Family backpacking

This weekend we took our first family backpacking trip. The weather was perfect. The surroundings were beautiful. And the hike was long. We were all very tied by the end of it and Ben says that means it was the perfect length.

Here we are all ready to go. We had my aunt drop us off at one trail head and left our car at the other end. It was fun to hike through but it made for a longer hike than I had expected.

Taking a break on our way up. Ben carried almost all of our stuff and had a pretty heavy pack. 

 We got started pretty late so we only hiked a short while before setting up camp. Ben picked a beautiful spot in a grove of aspens. It was sort of flat.

 I shared 2 sleeping bags with all 3 kids. Heber and Eeva were fighting to much to share their own bag.

 Ben got a spacious sleeping bag all to himself.

 We started to hike up to the top of the mountain behind us. We then decided to would be way too far considering how much further we had to go.

Beautiful view looking into the valley. 

Here is Eeva entertaining Joel

 Heber filtering water for our hike out

 We hiked through beautiful meadows. 

 Looking down into the meadows. There were 3 or 4 old little huts. I have no idea what they are for.

 Getting ready to leave from our lunch break area.

 Taking another break. We had to watch out for bikers.

Ahh... we finally made it to our car!! We hiked over 9 miles, 7 of them being on the second day. The kids did fantastic. Heber hiked all but about 1/4 mile. Eeva needed a bit more help and encouragement but was only carried for around 2 miles. Overall it was a great trip and enjoyable time as a family.