WE DID IT!!!

WE DID IT!!! We returned last night from our very successful adventure. A 4 day 32+ mile backpacking trip through the middle fork of the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico. Adventurers included Myself, Rusty, Kyleigh, Katelyn, Mike, Holly, Naiya, Merrill and Nancy. And we certainly can't forget our personal hero, Cisco the mule. Nancy arranged with our friends Wayne and Lucinda to borrow a pack mule for our trip. HUGE thanks to them. The mule carried a substantial amount of weight which allowed for edible backpacking luxuries like brownies, applesauce, and milk, among other things. Also, HUGE thanks to our friends James, Vicki and baby Connor. They took us to our drop off spot (3 hours from Silver City) at 5 o'clock in the morning and picked us up at the Cliff Dwellings (2 hours from Silver City).



We thought we would be traveling about 7 miles per day. We made our seven miles the first day. The second day we fished, swam, and played a lot. The GPS calculated that we hit our 7 miles, but a cross check with the map said different. Our third day ended up being about 12 miles, and the fourth day was about 9 miles. It was a little intimidating to be taking our kids on such a long remote trip. I am so excited to say that Kyleigh is our super trooper. She hiked every bit of the hike. When we got back to the stables at the end of the trip Rusty had to walk about a mile to let James and Vicki know where we were. Kyleigh wanted to go with him so she finished strong with an extra mile on the road. Kyleigh enjoyed hiking with her Nama all four days. They played dog, taking turns being the hunting dog and the hunter. They played princess when everything was royal, including the horse poop. They also taught each other songs and told stories. Katelyn and Naiya were so great in their backpacks. They complained only at nap time. Then they would fall asleep and wake up happy again. Katelyn got out of her pack and hiked 1/2 to 1 mile a day. They were a little crazy in camp at night, so excited to be able to move and play literally bouncing off the walls of the tent.



We were blessed to see a plethera of animals, including rabbits, horny toads, frogs, caterpillars, a whitetail deer, a rattlesnake, squirrels, fish, a crawdad, and a black bear. The trail included about 100+ Gila river crossings. We came across one beaver pond where the water was really deep. Kyleigh would be quick to tell you that it was up to her armpits. Kyleigh's favorite part of the trip was catching the baby frogs at the river crossings and carrying them to the next river crossing, where she would let them go. At one point in the trail Rusty and Kyleigh were skipping and singing skippity ehh and heidi ho. Katelyn was on Rusty's back. All of the sudden Rusty started yelling at Kyleigh to get back. I was right behind them and saw the coiled rattlesnake just to the right of the trail. I started yelling at Kyleigh and she jerked to a stop, confused as to why we were yelling. Rusty and Merrill proceeded to try and kill the rattlesnake with large rocks, but they kept missing it. It uncoiled so Merrill grabbed a big stick and flung it off the trail and we went on our merry way. Kyleigh had no idea what it was when it started rattling. She said she just thought that a sprinkler was turning on. Indeed, that is what it sounds like. Katelyn's favorite parts of the trip were seeing the rattlesnake, playing with snake grass (which she called rattlesnake grass after seeing the rattlesnake), eating clover, and seeing the bear. Katelyn is obsessed with hearing bear stories from Rusty, and now she has her very own bear story to tell. Mike spotted the bear just through some brush and yelled for us to come see it. Sure enough there it was about 50 yards away. It started walking away, but turned around to watch us as we watched it. How exciting.



The Gila Wilderness was beautiful. The landscape change was amazing. We went from a typical dry, desert landscape to the river bottom where rocks and redwood trees towered above us on each side. We hiked through large meadows and around tight cliffs. We ended up the way we started, in the dry desert landscape. We hiked through an unreal amount of poison ivy combined with poison oak and stinging nettle. We all had quick dry pants on and the only poison ivy we came home with was a tiny bit on one of Merrill's feet. We were really concerned about mosquitos because of Katelyn's sensitivity to them. I was relieved that the mosquitos were almost nonexsistant, even near stagnant water.



One highlight of the trip was Jordon hot springs. We stopped on our last day and soaked our feet/bodies in the nice warm water. We were the only people there, although it is a fairly popular destination and only 7 miles from the cliff dwellings. Another highlight was Mike's brownies on our first night. Mike managed to make us a pan of brownies over the fire. He was very proud of himself and we were all happy with the results. We enjoyed all of the food we ate and we ate good. We had gourmet tin foil dinners, hungry man burritos, s'mores and a wide array of snacks.



At the end of the trip our feet looked like hamburger, the kids looked like orphans, and it was hard to stand up after we sat down momentarily and stiffened up. More important, though, is that we all felt a sense of accomplishment. None of us would hesitate to do it again... just give us a few days. The group at the start.

Petting a horny toad.

Russ and Katelyn fishing.

Holly and Papa purifying water.

Relaxing at camp.

Katelyn and her "datlnake dass", a.k.a. (rattlesnake) snake grass.

Jordan hot springs.

A sample of the beautiful country we went through.

Kyleigh and Nama on the trek.

Everyone loved eating clover.

Kyleigh and Katelyn hugging, almost done.

The ride home.

