(***Warning: Long Post ahead for Journaling Purposes***)
When I married Adam 8 years ago I also married into an amazing family tradition. That of going to the Wind Rivers every year. This year we weren’t able to find a time to go with family but luckily we were able to convince our very good friends Chad and Charisse to come up with us. It was so fun to have them there.
This is also the year Branson turned 5 years old and so true to Egbert tradition and as a sort of “right of passage” Branson was allowed to go up. I was actually quite apprehensive about this and worried constantly that Branson would be miserable hiking that much, carrying a pack, and I envisioned him whining and complaining most of the time. However, to my pleasant surprise Branson actually did quite wonderfully and he absolutely LOVED being in the Wind Rivers. THANK HEAVENS! đ
Mum and Smurf (my in-laws) were AWESOME and offered to take Harry and Dawson this year so that I could actually go up (Most years I’ve either been in school or pregnant or just had a new baby so it had been 7 years since I was last able to go.) So this was a real treat to me! Thank you again Mum and Smurf.
We woke up pretty early (about 5:00 am) and by 5:20 we were out the door and off for our 6.5 hour drive up to Wyoming. It was a beautiful morning and the drive actually went by very quickly (probably because I slept through most of it). We had breakfast at McDonalds in Evanston, grabbed a few last minute things from Wal-Mart, and then were off for the last stretch of our drive.
We arrived at the Wind Rivers trail head about lunch time so we took a quick little drive down to the lake for a quick bite to eat. We had peaches, pears, chips and salsa, yogurt, and veggies to give us an energy boost before starting our long hike. It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day!
Our view of Square Top
Our reactions to finally making it to the Wind Rivers!
(Chad who as we drove up said, “I think I’m in Heaven)
Charisse was all smiles too!
Adam in his Happy Place!
Yeah for being able to come!
After lunch we were off! But quickly found that our pace was going to be MUCH slower than we anticipated with our cute little 5 year old who needed quite a few breaks! đ Within about 10 minutes I ended up taking his backpack for him as seen below
We saw some incredible scenery as we hiked
Poor Adam had a 70 pound pack and THEN had to also carry his green pad in front of him. But amazing him never complained. That’s just how he rolls. đ
Sure loved having these two cute faces along and they were AMAZING with Branson!
So patient and helpful. They will be awesome parents someday!
The game of the hike was for Branson to steal everyones hats!
Here he is sporting Chad, Charisse, and Daddy’s hats!
It took us about 4-5 hours to make it to base camp and we were all more than happy about taking off our heavy packs and setting up camp! Chad was great and got us a fire going right away while the rest of us got our tents put up.
Adam’s family has a secret place they go to each year that is in a little meadow that is nice and secluded and yet very accessible to all the places they like to hike. This is a view of our spot.
That evening we had a yummy dinner of Beef Stew, Mac and Cheese (for Brans) and pudding.
It was heaven on earth after a long day of hiking. Brans went straight to bed (on his own) after dinner while the rest of us stayed up talking until about 10:00 pm. The next morning we all got up about 8:00 or 9:00ish and had oatmeal and hot chocolate for breakfast!
Then it was off for a day hike to Lake Gadsby.
We saw trees growing on rocks
Boulders the size of houses (look to the right and you’ll see a tiny Adam and Brans)
Had fun as a family
Flexed Muscles!
And found a “McDonalds Tree!” (In the shape of an “M”)
Most of the trail was WITHOUT the use of a trail and so we did a lot of climbing over tree stumps in the backwoods.
We conquered many a tree stump! đ
And found a lot of good “resting spots”
These two just made it that much more fun!
One of our favorite views on the hike!
We found lots of fun trees on the way up!
And tried making every stop fun!
Again it took us about 4 hours, and require a LOT of hiking up steep hills, but we made it!
And it was WORTH it!
We were all oohing and aahing at every corner!
Branson was able to catch his VERY FIRST FISH!!! And was SO excited about it!
Daddy also got to catch a bunch of fish too!
It was like Fish Heaven for these Guys!
