Backpacking—Day Three—Big Lake

Today we hiked out to big Lake—probably a mile away. This I guess is most people in the family’s favorite lake. It was huge and beautiful and it was really hot outside so that was nice. You can see it in the background. We had to hike down this really steep cliff. It wasn’t bad until you thought that you would have to climb back up it to get back to camp. We ended up going a different way though. I was starving by the time we got to this point though and ate like 2 or 3 cracker packs.

The love to swim in this lake as it is really clean. It was really clean. Lakes kind of scare me because we can’t see but this one was nice. It was nice to sit down and eat bagel sandwiches for lunch and eat a bunch of snacks here.

Of course the boys were the first in and finally they convinced Kristin and me to jump in. We didn’t really want to but it was actually quite refreshing.

Even Dad Hoffman got in and swam a bit.I teased him because he wasn’t wearing his long pants. The water was chilly and nice.

Aaron brought a fishing pole so the boys tried fishing at most of the lakes with no success. I was so glad that I brought my shamis! So so nice and light and a great thing to dry off with.

It was a constant battle all trip to try and keep the baby out of the sun. We had to get really creative. I LOVE the hat Mom Hoffman bought Sadie to wear. It is adorable. So happy with Daddy in this picture!

The boys were funny. They can really manipulate Seth into doing things he originally doesn’t want to. It is really cute though because he wants to be like and with his brothers.

After our nice swim and lunch break, we hiked over to YellowHammer Lake. This hike wasn’t bad as it was mostly flat, but it was over rocks that reflected the sun which made it even hotter.

So cool with her sunglasses!

The boys pretending to pee or something. The hikers.
At Yellowhammer, there used to be cattle ranchers or some sort of people that kept this little logcabin site up. The rangers I guess shut them down though, even covering the water pump that the Hoffman’s used to get water from. Sadie was so good in her backpack, she would just fall asleep.

Taking a break at this stop.

We had to hike up this large hill to get back over to camp. It ended up being a lot longer than I expected and so I was exhausted when we got back to camp. Here is us at the top though.

Here is Dad Hoffman trying to decide which way we could hike so we didn’t have to go all the way back the way we came. Matt was really nice and carried Sadie all day so I could just carry a little bag.

I was glad to be back. Unfortunately seth ccame on the trip sick so by the end of the night Seth, Aaron and Matt had colds and Daniel and Kristin were sick to their stomachs.

Dad Hoffman was so good and made all the meals for everyone. He is so great. We had great meals—spaghetti, roast beef and mashed potates, macaroni and cheese, burritos, quesadillas and one other one…He was awesome and we didn’t have to help. He was even great and did peoples dishes.  We had soup every night too—which was really great for those who were sick.

I guess Kristin was the only one who changed Sadies’s diaper all trip since that is the only picture we have
And Aaron is the only one who got wood…And Matt the only one who pumped water. Just kidding.

It was a good day but I was ready for bed—that’s for sure!