Dustin's recent calling is Scoutmaster and boy does he LOVE it! He had planned a hike for the scouts this past weekend and when he learned nobody was able to attend, he decided he'd take us instead. We were all happy about that.
It is one we have taken our kids on before so we pretty well knew what to expect. It's 2.6 miles round trip and only a small amount of incline so pretty ideal for a family hike.
However, this past Saturday there was a lot of rain! As we made our way up the hill the trail had water and hail just gushing down the center so we had to either straddle the center, walk on the edge or get really wet. This picture really doesn't do it justice. We were at the beginning at this point.
And near the end at this point. :)
Thankfully each of our kids have rain jackets and we brought ponchos for us. There was also quite a bit of snow to walk through so your pant legs got wet if they were not already from the water.
There was a lot of tree fall so we had to climb around it or if you are tiny like the girls you can just duck right under it.
Do you know this 8 year old girl did not complain! As we walked, we talked about our pioneer heritage and how much harder it would have been to have walked for 3 months instead of just 3 hours. How they were pulling carts and we had a backpack. How we had hot dogs with ketchup and jerky and granola bars and they had flour & water. We talked about how because they endured that, we can face our challenges today because we are strong! A year or so ago she came up with the name WheeWaite for herself and her sisters (combining both mine and Dustin's last names). We talked about some of the trials our grandparents had conquered and how we can do hard things too. :)
Each one of our kids had backpacks they carried with a spare pair of socks, their water, some snacks, a flashlight, Kleenex and their rain jackets. Ella chose to walk through the snow or take the harder looking path because she felt like that was a little more real to what the pioneers did and she wanted to prove she was strong. We just let her. Again, she didn't complain.
Hooray, we made it!
When we got to the top and stopped moving, everybody started to freeze. They were wet, tired, hungry and sadly everything we threw into the backpacks was soaked. There were no dry socks to put on, no dry underwear for the 2 year old and a lot of chattering teeth. Pretty soon the kids started to whine. Ella was wrapping her feet in the most dry head wrap she could find to keep them warm. We had each of our feet inside Ziploc baggies to attempt to keep them dry. It worked for the girls with boots, but with shorter shoes the water still got through the tops. Dustin was smart and had waterproof boots so his feet stayed dry.
My good husband attempted to start a fire with flint & steel (just for the sake of teaching me) and within a minute the toilet paper we were trying to catch of fire was wet from the ground so after what seemed like 10 minutes of hearing the kids complain and watch no action in the fire area I insisted we use a match. (Wimpy I know)
Soon after our fire was going, it started to rain. So as great as our attempts to dry out by the fire were, we had to find shelter. Thankfully Dustin was able to move the fire over to a place where the trees were sheltering us from the rain and we could start to warm up and dry out and cook some hot dogs.
When we got to the lake Dustin left to go fishing while the girls and I "played house". Ella wrung out the socks and gloves and changed their position on the clothes line. We cleaned up and cooked everybody some hot dogs. Thankfully the girls and I got warmed up and our pants dried a bit by the fire and they got happy again.
Molly just goes with the flow. She is happy 98% of the time.
If she isn't happy, she is hungry or tired.
We carved Ella's name in the tree.
Because Alissa's pants were wet, she refused to lift her leg and walk. So I carried her on my shoulders all the way back. As I was trudging through the snow I twisted my ankle and fell to my knees. Thankfully I was able to walk the rest of the way down still carrying her. My ankle started to hurt and get stiff and swollen when I stopped walking.
So thankful Uncle Kirk was there to pack one of the kids on the way up. He was a great help!
Lissa found a worm friend. And because I tell her to look at the camera she widens her eyes and thinks she is looking. :)
Overall, my kids had such a fun time and we made some great memories! They were only sad for a few minutes while they tried to get warm. I am so grateful for this opportunity we had to build memories and to let our kids prove they are strong and can do hard things. I was so grateful again to be reflecting on our pioneer ancestors and all they endured. We need to have that faith, we can endure.
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