Group Camp :: Heather Lake

What do you notice, right off the bat... 

PUDDLES?

Yes. 

We got to camp, set everything up, and then the clouds clapped and it started pouring rain. I don't love camping in the rain. We had everything out and organized, but then chucked it all into shelter as the rain was coming. So you know, chaos. 

But then the sun came out and it was so pretty!

You know when the sun and the drops of rain are happening at the same time? It's so cool. 

Burn ban on, of course. There is not enough space for all of us around this fire. 

Next year we are bringing another one. One for adults, one for kids. ey ey ey. 

The next day we went and hiked up Heather Lake. 

There were so many cool trees and roots and rocks on this trail. 

PS All the pretty pictures are from Lindsay and her nice camera. It's the best to have a photographer making every step of the way look extra magical.

Behind the scenes of the selfie. haha

We got a "mom picture" with three extra kids snuck in. It wouldn't be a mom picture without that.  

The dogs were living their best best life for a couple days. 

Koda and Scout kept swimming after the ducks. Is there anything more fun for a dog than to get teased by ducks. 

On the way back down the mountain, Lisa found Hunter's wet undies that must have fallen out of someone's pack. She walked them back down the whole trail. 

When we got back to the parking lot, the dogs became pancake dogs. So tired. 

We were sitting here on the log, waiting for everyone to finish the hike, 

 when a poor girl in a sky blue body suit - that had obviously fallen or schooched down a part of the trail - butt and back covered in brown - backed her car into the Cotter's car. 

crunch.

She was not having a good day. Her car was heavily dented; the Cotters was not even phased. 

Back at camp: 

archery, beebee guns, dinner, 

(surprise! my kids are sick of Mountain House meals! time to go back to cooking real meals)

River.

The crossing to get to the other side is always a thing. Me and Lindsay find a stick, figure where the best place to cross, take it super carefully...meanwhile the kids just wander in and out of the river without much ado. 

Fishing.

Clay bath,

swimming. 

We always end the second night freezing and wishing we brought more towels after swimming in the river. 

Everyone gathers around the little fire to bring the core temperature back up. 

Johanna and Dane were helping the little kids get smores, and of course the teens got in on it. 

I'm not sure why we let the kids take over the fire. Us adults huddled in the sprinter van. 

In the early morning the second rain storm came. 

In my sleeping stupor I heard the drops on top of the tent. It was a lovely, cozy sound. 

But it was also a "dang it" sound. Our morning was overtaken by huddling in our tents, and the clean up was extra dirty with everything soaked. 

I love this campout. We look forward to it all summer. But we also don't want it to happen because it means the end of summer. It means we have to settle down and go school shopping and say goodbye to our fabulous summer days. 

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.