Love this action shot of Ad
We had a nice pan of Trout for lunch, cheese and crackers with summer sausage, dried fruit, and some Swedish meatballs over noodles.
I took a little hike to look around while the boys fished and found some beautiful sights!
This was my FAVORITE picture of the day! I love the red and yellows of the changing ground cover and then the different greens and blues of the lake. GORGEOUS!
Cute Family Pic!
Another beautiful shot of the scenery!
One of the coolest parts of the trip for Branson was when he found a MOOSE Antler while hiking home from Gadsby! Here he is showing off his find!
And of course Mommy had to try it on!
After breakfast we said goodbye to our super amazing friends in the meadow and then we each headed our separate ways!
Our schedule for that day was to hike up to “Lost Lake,” a favorite of the Egbert family!
We saw some beautiful scenery as we went along.
Love the fall colors!
The trees were amazing!
I had to laugh because every morning we would find Adam “ducktaping” his shoes together. These are his favorite pair of hiking shoes and he’s having a hard time letting them go! đ
Funny Boy!
Adam was such a gentleman and was kind enough to hold up rocks for me as I went by! đ
We stopped at what Adam called “Explorer Pond” for lunch and some fishing.
Adam says this is the spot his Dad took him too when he was 5 years old to catch his first fish.
I felt like I was walking in the Celestial kingdom it was so beautiful!
Branson and Adam caught about 5-10 fish in just a few minutes of being there. So fun!
Here is what the pond/stream looked like. It just this shot you can see about 8-10 fish
These two were in Boy heaven!
We had quite the little detour we had to go on to get to Lost Lake when we accidentally followed a trail we thought was the one to Lost but really it took us around to another ridge and require a LOT of crazy hiking, but eventually we got there. Yeah!
Although Lost was BEAUTIFUL, we didn’t stay more than about an hour because the wind Chill up there was FREEZING! I ended up putting my long Johns over my head to keep warm! đ
Love this shot of Branson and I hanging by the lake.
Here is another view of Lost Lake. This lake is awesome because it has some of the BEST fishing you can imagine. You throw your line in and about 2 seconds later get a fish! So much fun!
While the boys fished I again went explorin’ and found some more beautiful places!
That night when we returned from our awesome hike to Lost we started up a fire, cooked us up some Lasagna, mac and cheese, and Ramen Noodles and then sat around singing camp fire songs until bedtime. Then the next morning (Sunday) we debated whether to stay until Monday like planned or to surprise Harry and Dawson by coming home a day earlier. When I asked Branson what he wanted to do, he responded that he missed his brothers and wanted to go home. So it was decided. We had pancakes bacon and eggs for breakfast and then packed up camp and heading out about 10:00 am. Below is all of our reactions about heading home!
Branson was HAPPY!
Daddy wished we could stay another Month! đ
And Mommy was torn giving one thumbs up and one thumbs down. She loved being in the Winds but was excited to hold and kiss her wee little ones again!
wood to eat his Ramen!
On the way home we had to laugh as again we experienced a bit of “bad luck” (which seems to be a common occurrence on all our vacations). As we were about half an hour from Evanston we hit a road block of Police Cars and we were told that there was a fire near Evanston and that we would need to turn around and take an alternate route. We figured it out later and the detour ended up taking about 1.5 hours longer than it would have had the road not been closed which brought our driving time up from 6.5 hours to 8 hours home. Then when we hit SLC we had to laugh again when the 215 to I-15 Interchange was CLOSED due to an accident requiring us to take another Detour. Luckily that detour wasn’t too bad. And then we were baffled all the way home that yet another fire had broken out in Herriman. Wow! 2 HUGE fires in one Day? What are the odds.
We finally made it home though about 10:00 pm and were able to kiss our wee ones to bed. We ended up spending the night at Mum and Smurfs (we were too tired to drive the 10 minutes home) and then had a wonderful breakfast of Belgium waffles the next morning. We sure are blessed to have such a great family. Thanks again Mum and Smurf! We love you.
Anyway it was a wonderful trip and one and we are excited to go again next year! đ