Guest Blogger: Erik Finn Larson
Every year - since 2005 - the Larson side of the family has been doing an annual overnight backpacking trip where all kids over the age of 5 are invited. We call it "the five year old campout" - for obvious reasons. At about the age of 4 kids pick up on this tradition as they hear about the trip from older siblings and cousins. There is usually one year (the four year old year) of extreme disappointment that they are not able to go, followed by a year of pure anticipation (the five year old year).
Knowing that the fateful weekend was coming soon, and that J in her four year old year would likely be highly disappointed that she was not able to go, I thought it would be a good idea to do a "pre-five year old campout" a few weeks before the "five year old campout". While the pre-five would not include cousins, aunts and uncles - I thought it would be fun nonetheless.
After a bit of research - J and I decided that we would head out early one Friday afternoon and shoot for Star Lake in the High Uintas. We thought it would be fun to have Mikaela, M&M join us on Saturday.
J was a great hiker, carrying her own small pack and hiking the whole way (well almost the whole way)
The hike to the lake involved a bit of route-finding, and I was honestly a bit nervous we might be on the wrong path right up until we came over a knoll and the lake came into view
We found a great camping spot, started a fire for cooking, did a little fishing, enjoyed dinner (salmon, carrots, mushrooms, and onions cooked in tim foil with a side of mashed potatoes), and snuggled into bed. My air mattress had a hole, so I did the only thing a loving father could do - I stole J's air mattress! She slept like a log even with out it, so I didn't feel too bad. Even with J's air mattress I got kind of a lousy night's sleep. The one upside of my poor night of sleep was witnessing star lake and its surroundings at dawn.
The early morning fishing also netted a couple of decent sized tiger trout! When J woke up we decided to head down to the spot we parked the car and meet the M's rather than wait for them to meet us by the lake as planned. We wanted to make sure no one's day got ruined by getting lost in the woods. They were a bit late, but we eventually met up and made our way back up to the lake.
We had lunch together, did some more fishing (only catching one more fish), hiked around the lake, jumped in the lake for a bit of swimming, and cleaned up camp before heading back down the trail and driving home.
It was great to spend some quality time with J, and I think the rest of the family really enjoyed the day trip. We've all decided that we need to spend more time in the Uintas next year. Below are some pics from the trip.
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