We're Those People

When you were a teen and all your friends wanted to go hiking did you take special gear, the proper outfit, anything that said "I'm prepared" with you?  When I was a teen it was normally my running shoes, a pair of shorts and a tee shirt.  I didn't even take a hat or bottled water with me.  And sunscreen, isn't that for old people and babies?

Then when we were out hiking we would see the people that worn pants and long sleeved shirts.  They carried a pack and I couldn't figure out what it was that they would want to carry with them.  It's a hike, everything you have needs to be held and why would I want to hold something?  I made up lots of jokes to tease the prepared people because I could obviously do it better without all that stuff and still get a suntan.

It's amazing that the more responsible I get, the older I feel.  Because I have now become one of those people.  Click on the picture to enlarge and see my awesome preparedness. 

We were were so prepared that we had a little conversation that went something like this:

Ranger walks out of the Park Ranger Station,
R: "Where are you guys headed today?"

DH: "We're going to Devil's Postpile and then Rainbow Falls."

R: "That's a great hike, be sure to drink lots of water and use sunscreen because... Well, actually you guys look pretty well prepared."

-insert RANGER SEAL OF APPROVAL here-

Well, what is in all of that gear to keep us safe and happy on our hike?


Each of us had UPF hats, UPF shirts with roll up sleeves, UPF pants with rollup or zipoff shorts, bandanas to dip in the streams to keep cool, proper hiking boots with hiking socks and a Camelback for hydration.

Divided up between the packs were our lunches, trail snacks, a sippy cup, diapers and wipes, trash bags, extra sunscreen and bug spray, our camera, and a hiker's first aid kit.  And of course LG.  DH and I took turns carrying her and whoever had the pack got to use the really cool hiking sticks.  I think BG would of carried her sister if it meant she could use the hiking sticks.

 I don't know what the big deal is, hiking is so easy when you're in a Kelty.

We did finish our hike the best way possible, with strawberry milkshakes and a bus ride back to the car.  The best way to finish off this post is with some shots of our hike at Mammoth Lakes, Ca.

The Devil's Postpile.

 Underneath a really big tree.  

There were a lot of Jeffery Pines in this forest.  Their bark smells like vanilla.  This tree, however, is not one of those.

A burn area from the Rainbow Fire of 1992 caused by a lightning strike.  

It looks like the area has still not recovered, but a sign posted on the side of the trail told me that a lot of animals like to make this area their home.

Rainbow Falls.  

This is where we took a break for lunch.

Red's Meadow and the end of the hike.

Wow, I am really bad at taking pictures.  I cut off the sign that they were posing next to.

Chipmunks and Mule Deer and Bears, Oh My.

Remember I had mentioned something about a family vacation.  Then I said I would blog about it.  Then you didn't see me for over a month.  I'm not going to share the post that has been mostly written and waiting to be shared.  

Our family went on vacation to the Mammoth Lakes and then into Yosemite National Park.  The girls loved every moment of it from playing in the dirt all day, not having to take a bath, and keeping all our food in a Bear Box.  The worst part of the trip had to be the car.  There is only so much being in a carseat that a kid can take, even with the number of stops we made.  Traveling that far with a child LG's age took a lot of patience from everyone.   

One of the fun things about traveling around this part of the country is all of the wildlife that we saw.  Like this like guy.  A chipmunk that hung around our campsite looking for food scraps.  Poor little guys have to work hard because no one leaves food out.  That and the $5,000 fine if you get caught feeding the animals and more importantly, the bears go where the food is.  I wonder how well that is enforced the law against feeding animals?  I liked that one place discouraged throwing scraps by posting that mountain lions liked to hunt were well-feed, fat squirrels and raccoons lived.

The little bugger is so darn cute.  Way better than the nasty LA squirrels but is in competition with the bunnies that come into our backyard everyday.

There were also deer.  Lots and lots of deer.  Like it was deer spotting season.  They weren't afraid of the people either. Not even slightly.  This is about as close to one that I was willing to get.  You never know when a deer might snap.  I kept getting these images in my head of crazy, stuffed deers with their beady eyes charging at me while yelling at me like a drowning elephant.  Weird, huh?  Okay you're right, I have no idea what a drowning elephant sounds like, but I think I've seen The Great Outdoors too many times.

Then there were the bears.  This was the first one that we saw and the best pictures, too.  He couldn't of been 50 feet off the road.  If you are ever driving to Yosemite and there are suddenly stopped cars everywhere, chances are it's because of a bear.

This guy was walking around and then decided to climb a tree.  Note to self, don't climb a tree to run away from a bear.  He was fast.  He got up to the branch in about three seconds.  The really high branch.

Here is a look at how tall the tree is.  You can see a patch of the road in the bottom right corner. 

We came across one more stopped cars bear sighting on the way home.  The Momma bear was in a field far off the road and had two cubs with her.  We had been there for only a couple of minutes when she started heading back into the woods.  The ranger announced that the bear was gone and for us to get in the car.   BG then politely pointed out to him that the bear is "right there."  I explained that he meant she was leaving and we should too.

We did not see any bears while we were camping.  I did learn from some Mammoth regulars that the site we picked to camp was heavily bear infested.  And they were aggressive to get the food.  One year our regular Camper Guy had walk five feet from the bear box and turned around to find a bear in it.  Another year, a mom had put out her kids' lunch, grabbed her kids from a few feet away and bear cubs had already taken off with the juice boxes.

Camper Guy speculated that we missed the bear because we were camping the first week the site had been opened.  The bears hadn't made there way down the mountain yet.  Or that Momma Bear had been relocated because Camper Guy had been seeing the same bear for three years and she was getting too aggressive.

One one animal that we didn't see at all....  fish.

First Day Back

It's the first day back to school, back to blogging, back to walking, and back to the super strict schedule of school drop off and pick up.  I have been looking forward to this all August. 

I would of loved an outfit like this when I was in grade school.

I am excited to see my Monday-Friday friends again.  It really is a loving expression to describe them that way.  But it's the group of mommies that I walk with and gossip with the most.  We walk to school together and then on certain days walk for an hour after drop off.  There is L that lives in my neighborhood, R that wants to burn as many calories as possible and loves that I walk fast, J who is always is so sweet and has the best ideas, and T the runner with three girls.  There are a few others, but those are the ones I see the most. I love my Monday-Friday friends.

Now that we are back together, I think I might skip walking with the mommy group a little bit more.  It is solely because I have to drive somewhere to walk and then pack and unpack the stroller twice.  Now that I am walking 2 miles minimum a day with company, I don't think I need more walking than that.  I don't need to burn the calories, I just do to keep healthy and LG loves to be outside. 

LG loves being outside so much that I have three ways of pushing her around.  The stroller- great for the morning walk or when I want her to nap on the walk.  The wagon- great for when we are going to have a buddy with us or a quick walk to the the neighbors to pick up BG.  And the tricycle- LG's favorite and I have the push handle so I can steer while saving my back.

The toughest part of all of these "first" starting is going to be LG adjusting to the new schedule.  I'm looking forward to when she is adjusted, because it really is better than the laid back summer schedule.

Now if only I could find that list I made of things I can blog about...