Camping

I get tired of trying to think up cute titles for my blogs! So ignore that and just enjoy the pictures. I put together some "scrapbook pages" for the purpose of a collage only. It takes me a long time to put together good pages! Click on the pages to see them larger.


We went camping for one night with the Roberts and had a great time--dirt, bugs, creepy night noises and all! Oh ya, and mosquito bites. Most of us only got a couple, but Coleman got demolished! I promise I sprayed him like everyone else! Sweet blood, that's what I kept telling him. It made him feel a lot better :)

We camped by a little creek at Nelder Grove because we knew the kids would be able to entertain themselves with all of the possibilities that go along with a creek. But lo and behold, who was most entertained? Mark! He was determined, very determined, to catch a fish with his bare hands. You see, the poor, defenseless, beautiful (Miranda's word, not mine!) rainbow trout were trapped in a very small pool, trying desperately to protect themselves under a small ledge. But that wouldn't stop Mark. No, he bravely straddled the creek and repeatedly grappled with the slippery things. He even brandished his gun as a threat to the poor creatures! But in the end, he triumphed over the lowly fish and came away with a prize specimen. Actually, I was shocked at how big it was for such a little pool. I think it was just about 12 inches. The best part of the whole thing was how excited Coleman and Jordan were. They were right by Mark's side the whole time--accomplices, you might say--and were anxious to make a meal of the trophy fish. Coleman tried to roast it on a stick, but it was too large for a marshmallow-roasting stick. So it went onto the grill and became a tasty midmorning snack for the whole group. Thanks for the entertainment Mark!

The other highlight was the "Shadow of the Giants" hike to see a grove of Giant Sequoias. They are very impressive. I learned that a Giant Sequoia's bark can grow up to 2 feet thick and is more fire-resistant than the rest of the tree, so the "giants" that are still around (we saw some that were over 270 feet!) have lived through many fires in their lifetimes. I also learned that because of conservationists demand for complete protection from logging and fire (I'm not sure how they accomplish that), there are many young fir and cedar trees in the forest, but very few young sequoias, as they need fire to clear out the forest floor so their seeds can reach the bottom.

I just realized that I didn't include any pictures of the giant trees, only giant stumps! Here's one of the big ones from a base perspective. It still doesn't do it justice.

And another of a couple of big ones from across the creek. The are very impressive in person. Trust me, you should go see some!