They say, 'the first step is always the hardest'. Well, we have discovered it's more like the first mile. At least that has been the case with our children when it comes to hiking. (To be truthful, Myles has most always been a good hiking buddy. And Ethan is now great.)
We hiked from Elkhart Park on the Pole Creek Trail to Miller Lake. It was a great kid-friendly 4 miles. The next day we day-hiked a 4 mile loop past a few lakes and got rained on midway through. We sought refuge from the drizzle under some granite rocks. It was early enough when we got back to camp that we decided to pack up and walk out. Halfway back to the car the sun came out and it was beautiful how the water drops glistened on the forest flora. Ethan described it as fireworks on the water.
My favorite part was walking up the meadow after Upper Sweeney Lake and watching the peaks of the far off Wind River mountains rise above the crest of the hill. The rain clouds didn't ruin the view.
There was a lot of Indian Paintbrush and I tried to capture it's beauty since it is our state flower.
Other highlights were watching the kids enjoy the outdoors. Wandering off to play and explore, and skinny dipping and swimming out to an island showed off their adventurous side.
What you can't see are the numerous mosquitoes that played their part in annoying us and were a consideration in our decision to hike out early, along with Ethan's injured hand and soaking wet clothes.
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| relaxing morning at Miller Lake |
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| Miller Lake |
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| Miller Lake |
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| relaxing morning at Miller Lake |
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| Wyoming State flower, Indian Paintbrush |
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| Middle Sweeney Lake with Ethan swimming out to island |
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| Where art thou, Ethan? :-) |
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| pumping for clean water |
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| Kim doctored a huge gash in his palm from falling on a jagged rock in a creek pool, followed up by a late night ER trip |
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| Upper Sweeney Lake |
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| Upper Sweeney Lake |
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| happy at Upper Sweeney Lake |
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| Wind River Mountains in rain |
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| heading out a day early |
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| shimmering water on plants from fresh sunlight |
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| shimmering forest (playing with camera) |
1 comment:
Absolutely breathtaking! So sorry about Ethan's injured hand. The Mosquitos in Wyoming are like miniature stealth jets attacking you when you least expect it. Thanks for sharing!
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