Backpacking trip

A milestone for our family: Alison got her drivers license! and the kids stayed by themselves for a few days.  Ben and I went backpacking up in the Sierras and the kids did great holding down the fort at home.

Our first day, we drove up to Lone Pine and channeled our Yuma life to eat tacos in 105°.  Then we drove up to 10,000ft elevation to acclimate.  We took a little walk and Ben did some fly fishing.   The stars that night were so magnificent, it was worth the whole trip.

We got up early the next day and drove/off roaded to the base of Split Mountain. 

It was hotter that day than we anticipated and with no shade, it made the trek pretty uncomfortable.

Pictures don't do the "trail" justice...it was a much harder hike than we thought it would be.  And I say "trail", because 95% it did not look like a trail and was covered in overgrown thorn bushes and boulders.  We were pretty happy to finally reach Red Lake.

We set up camp, put our feet in the alpine lake, ate dinner and enjoyed a quiet mountain all to ourselves.

I learned many lessons on this trip and one of them is to thoroughly check your stuff before hanging the bear bag to make sure all scented things are put away.  I will never make that mistake again.  I missed a wrapper in my bag and a rodent tortured me all night long, trying to get in my bag and tent.  Unfortunately, it was successful in getting in my tent which resulted in lots of screaming in the middle of the night.  It didn't leave me alone until Ben threw rocks at it around 4 am.

While I finally got some sleep, Ben went to the summit of Split Rock mountain.  

This is me very excited to see Ben alive when he got back to camp.

The hike took longer than he thought and I made another mistake by reading a book about a widow in her 40's while waiting for him.

Again, pictures don't do it justice, but hopping boulders was a large portion of our trek down.

Do you know what tastes amazing after backpacking?  Carl's Jr. milkshake and fries.  I haven't had Carl's Jr since it was Hardees and I was a kid, but it really hit the spot this day.

Overall, we had a great adventure, enjoyed some beautiful nature and had some fun.  And while I would choose an easier hike for next time, I'm glad that we did this.  It's always good to put things in perspective; to appreciate the little things we take for granted and to remind us that we're capable of more than we think.

Here's the video Ben made: