.
I don’t know how anyone does it.  Ashley and I discussed it and we are grateful we are both willing to do it.  If she or I did not shoulder 50% of the work it would be impossible.  Even with both of us splitting the work it is almost impossible.
Next month is 7 days at Jedadiah  Smith Redwood State Park in Crescent City California.  This was the dry run.