Labor Day Visitors (Part 1)

I know Labor Day Weekend is only 3 days...but we did some fun stuff and I took so many stinkin' pictures that I want to post that I feel compelled to split this into 2 parts. Sorry!

My sister Rachael and her family came up to visit us on Labor Day Weekend. We decided to take a "day trip" up to Sheep Falls...one of our family's favorite camping/hiking spots. The trail down to the falls is pretty intense (you need 4-wheel drive for sure) so we parked Rachael's van at the trail head and Eric drove our Cruiser and trailer down while the rest of us hiked in. The weather was nice (maybe a bit hot), but the dust was UNREAL!!!! I've never hiked in such a silty, powdery substance. With every footfall a cloud of dust would billow up...it wasn't long before it was all over us (even in our mouths). And when the motorcycles and quads would pass us...it was ridiculous.

But it was well worth it!!!

There is this really cool
"hole in the rock"
that you climb through and it leads to a ledge that lets you look right over the brink of the waterfall.
It really is breathtaking.

Next we headed down to the lower fall. The trail is super steep...and a bit unstable, but we all managed to get down safely.






Then we relaxed on the rocks and put our feet in the water and splashed ourselves to cool us off. It was heavenly....UNTIL...

we saw a SNAKE!!!!! We saw not one, but two snakes in the water.
I know they are tiny and not dangerous...but STILL! I'm not a fan of reptiles.
That was the end of relaxing for me!

 

***

We found a lovely spot upriver from the falls and set up "camp" -- we weren't staying overnight, but we were going to have a cook-out. The spot was PERFECT! Flat, lots of trees, and right near the water. The kids kept busy for hours just throwing rocks in the river. Yes, most of them ended up wet, but it was hot and they dried pretty quick.

Kids are so drawn to fires. I loved this one of all the kids with their sticks in the fire ring.

Eric has recently taken up Fly Fishing. He spent every spare minute out in the river working on his technique. He did catch a fish...but it was tiny and so he released it.

Dinner was yummy! The weather was perfect. The surroundings were beautiful. The company was delightful. We ate s'mores. All in all a perfect little get away.

 Mason took my camera and took dozens of Fire shots. This was one of his favorite ones.

We voted unanimously that no one wanted to hike up that dusty trail again, so we all crammed into the Land Cruiser (all 11 of us) and rode up the trail. It was quite the adventure!! Thanks Eric for using your Awesome Off-roading Skillz to get us out of their in one piece!