Hiking Back to Redfish Lake

I dragged myself out of my slowly deflating pad and, along with the guys, stuffed my bag lazily full of everything I had unpacked for our one night stay. I forced down some banana oatmeal because it just wasn't sitting well with my stomach and then gulped a couple of bottles full of water that had sat in the cold lake all night. As I heaved the pack onto my back it rested awkwardly and unevenly on my shoulder blades. Chuck wrapped his arms around it and squeezed it as hard as he could to even things out but it was only a temporary fix. The thing with being so tired, though, is that things bother you less. Pebbles in your shoes, that ache from your tendons stretching, and how your shoulders feel like they've been rubbed raw from the small swing of your pack are put on the back burner as you trudge down the the mountain side to get home to a hot meal prepared by someone else.

Home, in this case, was back to Redfish lake. Where peach cobbler cooked in a dutch oven over hot coals awaited us. So we treaded down the mountain, picking handfuls of fresh raspberries and huckleberries, only to make it to the dock hours before our scheduled boat ride to take us back. We didn't have to wait too long, though, as some people had paid to come over earlier than that and we got our ride back. Maycee, who had been previously terrified and shaky on the boat on the way there, was promptly too tired to care now. When we got to the dock, nobody at camp was answering their phones or walky talkys to come pick us up. So we walked more. Me, in bare feet despite how the sun baked pavement burned them. I just needed to let them breath, and didn't feel like putting on my hiking shoes that I took off in order to soak my feet in the lake while we waited for the boat to come get us. After a few more miles of walking we were greeted with smiles and "we were watching the clock to come pick you guys up." It didn't matter. We were "home," and all was good.

Fresh off the trail berries.

Juliann swears that Lydia was born with this look on her face. I tried my mightiest, but I could not get that kid to give me a smile. She's probably going to grow up to be a very classy women who won't take anything less than she's worth.