Brielle was a trooper. I bought her and T-y new backpacks. Brielle was super excited to carry her new pack.

The hike in was very easy. Nobody complained about the hike or the rain. It took 30 minutes to hike to the lake. The kids didn't want to hike into Cutthroat Lake. I think it was because they didn't want to hike in the rain. We quickly found a campsite that was about 50 feet away from a troop of 12 boy scouts. It was a bit close, but I wanted to get camp set before it really started to rain. It stop drizzling when I got the tent set up. I think Amanda and Airy went out gathering firewood or attempted to do so while watching the scouts gathering wood as well. T-y and Brielle started the fire and helped cooked dinner.

Amanda and Airy played in the rain for a while. Bre and T-y changed into dry clothes in the tent and played UNO.

Friday started off really nice. We were planning on taking a day hike into Cutthroat Lake. That plan was washed out by a 1.5 hour rain/hail storm. We all stayed in the tent during the storm. Airy and Amanda brought their "Breaking Crap" books and spent some of this time reading. The rest of us took a little nap. The rain had stopped while we were sleeping. I was worried about the tent leaking during the storm. My worries were eased as no leaks were reported. If any of you are thinking of buying a cheap tent, DON'T! It pays to buy a great quality tent.

We ate lunch and decided to hike to the cliffs located to the east of the lake.

There were a couple of groups climbing the cliffs.

There were a bunch of boulders at the base of the cliffs that the kids wanted to climb. Some of the boulders were taller then I. The kids wanted to climb the boulders to the base of the cliffs. Once we got to the base, the kids wanted to climb the boulders that took them higher. The kids were fearless. The view from the top was breathtaking. The look straight down was also breathtaking. We spent about 3 hours exploring the cliff area and some of the area around the lake.

We went fishing after we got back from the hike. We fished for about and hour with no luck so we went back to camp and had dinner. The kids went out fishing after dinner. The fish weren't biting for the longest time. I was helping Brielle master her casting skills using an open reel. She did a great job casting.
I went over to check on Amanda, Airy, and T-y. When I got to them, I had the following conversation with them:

Airy: There is something wrong with my pole.
Me: What's wrong with it?
Amanda: Dad, I can't see the bubbble.
Airy: It's hard to reel in.
Me: (I grabbed the pole and notice that it was arching.) It looks like you caught a fish. You better start reeling it in.

This was Airy's first ever backpacking trip, so it was fitting that she caught her first fish the first time she went fishing. Her and Amanda wanted to eat it, so I gutted it in front of them. I think Airy nearly lost her dinner watching me gut it. I took it back to camp to cook it. Bre came with me. She said the following while I was prepping the fish.

Dad, is there a way to make fish without using fish?

Bre has always been very sensitive towards animals. In fact, she is so sensitive she cries when she sees some Humane Society commercials or when a animal is hurt in a TV or Movie.

It was a great trip, probably because it was such an easy hike for the kids. I would highly recommend hike to everyone. You can view all the photos of the trip here.

---

Comments

Re: It's Raining It's Pouring, the Old Man is Hiking I laughed so hard at the 'Rainbow' photo of the kids in the pouring rain. What troops you have!!! The panoramic photo is gorgeous. :: Comment posted by Jesicca on Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:39 [Respond to this comment]

---

Your Comment

Name:
URL/Email:	[http://... or mailto:you@wherever]
Title:
Comment:
Password:	[see below for password]
	Save my Name and URL/Email for next time
	(password is 8 characters: three thousand two hundred one followed by the word 'east')