Round-Trip Distance: 2.4 miles, plus 1 mile Smugglers Cove/Short Sand Beach sidetrip.
This was one of those trips we probably should have waited for another day to do. The kids were not in the mood to do ANYTHING. Easiest backpacking trip to date, but we should have done this a different day. The kids were not feeling it.
The trip into the lake was a bit muddy and slick and generally this is fun for the kids, but this time you would have thought the mud was hot lava. I thought I was being smart when I bought the kids Keen and Teva water shoes for backpacking. I was like, “oh these can get wet and will dry fast and I won’t have to worry. They can wear socks or not and it will be perfect”. Well I never anticipated backpacking in mud. Out of our first three trips, two of them have been a muddy mess. Note to self, buy hiking shoes next time and bring these along just in case. Actually, bring two pairs of shoes for the kids, it’s worth the weight! See why in our Olympic Backpacking adventure post.
This was a surprisingly short hike-in at about 1 mile. We found the marked camping spot that was in the One Night Wilderness: Portland book, but it was above the water, without a view, but hey I’m in the woods so I can’t complain. We hiked completely around the lake, which wouldn’t have been a big deal on any other day. There wasn’t a single spot that you could fit anything, so we went back to the designated spot. Honestly, I don’t remember what we ate, think it was the mac and cheese that I found from the www.dirtygourmet.com again. I was just tired and glad we were there. When your kids are complaining your thankful to get where it is you were going just to get there non-stop chatter about what’s wrong to stop.
There were about 1 million salamander/frog/tadpole/newt things in the water and we saw oodles of garter snakes. This was the hikes saving grace which helped take the edge off of the constant complaining from the kids. I’m not sure what was going on with them, but boy did we hear about every little problem. Tip: walking hand in hand with the kids, makes for less complaining when they aren’t happy about what they are doing.
The weather was wet, not rain jacket wet, but everything was wet. Thankfully and unbelievable we found a firelog, yes someone packed one of those babies in and didn’t use it. It was drenched, but after we tore it apart and a bit of coxing (ok almost an hour of coxing) we got it to light and that made everyone just a little more happy.
This was the first trip we tried all sleeping in our REI Half Dome tent and amazingly we fit. It was a rough night, Noah woke up a half dozen times, he ended up going right back to sleep, but not until he woke Will and I. So we were really tired. Will started rethinking sleeping together, since Noah is usually my sleeping partner.
Saturday was Oregon’s Free Fishing day and we brought the poles and tackle. The kids were jacked. Thank goodness they woke up in a little better mood. We took their poles and some bait, no bites, but we did see a fish jump near where we cast in. The kids don’t have much patience yet for fishing so this was really a throw the bait out, reel it in, add more bait, throw it out kind of adventure. The kids don’t have enough patience just yet to actually think we were going to catch dinner.
That night we were bombarded by the whooing of Barred Owls. Will and I had never heard anything like it. It almost sounded like a coyote because it was a chorus of more than one and they moved and got closer as we listened in. Will was certain it was Sasquatch and I was pretty sure we were being surrounded by a pack of wild dogs. At one point Will got out the flashlight and started shining it around. We heard a huge branch snap and then nothing. We didn’t realize it was Barred Owls until we got home and started listening to sounds on the computer.
The saving grace of this trip, was we were only 9 miles from the ocean, so we made a sidetrip to Smugglers Cove and played on the beach and checked out the tidepools. It was dry and amazingly warm and sunny. I thought I might be in California with the great weather! The kids had an awesome time on the beach. It took all the yucky stuff from the weekend and made it go away. They were happy, friendly, and fun to be around again.
I wear Marmot Womens Lobo Pant and never realized how AWESOME they were until today. We crossed the stream that is at the end of the hike to get to the non-crowded portion of the beach and to the tidepools and my pants literally shed off the water. They were dry in a matter of minutes. I haven’t ever worn something so warm, comfortable and soft and have that type of resistance to water. Will and I both were impressed. Now I know why I paid a bundle for these pants!
Trail Map
http://alltrails.com/tracks/trail-back-with-twins
http://alltrails.com/tracks/45-year-old-twon-backpacking-speed
