Higher Elevation

A few weeks ago we decided to take a weekend trip to visit Darrin's sister at their cabin in Wyoming. Our festivities were going to include eating (love this), hiking, relaxing and more. As we set out for our hike Saturday afternoon all was well. My sis-in-law Jo was going to show us a waterfall and I am all about having a destination with hiking. Not much was out of the norm on the way to the falls and when we found them, I have to say it was worth the hike (even being 8 months pregnant). At the falls I was under the impression that the trail we were on was a loop and if we followed it we would reach a pond before the starting point, sounds great. Jo's daughter who is practically 16 wanted to turn around and go back the same way, thinking she was just bored and done hiking I put my two cents in (which I always think is worth more then it is) and said "I say we keep going till we hit the pond."

About 30 more minutes of hiking and my 4 year old falls smack dab into a cactus. Jo and I pulled out the needles the best we could but they were super fine and very hard to grab. We got out maybe an 1/8th of them out and then gave up and just told her no more falling and don't use that arm. She was so brave and obedient she bent her arm and held it still for the rest of the hike, even while eating, and playing. At this point I am ready to find the end, I know Baylie (the cactus sitter) isn't going to last much longer and to be honest I'm not sure how much longer I am going to last either. That's when it started to happen, the trail was gone and we were just walking. Jo doesn't recognize anything and it's official we are lost. I wasn't too panicked but I do have to say when my nephew who is 11 asked his mom if he could dump the last cup in a half of our water of his head, I almost grabbed it away myself. Jo must have felt the same way and shouted no.

At this point our really only good hiker was Darrin who decided he would scale the mountain to see where we were at. When he came back with bad news that we had at least 2 miles left and it was down a canyon, and over 2 more mountains I put my foot down. We walked for a few more minutes and he went to the top of the mountain again. I have to say I never thought we would die, but the thought of telling my children we were out of food and just had to keep walking was very overwhelming. As Darrin came down this time he said he could see some tents and we all agreed that would be the best course of action. Once we reached the tents (which was a scout camp) we knew we were safe, although we did still have to walk over a mile to make it back, but at least we were on a road. Now to drill in the seriousness of this "hike" you have to know that I like I mentioned before was 8 months pregnant, We had my 6, 4, 2 year old with us, my 16 & 11 year old niece and nephew, and my sis-in-law Jo who had literally only eaten 200 calories before we left for the hike. We were a sorry bunch. Our hike lasted 3 1/2 hours, and as we hiked I gave out super star awards and practically everyone got one but, our biggest award went to Darrin, who climbed to a higher elevation and saved us all!

PS - later that night, just to add to the excitement we found 3 tics, 2 in my hair and one on my back (see pic) and two embedded in Jaya's head. (Avoid wooded areas for potty breaks!)