Backpacking

Keyan, Mara, and I were able to once again go on a backpacking trip, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa watching the other kiddos. This year we went to the Lost Creek Wilderness area, which you can see was burnt in one of the biggest forest fires about 7 years ago. Luckily, most of the trail was not in the burnt area. One good thing about the fire, though, was there was a plethora of wild raspberries. We must have wasted an hour waiting for Mara to pick and eat all the raspberries she could find (of course it wasn't a waste of time for her)!

This is the shaft house, which is a remnant of early attempts to dam up the Lost Creek.
This area is unique with its huge rock formations. Keyan led us on a bushwacking adventure in an attempt to get up on some of these rocks. We didn't really get there...........
Keyan just had to get out in the water and try his hand at fishing. He did catch a few, but since nobody would eat them except me, he put them all back! He could have spent hours fishing, but he knew I could only sit and observe the workings of ants for so long before going crazy!

This 100 + year old cabin would have been a great place to sleep, but I was a little skeptical because of the unseen creatures that already lived there!
It was a great trip, and lots of fun to have Mara with us this year. I don't think she stopped talking the entire time! It was just a pleasure to be able to talk with her instead of having to talk her into getting things done. Hopefully this can carry over into our normal lives when we get back to Florida.