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2002 FALL KIDS TRIP |
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Ahh...The 2002 Kids
trip. What an awesome time it was to be able to take a few days and spend it in
the mountians with the boys. As they grow older, they want to hike more and
carry more. So, we let them. Heck.. they can carry our stuff too!!! We let them
carry as much as they could stand and then some!! The girls didn't go this
year, so we were able to push it on the trail a little more than normal. The
weather was unbelievable and absolutely incedible... Warm days and cool
nights... what could be any better than that? |
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We ended up covering about
5.5 miles of terrain in 2.5 days. The boys did great!!! We were able to see the
sunrise both mornings.We were above the clouds with the sun both mornings at an
altitude of 6000 feet above sea level. We decided this year to do something a
little different and go to Pisgah National Forest. We night hiked in the first
night, and stayed on top of Black Balsam Bald in the Shining Rock Wilderness
area. (MAP) The second day,
we hiked over to Tennant Mountain and stayed on the edge of the ridge. We were
unable to have camp fires, so we figured we would stay up high to catch another
sunrise. The highlights of the weekend were a toss-up between 2 things...
Climbing on,over and under everything in sight.. and the one I think they liked
the most... Swimming in the river at Tower Falls after a long hike out. Jeff
and I actually jumped in as well. The water was FREEZING COLD!!!! We had a
great time cooling off and playing with the kids.
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I couldn't
believe I ran out of film before we got the water falls. What a great way to
end a hike though. They earned it. Some other highlights of the weekend were,
lying outside under a "blanket of stars" with my boy
Addison. He has never seen stars so clear and
in such an abundance. This was a moment I will cherish for the rest of my life,
seeing him enjoy everything I have been experiencing for 17 years in the woods.
We took the group shot this year near a spring on the trail... I decided to
"COOL" the group down a bit! They didn't even see if coming!
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I really enjoyed this trip for
myself and I think Bruce and Jeff did as well. The boys are becoming quite the
pros at setting up tents, eating the TONS of food THEY carried... Addison had
about 2 pounds worth in his pack and soon realized that he had WAY to much. We
couldn't cook the hot dogs over the fire like we had planned, so we had to put
them in hot water... Oh my goodness!!! what a riot!!! We opend the pot after 2
minutes and 10 hotdogs almost jumped out of the pot! The kids were dying...
They actually do "Plump when you cook them". Page two has several pictures of the sunrise and sunsets we had. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
In the winter time, it's hard to be able to stand out there and watch the sun
come up without shivering to death. I'm not the greatest photographer with my
"instimatic", but I started snapping when I first saw the light!
~T
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