Friday, August 10, 2012

NORTON LAKES LOOP

We drove about 3 hours towards Ketchum , Idaho to go backpacking.  
Here we are at the start of the trail.


Heading up the trail


 It was a steady uphill climb.  Deanne started out carrying her own pack...


But the hill got the better of her and the next time 
I turned around, Shane was carrying her pack.


The girls resting along the way.


We're getting close!
Garrett ended up carrying Deanne's pack 
most of the way up the mountain.  
And we still couldn't keep up with him!


Not much further now...


At Lower Norton lake, we stopped to eat dinner.


It was a bit too crowded for our liking, 
so after dinner, we hiked another quarter mile to Upper Norton Lake. 


Setting up camp at Upper Norton.  We had the lake all to ourselves!


Justin fishing


He caught several small ones that he threw back.


Upper Norton lake as the sun was setting.


Erika and Deanne catching tadpoles.


hanging out on the hammocks


Garrett trying to convince Erika to get off the hammock


 Shane and Justin headed back down to Lower Norton lake to fish.
The rest of us stayed back at camp.
Erika playing with fire.

Cassie looking on with disdain...


But yet, here is Cassie playing with fire a little later on


The view looking up


eating breakfast in the morning


Some sparks jumped out and landed on Erika the night before.  
Look at those holes!


Getting ready to head out


Cassie and Erika and I stayed to hike up the side of the mountain while everyone 
else headed to Lower Norton to fish some more.


Upper Norton on our way up


It was slow going climbing up that hill.


Here we are near the top


On the way back down, we passed this patch of purple flowers


Coming down was lots of fun with all the small, loose rocks


Upper Norton before heading out


the trail back down to lower Norton


Lower Norton Lake



Skirting the side of the lake to where the rest of the clan were fishing





Heading up the hill on our way to Big Lost Lake.  
That was a steep one!

At the top


Big Lost Lake coming into view


Big Lost Lake


Erika and Deanne wading in the cold lake water


Garrett and Justin skipping rocks


Shane and Megan


Heading out around the side of the lake

Just over the rise, Smoky lake comes into view

Stopping to take in the view

Smoky Lake

The pond behind Smoky Lake

And yet another one

Looking back from the 3rd lake

Heading down the mountain

We passed through some beautiful fields of wildflowers on the way down

It was all downhill, but it was out in the open and it was getting hot....


Not looking good...


Garrett to the rescue again!


We had one casualty on the way down.  
Justin, running to catch up with Garrett, fell on his face.  
It was better in person.  There was blood around his nose and a lot 
more dirt around his mouth before he wiped it off.


Back at the car.  It felt good to take off our packs and our shoes.  
It was almost a  6 mile loop with  about a 1750 foot elevation gain.



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