Kids are Tough (or Tuff?)
This past weekend I spent some wonderful time in the Sierra’s of NorCal (aka Lake Tahoe) camping with my family and friends. Wasn’t long after setting up camp (the next morning) that I realized our band of lil’ rascals needed a good “walk.” When I suggested the idea I had no concept of what we might get into, other than “have a great time!”
So we set out and quickly started to “bush-wack” our way through several HUNDRED downed and dead trees. Some with trunks the size of small homes (really)! But my lively band pushed through the broken, knife like branches; hills of trunks and then through a rather prickly patch of mountain laurel. All to find ourselves at a rather nice trail head called “Lighthouse Trail.”
Lighthouse trail goes up over a small ridge, where at the top you get a really nice, nearly 360 view of Lake Tahoe and the surrounding area. Also the worlds highest lighthouse happens to be on the East side of the ridge. It was built in the late 19th century to guide boats across the lake and was recently renovated to maintain its prestige and place on an incredibly vertical hillside.
Before I go further in this tale of adventure and danger, I should tell you about my crew. Seven of us totaled with, amazingly, all their ages nearly adding up to my rather large store of years. Here’s a picture at the halfway point…
The hikers: Marcella (4), Annie (3), Gabe (5), Luke (5), Lily (9) and Ryan (10). This was not an easy hike! At halfway I stopped and asked them if they wanted to continue and it was an rapid and loud “YES!” So we continued, over the ridge and to the light house…
Notice the poses…my daughter, Annie, trying to strike a pose like Lily…look at her fingers…crack me up!!! So from here it was mostly downhill to the beach, where we swam, waded and otherwise found any reason to take our clothes off and get wet (Annie ended up in only her underwear…). The hike to the beach is about 2 miles…for these guys a HUGE accomplishment. We played and then ate a snack to prepare for the 1 mile walk back up the hill (very steep) to our campsite. Luckily just as we started my wonderful wife showed up in the van and we all hopped in for a quick ride back to the top…just like Disneyland…not really.
Come to find out everyone was worried about us…wondering where we were. We were just having some fun. What a great morning.
August 10th, 2006 at 1:06 am
Well done you for leading such a band of young hikers. Actually it sounds like they were leading you! Looks like lots of fun was had by all. The Lake looks gorgeous. We’re going camping in a couple of weeks. Can’t guarentee that our weather or views will be as nice as yours!
August 10th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
Hey Rachel….I bet you’ve got some beautiful country there! They did lead me a bit…amazing there was no complaining (or at least very little) and they all had a great time!! Camping is good stuff…we had to share our area with bears (big ones)–made it VERY exciting.