Over the years the Egberts have mastered the art of traveling in the Winds – and as of 5-10 years ago CANOES became the preferred way of traveling because you could pack your gear in a canoe, go across the lake and then set up camp at the end of the lake. It made it so that people with kids, or bad knees, or bad backs, or other aches and pains could continue to enjoy the winds without carrying in a big heavy pack. And now its pretty much become the norm. But for me – it was my first time experiencing the Wind Rivers with canoes….and boy was it nice!
We started out our Wind Rivers adventure by leaving at 9 am Sunday morning and then driving up to Evanston where we were able to attend a ward up there for church. Afterwards we continued onto the Winds arriving around 4 pm that afternoon. From there we loaded up two canoes (Deans and Smurfs) and then Adam took Adalynn in one and paddled over while Parris took the other.
In the meantime the rest of us (Lisel, Jackson, Brans, Harry, Daws and I) all started the hour long hike around the lake to our camp spot while Mum and Smurf stayed back with the remaining camping gear (that hadn’t fit in the canoes) and to wait for Cam and Erin who were scheduled to arrive shortly. It ended up taking the guys two trips across the lake to get everything.
Once Lisel and I and the kids arrived at camp we immediately set out clearing areas for tents and then setting them up. Our timing couldn’t have been better too because we arrived only moments after Parris, Adam and Adalynn did – so we were able to take Adalynn so that the boys could head back over for round two of bringing all the gear down. Then we tried organizing all the gear, set up chairs, and got a fire going for dinner that night.
Most of the group had tinfoil dinners – but Adam and I had pre-made and froze some Hunters Stew (a Harrison family tradition) so I just warmed that up and had it hot and ready when Adam got back with the 2nd round of gear in the canoes. The rest of the evening was spent blowing up air mattresses, laying out sleeping bags, and getting kids ready for bed. Then the adults stayed up chatting until bedtime.
