Here's our little home for the weekend! The days were beautiful and warm, but the nights were FREEZING! You can see the dog water bowl just outside the tent, and those are my socks drying on the rock. (I washed them, they got really dusty).
Here's a close up of the river, I forget it's name. there are actually two rivers that meet here. Straight down from those rocks in the foreground is the spot where we washed up. It was just private enough that no one could see your wobbly bits unless they came really close. I still had Paul sit as a lookout for me. =)
Polly and Hobie. All he's missing is Gaius, a beer, and his book. Then he's be in perfect bliss.
Two of the friends playing a makeshift horseshoe game. It was played with the green boxes, and large washers instead of horseshoes.We got there Friday evening, and on Saturday we set out for a hike with Josh and his dog, Hildi. We were headed to the spot where we took Hoban on his first ever hike. We didn't quite make it, though.
We ran into too much snow! We had to let the dogs out to play, and as you can see Hildi is having a GREAT time! Nice air!
We were foiled again on our second try, as the couple in the car you can see up ahead told us the trail was so covered in fallen trees, it really wasn't worth the effort. So we set off again in search of a trail...
The third time was a charm! We found a great hiking trail, that had some gorgeous scenery. The first part of the hike was dense with trees and greenery and river foliage. This bridge was at the start of the hike, and was so cute! We decided it felt like a walk-through ride at Disneyland. We kept looking around for Mickey. But no show.
The Coplin family in front of a huge tree. Gotta love the parachute pants!
After the first part of the hike, it opened up to a lava rock field. The rocks were really coarse, and were rough on the puppers' feet. But it was very beautiful. My two older boys looked very handsome posing on the rock.
Josh and Hildi, hiking along the trail.The trees in the distance were part of the B&B fire in 2003.
You can see that the green has come back to the ground underneath the charred remains of the trees. Just goes to show you, "Nothing Dies Forever."
I love the contrast of all the different types of environments here.Not much for shade, though.
We ended up taking our break in the small shade of a large bush. Here's Josh and Hildi chillin'.
Heading back down the trail, only once more through the rocks, kids! Sorry about your feet!
I forgot to put sunblock on the part in my hair, so Paul loaned me his hat. So chivalrous!
I love the color contrasts of the lava fields and the plants that still find a way to grow amongst them.
The dogs all ran across this log, and I thought it'd be so cool to get a picture! We tried to get them to run across again, and Gaius and Hoban ended up jumping/ falling into the river! Josh and I had to haul the boys out! Then Paul tried to get them to run behind him, and Hildi fell off in the middle of the log! Luckily, she's quite the leaper, and jumped right back up on the log! In the end, no good photo, but all dogs were safe and well cooled off. Whew!Sunday, the rest of camp were just hanging out or going for a bike ride, so just the boys and I headed out to find a hike of our own. We ended up not going to the one Paul wanted, as highway 242 was still closed. We ended up heading to the Alder Springs trail. When we got to the trailhead, it looked like a place where you were left to die by mountain men. We kept watching for vultures, and even the sign warned about axe wielding murderers! (Just kidding, but it did warn about rattlesnakes and ticks!) We decided to give it a go anyways.
The first part of the hike took us a half-mile down to a river, where we were supposed to see pictographs on the side of the cliff. Well, the river was beautiful, but the pictographs looked like red moss on a rock. Not too impressive. So we headed back up, and continued down the trail.
It was darn hot, but once we got back up to the main trail it wasn't too hard. My grumpy side threatened to come out, but we pressed on.
The view was dry but quite pretty from the top. We decided to turn around, as the boys' feet seemed to be bothering them. 
Saw this cute heart-shaped rock on the trail and had to share! Sweaty-hot desert hike? That's love, baby!
We made it about 2 miles total this day, and then rested in the shade.
I brought a bandanna I got in the Camp Sherman store on this hike. Not a great picture, but has it has an entertaining lesbian story that goes with it, I had to share so that those who heard the story would have a visual reference. It is, however, not fitting for here. =)
We had to pause for a cow crossing on the way back to the main road. This one is the young calf, so cute!
After this day, the boys were tuckered out! They napped with me in the tent Sunday afternoon.
That's my Hobie, stealing the pillow. You know I love having him to cuddle with, though!
Monday marked the time to go home. We were going to check out the Opal Creek trail on the way home, but the boys-- well their feet-- just weren't up for it. So we made our way home for an easy Monday afternoon. All in all, it was a GREAT trip, and one we might make a yearly thing!
