I'm hating moving pictures around, so here they are...out of order and everything. It's bothering the ocd in me. Oh well.
Grandpa Thomson telling stories from his childhood.
Grandpa Thomson telling stories from his childhood.
I didn't want to forget two of my favorite stories, so while we were sitting around the fire, I wrote myself a note.
Isaac resting by the Popo Agae river.
These mosquito nets were nice!Jacob forgot he was wearing his and tried to take a bite of his macaroni noodles.
"I ripped my pants!" rolling rocks. in three places.
Grandpa, Jacob, and Isaac.
Miracle of miracles, Justin found the water bottle.
Grandpa loves to have pictures of trying to push over a rock.
Backpacking in the Wind Rivers was awesome. As a young girl, I always yearned to go with my Dad, but I’m a girl and the youngest, so never got to go, but my dream came true…
Justin and I decided that we would leave for Utah a few days early so we could back pack through the Uintahs or the Wind Rivers. After looking at the map, we decided the WR made the most sense for our drive. In the mean time, my parents had gone to visit Camille in Colorado and I thought, ‘hey maybe my dad would like to meet us there.” So I called him on Sunday and told him that we would be there on Wednesday and would like to go for two nights. You ready for some amazing coincidences??
He said that he was driving to Lander, WY on Monday to visit with some rock friends and were going to drive home on Wednesday. Lander is a town about 15 minutes away from the WR. We worked out a few of the details and made a plan. I think Heavenly Father had a role in this backpacking trip.
My kids (besides Allison) hadn’t seen my parents since last summer. I love that initial excitement , hugs, and the feel in the air when you are reunited with people you love.
We figured out the hiking route, arranged the bags for Allison and Ammon who were staying with Grandma Ricky in their camper and left. On the way to the trail head, we stopped and looked at the Popo Agae river, and a trout area. What was awesome was that there was a big horn sheep sitting by the ranger building. I think these are majestic animals and have never seen one in the wild before.
Looking down on the river, there were dozens of HUGE trout swimming. Some forestry workers gave us bread to feed them. My dad and I threw bread chunks down to the fish while the rain started to really come down. This river is unique in that it goes under ground for several hundred feet, then pops back up.
It took us about forever and a day to get our packs situated and food figured out, but eventually we got going. (It only rained about 15 minutes, thank goodness.) We hiked along the Popo Agae river for some of the hike. That is a big raging river. We hiked to the falls which were spectacular. Hiking on, we were crossing a mucky water crossing with a few limbs thrown in. Yep, I fell in, and have a nice purple/black bruise to prove it. I lost my balance and with the weight of the pack, I tipped over. Muddy pants and wet. Not my favorite way to start a hike, but helps to make things memorable.
We found a place to camp about 2 miles in. Someone had previously camped there but it had been many years before. It was nice to camp somewhere that felt like the wilderness. We quickly started a fire to scare away the swarming mosquitoes, then put up our tents.
After we were settled we sat around the fire and listened to Grandpa tell some of my favorite stories from his childhood. He is an amazing storyteller. I want to have them documented for ancestry. My boys were transfixed. Maybe some day I’ll try to retell them, but here’s a list of what we heard: taking apart the gymnasium in the middle school for a job and almost getting killed but saved by divine intervention; riding his bike on 8th east in logan and running into a foreigner head on; warming up cans of beans over a campfire; sliding down the hill by Romney stadium before it was built on a car hood and going under the barbed wire fence; getting thrown into the middle school gym naked after a shower in the middle of girls gym time; story of the peanut butter man camping.
The next day we did a 6 mile hike. Some highlights were naming the many wild plants, rock rolling and Grandpa ripping his pants, Justin losing his water bottle and actually finding it later, eating Ramen under a huge boulder while rain started but ended as soon as we were nice and sheltered.
I never thought I would drink filtered water, but I did and seem to be okay. It was tasty water.
The next morning, we packed up and hiked out the remaining two miles, renaming the plants, and enjoying the majestic views of the waterfall on a different route back to the car.
I am so, what’s the word….heart warmed that I was able to go back packing with my Dad and have the boys there too. I hope they can remember this trip for the rest of their lives.
