I read somewhere recently that kids today spend more time in virtual worlds (nintendo, computer, etc) than they do in the outdoors. Looking at my kids curled up on the couch with their nintendos on a beautiful summer day, it is not hard to believe. Solution? Time for their first backpacking trip! We have done day hikes since the girls were little, and used to do a fair amount of geocaching 4 or 5 years ago, but haven't done any hiking this summer.
We got the girls excited about the idea by letting them pick out new gear. They already had good lightweight Sierra Designs sleeping bags, but needed all the rest. The girls picked camp dishes, sporks, dinner (freeze dried chicken & noodles) etc. Shopping! Something they can relate to. We packed up Monday night and headed out Tuesday late morning.
To get to the Hum Lake trail, follow the signs towards Ponderosa State Park. Turn right on Lick Creek Rd before you get to Ponderosa. Follow the road past Little Payette Lake, Lake Fork Camp ground, and Lick Creek Summit until you arrive at the parking area for Duck & Hum Lake trails. It is approximately a 45 minute drive from McCall.
Mosquitoes were thick as soon as we got out of the car, we went through a whole can of bug spray in 2 days there. The trail itself was in good condition, except for all of the windfall that needed to be hiked around, climbed over or limbo'd under.
It was a gorgeous day for hiking. Nice cool breeze. Our 12 year old fit into a new size small Gregory pack we had in the store, the 11 year old had to make do with a Deuter pack I won at a trade show last year. It wasn't a perfect fit and soon the grumbling, whining, and outright complaining began. Dad took pity on her and put her sleeping pad & the tent poles in his pack. We stopped for lunch about 1/3 of the way up. Dad removed the tent from the other kid's pack and put it in his...now he is officially in pack mule mode.
After getting fueled up and their loads lightened, the girls blazed up the trail. The trees across the trail were more frequent on the upper section and really slowed us down. When we finally reached the saddle we found a huge snowbank covering the trail. The snow was firm enough to walk on, but it was a steep drop off on the far side, and too dangerous to descend. Instead we had to scramble up and around. This was a bit hairy, especially for the 11 year old wearing socks and water sandals. This is the child who will only wear shoe shaped objects- crocs, flips, etc. So we are ordering her some proper hiking shoes this week.
After the drama of getting around the snow bank we were ready for camp. Fortunately the hike down is much shorter than the hike up. We crossed snow a couple more times near the top.
I think it took about half an hour to hike down from the top. We were all going at top speed, ready to take off our packs and rest. When we got down to level trail it suddenly ended at a large pool of water with no sign of the trail on the other side.
Big rocks placed strategically in the center, but about 8 inches under water led me to believe the trail must normally cross here when the water is lower. I changed into flips and waded across. Brr! Nothing like snowmelt to refresh the feet! And sure enough, hid in some willows was a log bridge leading towards the lake. The first campsites we came to were completely flooded and soggy.
Farther along the west side the ground was higher and dryer. We checked out the lake from a nice grassy bank along the edge.
Back from the lake a bit was a fire ring and a couple of likely looking spots to set up the tents. The girls were using the Zeus 2 (under 4 lbs) we took on our Seven Devils trip last year. We were trying out a Sierra Designs Zeta 2 (5lbs 7 oz). Both are very quick to set up, although the Zeta's directions were a bit lacking. This was Daisy's first backpacking trip also. I think she ran 10 times as far as any of us, she was so excited. But after a long day on the trail and several swims in the streams she was soggy and worn out. We put her in the girls tent for the night and she whimpered most of the night from her sore muscles.
After a tasty dinner of chicken noodles followed by raspberry crumble desert (love those freeze dried meals!) We were ready to climb into our sleeping bags and read. One of the girls lost her headlamp so she brought a firefly lid on her camelbak bottle. This turns your whole bottle into a lantern...very cool for reading. We had added a Nightglow Attic to our tent, which is a net storage with two pinch lights. We like our gadgets!
Around 3 or 4 am the thunder & rain started. I wasn't worried about getting wet in our Zeta, but the girl's Zeus is a single wall and with all three girls (including the dog) it was a tight fit. Around 6:30 I could hear the girls talking. Everyone stayed warm and dry, except Daisy who looked so pathetic the 12 year old let her into her sleeping bag to warm up. Since the sky was still threatening another thunder storm we decided to skip the freeze dried scrambled eggs and eat clifbars while packing up camp.
An icy cold stream crossing is not the best way to start the day, but what can you do. We crossed, dried off feet and put on socks. The 11 year old wore two pair with her sandals and stayed pretty comfortable for the hike back to the car. It drizzled on us most of the way up. At one point it looked like it might be snowing at the top, but I didn't mention this to the girls.
We had come down so fast the afternoon before we missed all the beautiful wildflowers that were out. The Indian Paintbrush was a color of pink I had never seen before. By the time we got to the top the sun was out again.
The snow was much softer after the rain, so doing the snow shuffle was a bit more of a challenge. When we reached the big snowbank we scrambled around the left side this time, and the going was much easier. The girls were elated by the challenge and quite pleased with reaching the top.
We stopped briefly to rest and then kept a steady pace the rest of the way down, with the girls leading the way. Once again we did the Windfall Limbo where we couldn't hike around or over, and that did slow us down, but not as much as it had on the way up. Daisy was clearly still sore and reluctant to jump over logs like she had the day before, preferring to squeeze under where she could.
All in all, it was a great first backpacking trip for the girls. In hindsight I would have picked a hike with less elevation gain, but the girls did great and had a real sense of accomplishment from the trip. Of course they did go immediately to their nintendos as soon as we arrived home.
The next section becomes more technical, with some boulders to ride over and around.
Nice view of the rock flat neighborhood. We turned around not long after this, where the trail became more rocky. The climb up was nice and gradual.
We were trying to tell if it was one solid rock across this stretch of the creek in the picture below. It looked like it was. We will have to come back when the water is lower.
Can you spot the wild Yaker Spaniel in the picture below? The trail was in good condition, a bit soggy in places. A bit of windfall across here and there to climb over. A couple of trees had fallen but were hanging up in branches of neighboring trees. They made ominous sounds when the wind blew.
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