The Jeep Motel

I took the Varsity Scouts camping last weekend above Arrowrock Reservior.  They fished and swam and played games in the full moon.  They settled down to sleep and since it was such a warm night with no threat of rain nobody was going to use a tent.  And in fact when I got up in the morning I found my Jeep became the Jeep Motel.  I now know that with a cargo rack you can "comfortably"  (that's what they swear) sleep 5 scouts in my Jeep than only has carrying capacity of 4 passengers!

Skein and Raft Lakes

BY CASSIE

The drive took us up towards the town of Cascade. 

It was a windy road up the side of a mountain with a great view of Lake Cascade.

                                                 This is us at the trailhead.

Most of the trail was uphill....

...which was a tiring climb.  (that is me)

That is me and Deanne resting (again) on the way up.

This old cabin is where the turn off for the 2 lakes is.

This is the First lake,  Skein Lake.

We continued on to Raft Lake and set up camp.

A picture of part of Raft Lake.

Garrett and Shane headed back to go fishing in Skein Lake. 

The rest of us stayed and explored around Raft Lake.

That is Deanne & Justin playing on the logs.

Erika fell off one of the logs. Not a big surprise.

She hiked out the next morning in wet shoes.

This is a picture of Raft Lake in the morning.

The morning was chilly as you can see.

That is Deanne eating her breakfast.

We are setting out in the morning.

A picture of Skein Lake on the way back down the mountain.

We decided to drop our packs and hike around Skein Lake.

We followed the path for quite a while and when

the trail ended, we continued on scrambling over

dead trees for a while before turning back around.

That is Deanne and Erika walking down the trail.

(:I like going down the trail a whole lot more than going up:)

 Cassie  :)

Strawberry Lake

We drove several hours into Oregon to backpack to Strawberry Lake.

Here we all are at the trailhead.

it was all uphill on the way to the lake

it was about a 1-1/2 mile hike

Arriving at Strawberry lake.  

We passed several people on the trail and there were several more groups 

camped out at the lake when we arrived.

another view of the lake

setting up camp

                      after camp was set up, we hiked another mile uphill to see strawberry falls                                         

at the falls

continuing uphill for another mile, we arrived at Little Strawberry lake

the mountains surrounding little strawberry lake

and again on the way out.

we didn't stay long as the mosquitoes up here were particularly nasty

                                                     by the time we got back to camp it was starting to get dark.
                                                     Strawberry lake as the sun was beginning to set

                                           

                                                                   playing with fire is the best part

cassie and deanne eating breakfast in the morning by the lake

justin and garrett chowing down

ready to head out the next morning

snapped a couple more pictures of the lake on our way out

heading back to the car

we took a shortcut trail that was strewn with downed logs. 

the kids had a blast hopping over the logs

arriving back at the parking lot, the car wouldn't start. 

thankfully, there was another couple that was just getting ready

to head out that kindly gave us a jump. 

Silver City Trek

Megan and Garrett took part in a church sponsored, 4 day handcart trek. 

They were scheduled to show up in Silver City, which is an old mining town

a couple of hours south of Boise, on Saturday.

We showed up a little early and walked around the town.

Below on the left is a friend, Jordan, with her 4 kids. 

Shane is on the right with Erika, Cassie, Deanne and Justin.

A shot of Silver City.

This old car that was used to pull things

 out of the mine shaft was a highlight for the kids...

...Shane seemed to have fun with it too

The old tractor came in a close second for Deanne.

Here come the handcarts!

Megan is in the white shirt below.

That would be Garrett behind the mask. 

And that would be his beat up sombrero on the wagon pole. 

He also had fun cutting up and setting fire to his clothing along the way I heard.

Here is the group all gathered in before the potluck lunch was served.

The kids' comments:

dont send ur kids on the trek!!!!!

(food is good though)

- Garrett

if you like blisters and insects and sunburns and sweat and

sleeping on hard ground, then this is for you. 

but on the good side, they had good food, family camaraderie, and it was good exercise. 

- Megan