Ammon and Allison supposedly did great with Grandma. On the second day, it rained all day, so Grandma drove into Lander to the local thrift shop and also took them to the Children’s museum. They also went to the playground and watched a little of Shakespeare in the Park. What a fun Grandma!
Justin and I decided that we would leave for Utah a few days early so we could back pack through the Uintahs or the Wind Rivers. After looking at the map, we decided the WR made the most sense for our drive. In the mean time, my parents had gone to visit Camille in Colorado and I thought, ‘hey maybe my dad would like to meet us there.” So I called him on Sunday and told him that we would be there on Wednesday and would like to go for two nights. You ready for some amazing coincidences??
He said that he was driving to Lander, WY on Monday to visit with some rock friends and were going to drive home on Wednesday. Lander is a town about 15 minutes away from the WR. We worked out a few of the details and made a plan. I think Heavenly Father had a role in this backpacking trip.
My kids (besides Allison) hadn’t seen my parents since last summer. I love that initial excitement , hugs, and the feel in the air when you are reunited with people you love.
We figured out the hiking route, arranged the bags for Allison and Ammon who were staying with Grandma Ricky in their camper and left. On the way to the trail head, we stopped and looked at the Popo Agae river, and a trout area. What was awesome was that there was a big horn sheep sitting by the ranger building. I think these are majestic animals and have never seen one in the wild before.
Looking down on the river, there were dozens of HUGE trout swimming. Some forestry workers gave us bread to feed them. My dad and I threw bread chunks down to the fish while the rain started to really come down. This river is unique in that it goes under ground for several hundred feet, then pops back up.
It took us about forever and a day to get our packs situated and food figured out, but eventually we got going. (It only rained about 15 minutes, thank goodness.) We hiked along the Popo Agae river for some of the hike. That is a big raging river. We hiked to the falls which were spectacular. Hiking on, we were crossing a mucky water crossing with a few limbs thrown in. Yep, I fell in, and have a nice purple/black bruise to prove it. I lost my balance and with the weight of the pack, I tipped over. Muddy pants and wet. Not my favorite way to start a hike, but helps to make things memorable.
We found a place to camp about 2 miles in. Someone had previously camped there but it had been many years before. It was nice to camp somewhere that felt like the wilderness. We quickly started a fire to scare away the swarming mosquitoes, then put up our tents.
After we were settled we sat around the fire and listened to Grandpa tell some of my favorite stories from his childhood. He is an amazing storyteller. I want to have them documented for ancestry. My boys were transfixed. Maybe some day I’ll try to retell them, but here’s a list of what we heard: taking apart the gymnasium in the middle school for a job and almost getting killed but saved by divine intervention; riding his bike on 8th east in logan and running into a foreigner head on; warming up cans of beans over a campfire; sliding down the hill by Romney stadium before it was built on a car hood and going under the barbed wire fence; getting thrown into the middle school gym naked after a shower in the middle of girls gym time; story of the peanut butter man camping.
The next day we did a 6 mile hike. Some highlights were naming the many wild plants, rock rolling and Grandpa ripping his pants, Justin losing his water bottle and actually finding it later, eating Ramen under a huge boulder while rain started but ended as soon as we were nice and sheltered.
I never thought I would drink filtered water, but I did and seem to be okay. It was tasty water.
The next morning, we packed up and hiked out the remaining two miles, renaming the plants, and enjoying the majestic views of the waterfall on a different route back to the car.
I am so, what’s the word….heart warmed that I was able to go back packing with my Dad and have the boys there too. I hope they can remember this trip for the rest of their lives.
Ammon and Allison supposedly did great with Grandma. On the second day, it rained all day, so Grandma drove into Lander to the local thrift shop and also took them to the Children’s museum. They also went to the playground and watched a little of Shakespeare in the Park. What a fun Grandma!
The Peanut Butter man was my favorite story Dad used to tell.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got to have one of your dreams come true. I never knew you wanted to go camping with Dad when he took our brothers, I was relieved I did not have to go as a teenager! I did not mind staying home with mom, It was nice to have them all out of the house. :)
This is a nice post!
CP