To end our summer vacation, we went out on a backpacking trip back to Dorothy Lake. Daniel and his boys went along with us. The previous weekend, Pete, Daniel and Jessica went on a day hike to pack up and hide some of the camping gear, just to make the trip a little lighter for the guys since their goal was to paddle out to 'blueberry island' (the island they discovered and nicknamed that, since it's full of blueberry bushes). They stashed the raft and paddles in one spot, then put our tent, sleeping pads and other misc gear on the island itself. We crossed our fingers and prayed everything would still be there (which, luckily, it was). The hike itself was actually easy and short, considering the adult packs were packed to the rim. This was Dominick's first hiking trip using his first 'big boy' backpack (the other three boys just have their hydration packs). Dominick did pretty good; he only complained a little about the weight of his pack. Out of the three adult packs mine was the lightest (yet still very heavy), and both Pete and (mostly) Daniel were sweating like pigs on the trail. When we made it to our first stop, we were relieved to find that our raft was still in its hiding spot. The only issue with it was sometime during that week a rodent decided to take a nibble out of it. Pete had some 'fix anything' tape and patched the hole up. Once the raft was inflated, we loaded Daniel up with all our gear and he paddled off to the island while Pete, boys, and I finished hiking up the trail to our second location. We waited for Daniel to get to the island, unload the gear, then start the process of paddling everyone over to the island. Once we were all on the island, the fun began. The boys ran around and played; Pete and Daniel fished; and I picked blueberries. We stayed from Friday until Sunday morning. Other than the rain that started up on Saturday night (and didn't stop) and the long process of getting back and forth from the island, it was an awesome trip.
can you find the frog in this picture?
Daniel takes his fishing very seriously. And it shows-just look at the pictures! (I like making fun of him with all the different poses he does with the fish). On this trip he caught 5 trouts. He let each boy take a turn reeling in their own fish. Pete, however, didn't have very good luck catching any fish. UNTIL....
Pete finally caught a fish! He was so excited. Daniel climbed down to the waters edge with the net to catch it. While Pete is reeling it in, he makes the comment, "I think it's a big one, it's fighting me" (and it did look like it was hard for Pete to reel this fish in).
Pete caught a big one alright....he caught a stick!!! Daniel and I were laughing so hard at Pete. I tried to convince Pete to bring the stick home and let me mount it to the wall in our house so we could show off the 'big fish' he caught.
Poor Damien. First, he ended up with blisters on the back of his heels (one of which was huge and popped). Daniel had to clean the sores a couple of times each day, which Damien didn't like. Then, Damien accidentally cut his thumb on Daniel's knife. It took a while for the bleeding to stop.
The best part of this camping trip was the food. We ate good! Daniel caught 5 trout, which he fried up with some sauces and seasoning (yum!); Pete made blueberry muffins for breakfast, then a blueberry cobble for dessert using the blueberries I picked. One of our dinners (pic below) consisted of mashed potatoes and tacos!!
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