Day 1 - backpacking

I'm going to use Lisa's idea for blogging about our trip and do it separately for each day...  so here is day 1!

Last Saturday, Clint got off at 3 pm.  We had most of the gear gathered up, so we just spent a few hours with Dane.  Then about 5:30pm we took Dane over to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Sadly, he didn't get to go on this trip.  His weight makes him hard to take on a long backpacking trip like this one, and we really needed to get back into Clint's area and take a look around.  Dane was excited to see them and it was so nice of them to take him for the 2 nights!  (Thanks again!)

We came home, finished getting our gear ready and went to bed.  We then got up at 1 am and loaded up for the drive.  Fast forward to 7 am and we are headed up the trail to Hilgard Basin!  What a hike that was!!!  It's about 9 miles and it's just a nice steady climb.  Clint and I both had camping gear and then I wore Kimber in a front-pack.  The views were outstanding, it makes it worth the work to get back there!  I'm sorry, I'm probably going to overdo it with scenery pictures, but it was just incredible!

This was on the hike in, looking back down the trail.

Looking up the trail...  we are headed off to the left in this picture.  It's only about another mile to the Basin that we are headed to.

We stopped in this meadow for a while, filled up our water and took some pictures.  Clint also realized that there were wild onions all over and took the opportunity to pick some. 

Here you can see Clint using our water purifier to fill up our water.  Although a lot of the springs are probably fine to drink from, we didn't want to take any chances.  Especially with me nursing Kimber, Giardia could really be bad!!!  The purifier worked great and actually was pretty quick and easy to use.  (especially for me, since I don't think I did it once...  Clint spoiled me and always filled our water!)

By about 2 pm we had found a spot to camp in the Basin and had set up our tent.  My hubby, in his infinite wisdom assured me that the tent would be fine even if it wasn't staked down.  Although this concerned me a little, he finally said "okay, we will put some rocks in it".  He was further exasperated by my insistence that we pack our jackets and the emergency ponchos.  It was sunny and about 75 degrees.  I know, I am a pain...  but sometimes it pays to be prepared.  (by the way, my new job title is Emergency Preparedness Planner...  very appropriate!! lol)

After we left camp and were hiking up to a ridge line to get a good vantage point.  As you can see, goats could be anywhere!  Here Kimber and I are looking for them.  (okay, Kimber is sleeping soundly, but I'm looking)

The wildflowers were everywhere and so pretty.

This is Echo Mountain and the ridge line to the right is where we are headed.  This was a beautiful little lake...  you can't really see the incredible colors in this picture.  I would also like to point out the ominous clouds.

After stopping here for a moment we head off towards the ridge.  I started getting nervous about the approaching thunderstorm, but it is just going over us at this point and we aren't sure what is behind the mountain.  (so of course, we keep going!)  All the sudden the wind picks up and is blowing really hard up towards the ridge.  We look up and dark grey clouds are literally rolling over the ridge.  At that point we pull out the jackets and emergency ponchos  (way to be prepared!!!) and hunker down beside a big boulder.  It was the best we could do for shelter, cause as you can see there isn't really any.  Then it proceeded to hail and rain and blow.  Not to mention the thunder that was so loud you could almost feel it.  I must admit, I was a little spooked at this point.  Clint has Bones on his lap and is trying to shelter him with the poncho and I have Kimber.  After what seemed like forever, the hail/rain/wind pretty much stopped for a few minutes...

This is what it looked like then.  Yes, you  are looking at the same ridge line, we are just a little higher up.  Notice that you can't even see Echo Mountain anymore.

You can't really see it, but I'm giving Clint a thumbs up in this picture!  (okay, I wasn't really feeling it, but he prompted me!)  Kimber is still zipped in my jacket cause it was chilly and sprinkling.

After we hiked up the ridge (I stopped about 20 yards from the top, almost unheard of for a Hauptmann/Houston, but I knew the wind would be blowing hard on top and Kimber needed to eat, so I stopped and waited for Clint)  He couldn't see a whole lot from where we peeked over, so he quickly came back and we started making our way back down.  Of course it started raining steadily on the way back so we pulled the ponchos out again and put them on.  They kept our upper halves pretty dry, but we both had pretty wet pants by the time we got back to the tent. 

Well, remember Clint telling me the tent would be "fine" even if he didn't stake it down...  well, it wasn't exactly fine.  Luckily the rocks stopped it from rolling completely away, but it had traveled a little ways and was door up with a bunch of hail piled on the door.  Needless to say, the rain fly is kind of useless when your tent is at this angle.  :)  But, we quickly found a new spot, got the tent righted and Clint tied it down really well.  Then we all (including Bones, the wet dog) piled into the tent at about 6 :30 pm and ate pbj and granola bars for dinner.  YUM!  :) 

Kimber did pretty well overnight.  She fussed a little bit until I finally got brave and put on my cold wet pants and made the 200 yard dash to the gripe water.  (it was hanging in the bear proof tree 200 yards from our tent, Clint offered but he had already gone once to get the dogs food and our delicious dinner)  Then she settled right down and enjoyed a nice night taking up 3/4 of the mummy bag.  (okay, maybe not quite that much!)

Here is the princess...