Weekend trip to Maui

It's hard to believe that you can pack in so much fun in four days. It helps that flying to Maui only takes 2 hours, including a layover on Oahu. We left here Thursday morning and were greeted with an armful of lei's by Steve at the airport. Holly and I got tuberose leis. Oh, they smell so good! Here is the layout of the weekend:

Thursday- Had breakfast with Steve at a local diner. Went to the Marriot Oceanclub resort in Lahaina, where we met up with Shawn (Rusty's boss) for the keys and inside scoop on the timeshare. Spent the rest of the afternoon in their amazing pool. That evening we went to downtown Lahaina and saw the 3rd largest banyon tree in the world. Mike and Kyleigh both started climbing immediately. Those two are peas in a pod. You can't keep them on the ground. Went to a few shops. Nothing too special. All shops in Hawaii seem the same after awhile.

Friday- Spent the day on Haleakala. A national park/inactive volcano. Elevation at top 10,023 ft. We were completely unprepared for the temperature. It was about 50 degrees with 40 mph gusts of wind. We didn't bring any warm clothes (we don't really have a lot of warm clothes). Steve brought enough sweatshirts for all of us, so we were O.K. We really needed pants, close toed shoes, winter coats, gloves, ear coverings, and thermal underwear. Yes, I've been in Hawaii too long. Idaho winters would kick my tail now. Kyleigh hunkered down in a ball to try to protect herself from the cold. The girls ran back to the car and warmed up in front of the heaters. We wanted to do some hiking but the clouds were really thick and you couldn't really see much so we went to Hosmer grove and had a picnic and just did a little nature hike. That evening we went up to Iao valley. Iao valley is where King Kamehameha brought his troops and slaughtered the warriors from Maui to unite Maui with the Big Island. It is a beautiful place. We then went back to Steve's house where his roommate Roger (a personal chef) prepared us an amazing fish dinner. I would tell you what it was, but the food words were beyond my current chefing level. All I know is that it was really good.

Saturday- Saturday morning we left the marriot to drive to Hana. That's right, we drove up the famous road to Hana which wasn't all that bad, in my opinion. Steve rented us a house in Hana. We checked in and went to the bottom side of Haleakala national park. We did a four mile hike to a 200 foot waterfall and enjoyed a plethera of fresh guava along the way. We went back to our rental and had a really great steak dinner.

Sunday- Sunday morning we hiked to a red sand beach. We snorkeled and played on the "water slide." The water slide was where the waves crashed over some rocks and the water rushed into the center of the naturally protected bay. The water would carry you with it. Adults and kids alike had fun doing this. We had the whole beach to ourselves until the very end. We then went to Wainapanapa state park and swam through the wet caves. When I say through I mean through. Steve had the inside scoop on the wet caves and knows the way through the holes. We had dive lights to see. You had to swim to the back of the cave, then pull yourself up on a rock and slide underneath it into another cave and on and on. My brave little five year old went through like the champ that she is. She complained only once when she told Russ that her jaw hurt from shaking so hard. The water was really cold and she was shivering.

On this trip we also saw our first pineapple truck. Growing up I wouldn't think twice about a potato truck driving down the road but it seemed strange to see a truck full of pineapples. Also, we were driving behind Mike and Holly and Kyleigh said, "Hey, Mike and Holly's car says Merb 002." Their license plate was MRB 002, so we spent the rest of the trip referring to their driver as Merb double 002. Maybe you had to be there to think that is funny but I am still laughing writing about it.

We are so glad we got to go to Maui and see Steve. I loved Maui. Having been to the four main islands now, I would have to say that if you were only going to hit one, Maui would have it all. Even with that soft spot in my heart for Kauai, Maui might have a one up with more options. I guess it would depend on what you really wanted out of your trip to Hawaii. Hopefully we can go again soon, and if not we hope Steve will come see us.

4th of July

Sorry, no pictures. Lame, I know. We had a great weekend. Here's how it went down...
Thursday night - fireworks show at Pacific Missile Range Facility. When it was over Katelyn said, "Dets wats da fiwe wooks adain."
Friday - great day at the beach, Hanalei bay. We took the kayaks, rented paddle boards, and played on an air mattress in the water. Our friends always bring a little boat that their son plays in. The boat popped a while back so they brought a queen sized air mattress. It was the hit of the day. We finished with a big bbq at our house. We all got sunburned.
Saturday - Layed around sunburned. Made and ate a whole batch of cinnamon rolls (hey, Mike and Holly were here too).In the afternoon we went for a short hike to secrets beach and walked along the coastline checking out the tidepools in the lava rock. We came across the most amazing freshwater waterfall that flows into the ocean. It is surrounded by lush tropical flowers and vegatation. Serious calender picture quality. Then we discovered that there is a trail the leads from the waterfall back up to the road. Best new picnic spot ever! 10 minutes from our Princeville house. In finding the right road to secrets beach we also came across a new adventure. A river that runs into a beach. There were tons of kayaks in the ocean and up the river. Rusty and Mike went pig hunting with some locals up the same river. They said there are tons of waterfalls up the river, but you can't get to them because it is private land. That's where the kayaks come in. The waterways aren't private. So that is our next big adventure.
Oh wait, that adventure will have to wait. We are on our way to Maui for a four day weekend this week. We can't wait to see Steve (Rusty's brother) who lives on Maui. Rusty's boss isn't using Thursday and Friday night at his timeshare and is generously letting us use it. Steve found us a house to rent Saturday night in Hana (a part of Maui) on Hana Bay. I promise I will do better and take some pictures this weekend.