Hannah and I got back yesterday from our backpacking adventure. We drove north and east into the Cascades, on Mountain Loop Highway past Granite Falls, to hike up to Pinnacle Lake and stay the night. It’s the first time I’ve taken any of the children backpacking, so I wasn’t quite sure how it would go.
Hannah had her own pack and carried her own gear:
We stopped by Bear Lake on the way up, which was huge and pretty. Being August, it was also pretty warm.
The hike up to Pinnacle Lake was 2.0 miles and the first mile was brutally steep, going up almost 1,000 feet. There were lots of rocks to climb and tree roots to scale.
We had to take frequent breaks, and were a little discouraged:
There was a neat wooden bridge along the way, though:
Here’s Bear Lake again, giving a sense of how much we’ve ascended. The views on the way up were magnificent:
At the end, we reached this lake, and wondered if this were Pinnacle Lake. It seemed a little disappointing:
We pushed on another eighth of a mile, and found the real Pinnacle Lake at 4,000 ft, which was just beautiful:
After some time at the lake, having soaked up the beautiful scenery, it was time to set up camp. We found a pretty good spot back by the little lake. Our tent was on a slant – it was the only flat spot without mud – so sleeping was a little strange as we kept sliding down!
We also had to set up a camp bathroom. This was the ladies’ room: notice the elegant TP dispenser:
Dinner on a backpacking trip was dehydrated, of course: Teriyaki Chicken and Rice. Hannah said it wasn’t as good as when I make it. We were hungry though, and still pretty excited about dinner:
Hannah and I gathered wood for a campfire and got a pretty good blaze going to warm ourselves and make cocoa – it gets cold quickly at 4,000 ft.
Once it was dark, it was time for bed, although we played a few hands of Gin before going to sleep. Hannah hadn’t played before, but picked it up very quickly.
The morning found us making oatmeal and snacking on Pop-Tarts [hey, they don’t weigh much] and exploring the lake further. It was even more gorgeous in the morning light:
When we broke camp, we used some of our wilderness skills – Hannah and I both took Wilderness Awareness School courses this summer, to make sure our campfire site was virtually unnoticeable:
The hike down was uneventful, and seemed shorter than the way up, as return hikes usually do. We stopped by Bear Lake one more time for some scenery and cards:
We didn’t get back to the car until about 1:30 pm, so we ended up having a very late lunch. But we made sure to lunch in style after our big adventure.
It was a really fun trip, and I definitely hope to do more backpacking with the children in the future!
