Backpacking Memorial Day

Backpacking Memoraial Day
Originally uploaded by JHerrick79

I had a great weekend backpacking with Sharon, Jimmy, Braedon and Dylan Szolomayer. We went to the Cleveland National Forest, right in our own backyard.

On the first day, we decided to change our route a little bit when we discovered that the creeks and springs on the map along our route were all dry. So we hiked in to camp one night, and then back out to the car to refill on water. At the car we met a ranger who recommended a trail to a waterfall on the other side of the mountains (Tenaja Falls). So we drove around to that trailhead and started up the mountain for another night. The waterfall was a trickle but very pretty, and it was a very scenic trail.

This was an introductory trip for the boys. Jimmy will be coming with us to Yosemite in August so we wanted him to get some experience on a shorter trip.

Braedon & Dylan seemed to really enjoy backpacking. All us "old folks" couldn't keep up with them on the trail. Braedon was enthused with the map and the GPS and the compass, so it was fun to share that part of the trip with him. As long as we kept feeding them granola bars regularly, they had tons of energy.

One of the highlights of the trip was our nightly games of Go Fish. Or, as it was re-named "Go-a-fishing and Go-a-hiking." This was Go Fish with a twist: At every turn, each person would ask another person for a card, and then ask that same person a question about themselves like "What's your favorite ice cream" or "...movie" or "...vacation," or "...thing to do after school", etc. It was fun because it got the boys talking to each other (instead of bickering), and I learned a lot about all of them.

Another adventure was our encounter with red fire ants. One of them bit Jimmy on the way up the trail, resulting in a big swolen red spot on his leg. Then later when we were looking for a campsite, Brady, Dylan and I dropped our packs to go scout out a campsite, only to later discover that we dropped them on top of the home of a whole bunch of red fire ants. We had to thoroughly inspect all the nooks and crannies of our packs and straps, and prick these really determined ants off one-by-one before we could move on. But nobody else got bit.

There was a threat of rain and almost constant clouds, but it never actually rained except for a very light misting on Monday morning.

All in all a great trip. Prayerfully, Jeff's back will recover enough so that he can join us next time.