Daddy Daugther Backpacking at Arta Lake

Taylor is really starting to really grow up, and I can't believe that she just went on her first overnight backpacking trip. We were headed up to Moon Lake just south of the High Uinta Wilderness for an extended family reunion, and Eric decided to sneak in an extra night to introduce Taylor to one of his favorite activities.

We headed out of the blistering heat of the Las Vegas valley in the early, hot afternoon of Wednesday, August 12th. It was kind of stressful since Eric was too boneheaded to take any time off work, so he had to pretend that he was still working. He sure can spend a lot of time on the phone. We finally made it to Nana and Papas house around 10:30 at night. Cydnee lounged around and watched the pack mule (aka Eric) carry in all our possesions, and then we put the kids to bed and quickly fell asleep ourselves. Unfortunately that meant Eric had to get up at 4:00 the next morning to finish all the work he didn't do while he was playing hooky, so he was not much more than a walking zombie when everyone started to showed up at 8:00.

The backpacking crew was a force to be reconned with. Eric and Taylor, Ethan and Amy, Adam and Kyle, Paul and Olivia, and Tommy and Jack. Dawn's family also joined the intrepid exploreres for the first part of their trip, but quickly make their getaway at the first opportunity.

Instead of planning out the best route, Eric simply picked the shortest route with little regard for Ethan and Amy's aging Buick (which Eric and Taylor stowed passed on since Cydnee misappropriated the Land Cruiser for her own wicked pleasures). After several miles of rough dirt roads, the Buick finally gave up just feet before the road started going down hill and overheated. This provided a nice break to eat lunch, play frisbee, and run around.

After nursing the Buick back to semi-health, the misfits finally made their way to the Arta Lake trailhead on the north west edge of the Ashley National Forest just south of the Grand Daddy Lakes. Everyone loaded up, and set out on a grand back packing adventure. The hike in was support to be a simple one mile trek, but due to the absence of a great trail and Eric's somewhat deficient leadership skills, they quickly started roaming in circles and probably covered twice the distance they should have.


They arived at a small lake that almost could have been Lake Arta, especially since no one really new what Lake Arta looked like, had then been a lot more water. But the clouds were rolling in, so it didn't really matter what lake this was, just that the dry lakebed made a really nice meadow, and tents would make really good cover for a storm.

Everyone got their tents setup just in time as it started raining. Or at least it seemed like rain, with a lot of snow mixed in, kind of luck a Slurpee without any delicious flavoring. Taylor performed to pass the time while Jack kept trying to figure out how to get in.

After the rain let up, Adam got out some bubbles, and Taylor, Kyle, Olivia, and Tommy had a fun time blowing bubbles and chasing them. Taylor even started warming up to Tommy.

After resting through the storm, the sun came out and it turned into a nice afternoon. We headed up the trail and found the real Arta Lake. (It was devastating to realize we probably only hiked in around 1/3 of a mile). Paul and the kids tried their hand at fishing in what appeared to be a completely sterile lake. Tommy had a great time swimming around and fetching anything someone would throw into the water. And of course the kids threw rocks into the lake every chance they got.

After a fun day at the lake, everyone headed back to camp for dinner. While Ethan, Amy, Adam and Kyle kept it simple with Cup O Noodles, Paul and Olivia make chicken and rice and Eric and Taylor made Taylor's favorite snake noodles (Pasta Roni). And since the guys couldn't light a match to save their lives, let alone start a fire, Amy had to step in and show them how it was done.

Taylor also took advantage of the break and practiced her bouldering skills while Eric and Ethan ran back to the car to retrieve a five gallon water jug since the water from Lake Carl was a little on the yellow side.

We got camp cleaned up for the night not a second too soon as the rain started coming down again. We scurried off to our tents as the floodgates opened, it was the beginning of a long night. Of course Taylor had to take a picture of Daddy (note the rain covered window in the background).

And Daddy reciprocated with a picture of Taylor (note she is not recoiling from fear or pending rain, just the knowledge that at any minute the absolute darkness will be overcome by a blinding light know as the flash).

It rained well into the night, and though Taylor fell quickly asleep, Eric could hear every drop hit the tent in slow motion. But the backpacking tent Cydnee had bought performed more than admirable for its first rain storm. The only moisture to be found in the tent was the small puddle of water that leaked from Taylor's water bottle. The other three tents did not perform nearly as admirably. Ethan's tent leak just a little, but was largely ok, Paul's tent had some moisture come in, though it may have just been Jack running in and out. And let's just say it was a good thing that Adam and Kyle had a thick sleeping bag. While Eric was restless, a little cold and ready to get up at first light, Taylor slept like a log, toasty and warm all night long. Of course, once she got out of her sleeping bag it was a different story.

We got up in the morning, dried out all of our gear, had some cold cerial, dried out some more gear, clean-up camp, dried out some more gear, played, dried, packed up and headed back to the cars. Taylor's first backpacking adventure was a rave success, with many more to follow now.