Aug. 13-14
My biggest passion in the great outdoors is being able to share the adventures with kids. The soul is filled and renewed with the energy of children and challenges that come with.
I was able to round up my niece and nephew this year for a few days of backpacking. With the insanely warm summer in Washington and my niece and nephew not used to carrying a backpack, I decided to head out to Pete Lake. The route is 4 flat miles to the lake. Simple enough only it was 95 degrees in Central Washington and by the time we arrived at the trailhead it was noon. It is very tough to motivate kids at noon on an extremely hot day.
We made it to our lake. The boy cousins set up there two person tent and I bunked with the girl cousins. The kids spent a good three hours in the lake. As the sun set, we made our way back to the tents. All five of us crammed into a three person tent. We stayed up late playing cards and chatting about all the fun topics that eight to eleven year olds like to talk about.
The next morning, we took our time hanging out and enjoying breakfast together. I enjoyed chasing the kids with my camera as they played together. We finally agreed to pack up as thunderstorms could be heard in the distance. As soon as we all had our packs loaded, we headed out. On the way back, we crossed the smallest of streams, two feet wide, running across the trail. The kids managed to see a fish, one inch long and catch it in a water bottle. I couldn’t believe it. Who would have thought a random tiny stream would have fish in it. Although it was exciting, this poor fish was not going to survive with 4 kids, so I had them release the fish back into the water. We continued on our way back to the car.
We filled up on lunch at Twin Pines Drive-In with burgers and milk shakes. Such a fun backpacking trip with my kids and niece and nephew.
