Elk Lake Creek Trail

After returning from the river we headed out for our next trip: backpacking in the Bull of the Woods Wilderness. Chris and I actually had backpacks that we bought 8 years ago and had never used. We couldn't wait to go and break them in.

So we packed up all our gear and drove out to the trailhead. The weather was perfect and we made camp at Camp Nora, a great little camp on Elk Lake Creek.

Our camp

Our tents tucked back in the trees

the view of the stream from our tents

After getting camp all set up we headed out to Seven Falls to cool off for the afternoon. Seven Falls is a beautiful spot where the creek heads down a hill over several waterfalls into deep beautiful pools at the base of each fall. The water was cold, but the boys got in (and right back out) to swim.

Seven Falls

Sittin' at the top of the falls

The next morning we got up, ate breakfast and decided to head out on a day hike to a place the boys had camped before. So we packed up a pack for the day and set off. But when we got to a rather wide place in the creek that we would have to wade across, saw the beautiful swimming hole, and Andy accidently stepped in the creek and got his shoes wet we decided to spend the afternoon there instead. The boys had a great time exploring upcreek and splashing around in the waterfalls.

Making pancakes (it was a team effort)At the swimmin' hole

We headed back to camp for lunch and to spend the afternoon relaxing and playing around camp. Chris and I read a bit and the boys played Robin Hood in the woods.

We were all having lots of fun until Robin Hood and his Merry Men stumbled into a ground nest of bees up on the hill. All of a sudden William started screaming at the top of his lungs. Not knowing what had happened we headed towards the hill as he started running down the hill as fast as he could go. About halfway down he fell, got back up and continued running towards camp. Suddenly it dawned on me that he was covered in bees and was being stung. So I stripped off all his clothes and rushed him down to the stream. The next hour was very scary. Andy had also gotten into the nest and was stung numerous times. We sat with two shivering, crying boys for a good hour contemplating what to do next. We considered hiking out but it was getting late and neither were in any shape to be hiking out. So we gave everyone ibuprofen and decided to wait and see. Neither boy had ever been stung before and we were very thankful that neither were allergic. The swelling went down very quickly (thanks to God's grace and a long soak in a very cold stream) and by morning everyone was much better.

treating bee stings in the morning

To pass the time we read jokes from the Reader's Digest and play and sentence story game. Everyone writes down a sentence not having any idea of what the person before them wrote. Then you read all the sentences in the order they were written and see what you come up with. The boys loved this game and made me promise to share this one on the blog.

Pretty Pretty Princess loved living on her heart-shaped island off the coast of Hawaii.

Then Mary died.

Then the Rock Monster got married.

All the pigs moved south to Arizona for the winter.

Owww, this fire is hot!

Pretty Pretty Princess lived in a big house with a huge room for working on her crafts whenever she wanted.

Then she grew a beard.

They ran all the way to New Jersey.

Then they went home.

This special offer ends June 17th.

This was the boys favorite story that we wrote because Pretty Pretty Princess grew a beard. By the way, Pretty Pretty Princess is a character I made up while camping on the river because it was kind of fun to tease the boys about her. :o)

The next morning we started packing up and eating most of the leftover food so we would have as little food as possible to pack back out.

Packing the packs to go home

What do you do with a pair of shorts that got ripped when you fell down a hill running from a swarm of bees?

Use it as a hat!

The Collowash River (we found a great place to camp along the river next summer!)

We stopped at an Izzy's buffet for supper on the way home and enjoyed a non-reconstituted meal.

We had a great time, despite the bees, and are looking forward to going back next summer.