Our plan was to get on the trail by like 11 am.... uhm nope. Met up at their house at 9 and they are almost ready, take the big boy seat out of the van and load the packs into Ashevilles car. Had to stop back at my house since I left all of the perishables for the whole crew in the fridge. OOOPS. No worries. Back to the road. Jamming some Grateful Dead on the way. We stopped at a spot for quick lunch while we let the biggest rain of the day pass.
The trailhead.... at 1...... Salmon River trail. So Ashland needs to work in the morning and were not going that far in since we have the boys but we're keeping track of the time. We walk a bit and take a nice long break at a neat little rocky outcrop on the river. Some snacks and get the packs off. About 45 minutes later we pack back up and do the rest of the walk. We talked to a couple older women on the trail that were blown away by Atreyu (4 yrs) and Cherri-O (6yrs) carrying their own packs, they give us the skinny on a nice camp spot they saw on the way. It was perfect, our goal was Rolling rifle camp, but we didn't make that one. The spot we found was just too good. The clearing was plenty big enough for the boys to run around, there was a spot to hang the hammock and a tent for the other guys. The spot is well loved and well cared for (YAY for rule #1). There is good river access, a bench made from an old log and a work table out of a stump. Perfect spot. We straighten up the fire-pit, set camp and collect wood. Fire gets going pretty easy and this evening is looking NICE. Dinner is cooked on the MSR stove with my new cook pot, a GSI 1 liter. The pot is great. I love it. Small and light enough to carry in but big enough to meet most of my needs on the trial.
The cook pot holds exactly the perfect amount of water for making 4 bowls of ramen noodles with chicken and veggies in it. What I do is crunch up the noodles in the pack and pour pre-cooked chicken and par cooked broccoli and carrots into my bowl and the fill with hot hot and cover with a lid for a couple minutes. As soon as the noodles are soft dinner is ready. As a treat for the boys I packed in a couple of graham crackers and chocolate frosting cookies (thanks for the reciepe mom) and a few marshmallows. As a treat for the dads an couple of "Left-Hand Milk Stout." Yum.
Get the boys ready for bed. Atreyu and I slept in the hammock and Asheville and Cheeri-O stayed in their tent. The coolest new piece of gear I've been the most excited for in a while goes up over the hammock. I bought "The Party Fly" by Bear Butt. This fly is AWESOME! Its super light and easy to work with, it drizzled all night and oh-so-cozy dry. The price was so right on. Bear Butt is a smaller company still and so they actually responded to my tweets, lol that was cool, but I recommend checking out their line of stuff. This fly is a solid 5 stars so far. The experience of sleeping in the hammock needs some work though. I wasn't super ready for it. I tried using my sleeping pad and my old down bag. It was just a little cold. I know Atreyu was a little cold cause half way through the night he climbed up and slept on my belly to keep cozy, I do love cuddles. I bet a good wool blanket would have been better choice than the sleep system I had. I hear they have hammock quilts that are good choice, but I don't know anything about them. *Hit me with some good info.*
Get a fire going in the morning to warm up and do some oatmeal and coffee packets. I make my own instant oatmeal blends at home. It costs less and I pack them into plastic sandwich bags I can reuse. One thing I really like doing is putting dried fruits in the oatmeal. I'm not a big oatmeal guy so the more flavor the better, besides its more nutritious that way anyway. If you use dehydrated rather than freeze dried they will (at least partially) reconstitute in the bowl and become warm and mushy fruit. So far I like bananas and blueberries the best.
Clean up the camp and pack up. Clear away a couple of fire rings that aren't necessary. And hit the trail back down.
Quick overnight but so nice. The ride back to town was a little insane trying to keep two super-over-excited, not worn out enough boys from going crazy in the back seat. Put this one down as a win boys and girls. This trip was great.
Quick overnight but so nice. The ride back to town was a little insane trying to keep two super-over-excited, not worn out enough boys from going crazy in the back seat. Put this one down as a win boys and girls. This trip was great.
Remember to share, like and comment. All that good stuff. Im starting an Instagram that'll be public and only have adventure photos. Right now the name is Woobley McFiddley but I'm gonna change it to reflect my camping dad nickname, Otter. https://www.instagram.com/mcfiddley/
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