Adventures

Anything in this family is an adventure, whether we are just getting ready for church or traveling across the country, but taking this crew on a hike in the Alaskan wilderness is especially...exciting, challenging, drama-filled...you can choose your favorite adjective there!

The day started for me at 6am. It takes that long to get everyone going by 9am! We almost made it out of the house on time and headed out for a hike on a gorgeous morning to Williwaw Lakes!

On the way we encountered our first bit of controversy. Along the road there was either a very large house cat or a small bob cat fishing in the stream! I'd love to show you a picture but the camera wouldn't work and by the time I had my cell phone's camera ready it was gone! Nonetheless, I say bob cat!

Here we have our next controversy. I found a trail online. It was called the Williwaw Lakes trail and described beautiful emerald lakes. That was not what we found, however. At the trailhead we learned that the Williwaw Lakes were about 12 miles through the mountains and could only be reached via several criss-crossed trails, beginning where we were! Oh well, we had trails and wilderness aplenty!

It was a pretty hike with some nice views of the Anchorage bowl and we even saw Denali! Once again, we are having some technical difficulties with our POC camera so I can't show you a picture. Here's one of the trail views with some of the kids waaay down the trail instead!

Probably the most exciting thing we encountered on the hike was a fast moving stream with a foot bridge over it. We stopped on the way in and out to enjoy the view, take some pictures and rest!

The kids did really well until it started getting close to lunch time. We made it just over a mile in then had to turn back. Luckily I had planned a picnic lunch for after the hike so everyone had lots of motivation to return! We didn't carry any snacks because we are still nervous about bears. With as many people we saw on this trail, though, I think our concern was unwarranted.

Spencer couldn't go on when were about 1/2 mile away from the trailhead so Scott and I took turns carrying him. I had Charlie on my front in the Moby and Bubs on my back! When I got too tired and the trail started going up hill I put him down. Scott took over carrying him in his arms with Wesley on his back! It was quite a workout!

Finally, we made it back, much to the kids' relief! We managed to hike about 2 1/2 miles, which is awesome for this family! Our picnic was well appreciated and enjoyed after all that work!

I don't know if the kids will grow up and see this as good times or whether they look back and think about how mom and dad tortured them in the woods! I hope that we are making happy memories for them, I know they are for me!