Camping: Big Four Ice Caves

Camping this year was the return of the super fun friends group camp! 

That other campground we went to in 2021 was washed out, so we found another one up a different canyon. 

It was so fun. I feel like we could have stayed another night or two. 

If a picture looks particularly artistic or beautiful, it was Lindsay. I love when she follows us around with her nice camera. 

I love how there isn't a lot to do except dink around. Play games. Explore. Braid hair. Stare at the fire. 

We literally sat around a camp stove and watched water boil for 15 minutes. 

Hide and seek. 

The first night:

There was fishing, and the big kids went down to swim in the river right as the sun was setting. 

Me and Lindsay picked our way carefully across the river without falling or getting wet. 

The next morning after a slow breakfast, we went to explore the ice caves. 

The opening of these things were like being in front of an air conditioner. I went from sweaty hot to chilly cold.

This is actually more dangerous than it looks. This kids climbed up too high and it was hard to get down without sliding to their death. 

It was a lot of sweating and looking away on my end. 

Then we headed over to climb this dangerous rock so that my armpits could sweat some more. 

Just kidding, this was fine everything is fine. 

But also the Big Four Mountain peaks are so amazing! So tall and rocky. 

It was pretty smokey too. I came so close to pulling the plug on the campout because I thought the smoke would be unbearable, but it was not a problem. 

These next set of caves felt safe enough to go into. 

It was so cool! The waterfall and ice patterns and lighting....

 back at camp...

we had down time,

I took the best 15 minute tent nap. 

When I woke up, the camp was deserted. I wandered down to the river to see what everyone was up to.

Jim was fishing. Lindsay and Bea were exploring deeper up river. 

Me and Koda followed them to see what we could see. 

The river horse shoed around our camp, so we started at one end of the horseshoe, and walked around to the other end of the horseshoe and back into camp. 

There wasn't exactly a trail the back way to camp, so we had to scrape our legs on the brush we whacked through. 

Eventually we saw Roxanne! She was standing there at the dead end of the trail, just completing a hammock nap in the forest. We filed back to camp. 

 Camp was still deserted, so we headed back down to the river to once again see what everyone was up to. 

I found them swimming and having a clay painting GI JOE situation. 

It was so fun and got so cold as the sun went down. 

We didn't bring towels and stuff, so we had to shiver our way to the tent to change into dry jammies, spread the wet clothes out on the car, and gather round the gas fire (burn ban on!)

This is when the dogs are "dog tired" laid out behind our chairs. Poor Koda's paws were so raw from all the river rock navigating and hiking. 

We played the "I'm taking ____ on a picnic" game until it was pitch dark. 

Andrew was freezing the night before, so this night he bundled up in blankets and I directed a flat dead tired Koda to lay right beside him to keep him warm. 

The big kids stayed up for another hour, gathered round the fire telling stories. I loved hearing their loud laughs reminiscing about all the stories they've accumulated through the years together. 

I don't remember when they went to bed, but suddenly the whole camp was silent and still. 

Ugg, so fun. The worst part is knowing this is it for the summer. After this, we buckle down and get hair cuts and go to the MALL to buy dumb clothes and onward to school season.