Alas. I'm glad they trusted me enough to tell me about them. I tried not to be too shocked by their confessions, and I shall keep them private and not tell you about them.
This year's trip found us on Heather and Maple Pass, a gorgeous 7.5 mile hike with unbelievable fall scenery.
Actually, we didn't haul our tent up there because, upon checking in with a ranger a few days before the trip, I learned that camping is not allowed up there. The day before, I experienced the telltale signs of cramping and realized that backpacking this time of the month wouldn't be a great idea anyway. So after the hike, we found a place to camp on the Chewuch River, which was too low for fishing in after a year of drought.
It was a cold night. We woke up to 28 degrees and discovered Kai's socks frozen outside of the tent.
We made up for the fishing that day. First, we tried our luck at Patterson Lake, but without a boat to find the deeper places, our fishing poles stayed slack with no trout in sight.
After a beautiful hike up to Patterson Mountain, we went to Pearrygin State Park to fish in the lake there. Still, no luck. Oh well... we are salmon fisherfolk after all... And trout or no trout, it was still beautiful to be bathed in light by the lake, fishing, or in my case, knitting.
In case you are curious about our crazy adventures, here are the blog entries of the previous three years' of mother and sons getaways.
Last year's bike trip
Skyline Divide two years ago
Cutthroat Pass three years ago
Corina :-) you are such a fantastic mama and phenomenal role model to your sons and daughter. Love following your story and your family :-)
ReplyDeleteWow, this is such a sweet comment to wake up to this morning! Thank you!
DeleteThanks for the heads up on a great day trip in the area; will have to check it out! Kudos to you for spending such quality time with your sons. My parents took my brother and I camping and fishing every other weekend growing up and these are my most cherished memories. Lake Pearygin is one of our favorites back when it was not so accessible and Winthrop was just a small dumpy town in the '60's. I now join my brother and his family for a yearly trip in June, but this year there were no fish! We usually get our limit in an hour or so, but not even a bite! The ranger informed us that due to the warm winter, there was an alge bloom in many of the area's lakes, so it killed off most of the fish...they said it could be five years before the fishing is good again. I enjoy reading your posts and applaud your parenting skills. Your boys, as adults, will also fondly remember the time spent and share those experiences with their kids, which is the best contribution you can make to a better world! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWow, Rick, it's hard to imagine Winthrop as a small dumpy town! It is so darn overrun now...
DeleteInteresting bit of info about the algae bloom and fish kill... Hmmmm...
Thanks for your kind words!
Wonderful pictures. This blog post uplifted my spirits after I burned my favorite (expensive) teapot again this morning. I had a bad night and I'm non compus mentis and things happen. I'm now on the alert. But after reading this post I feel better. Thanks for everything. Will you be my momma? ;-)
ReplyDeleteOh, honey, so sorry about your teapot and your bad night. I'm glad my blog post and pictures were able to cheer you up.
DeleteYou make such good memories for your children. They will cherish them and you will also. What a great way to show them how much you love them! I am always moved by your big heart!
ReplyDeleteI hope they will remember these things fondly. Or maybe in ten years they will roll their eyes and sigh, "Gosh, remember how our crazy mother always forced her to go hiking with her???" Ha!
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