19 August 2012

We went backpacking this weekend in the beautifully named Sky Lakes Wilderness Area.  We began hiking at Four Mile Lake.  Sofi came home from Wyoming this week with a cowgirl hat.

We were delighted to find huckleberries along the trail.  Helen especially liked eating the huckleberries.

We hiked Friday to one of the many lakes in the area.

The lake was very shallow.  Sofi could almost walk to the center of the lake.

On Saturday we hiked up to an intersection with the Pacific Crest Trail.  Our trail went to the west, while the PCT runs north and south.  In the photo, the PCT is to the left of Brandan.  Much to our delight, we met a "through hiker" on his way from Canada to Mexico, 1 1/2 months into his trek.  We saw him long enough to ask a couple of questions and marvel at his small backpack and quick pace.  Then he was gone again, clearly a man on a mission.  We're interested in longer hikes, but we'll stick to overnighters until Helen and Gibson are big enough to carry their own gear.

Here's a photo of our campsite near the lake, in a beautiful grassy meadow.

We saw hundreds of tiny frogs.  They hopped all over our tents and backpacks, but we're pretty sure we left them all in the woods when we came home.

Here's a photo of Abe demonstrating his strength.

Sofi brought a garbage sack in case it rained.  We had thunderstorms during the night, but we were dry inside our tents.  Instead of using the garbage sack as a poncho, she used it as a dressing room, thermal blanket and, as shown in the photo, as a chair.

One of the most attractive things to Becky about backpacking is the simplicity.  You sleep, you eat and you hike.  If you're lucky (and we are), you share the experience with wonderful traveling companions.  The photo below shows our car packed for camping earlier this summer. . .

. . .and this photo shows us packed for our backpacking trip.  All the necessities fit into 4 backpacks.  Knowing you are going to carry everything you take sharpens your ability to discriminate needs and wants while packing.