Breaking in the Kelty

One of the activities Justin and I enjoy doing together is hiking. Shortly after moving to the LC Valley in the summer of 2006, we embarked on our first backpacking trip: the Milton Creek Trail. I see no need to revisit the painful details of this hike, and by painful I mean the loss of at least 5 of my toenails; instead, I will simply point out that the photos below were taken in the first 2-3 miles of the trip, before the trail dropped all the way down into the farthest reaches of the valley. Notice how we are still all smiles at this point?

Smiles were a little hard to come by the next day when we had to climb all the way back up the mountain in 80+ degree heat. But, we made it out alive, no thanks to the millions of tiny little bugs that ate at us the whole drive home too... oh, right, I said I wouldn't revisit these details. Sorry. Seriously though, in spite of getting in a little over our heads on this hike, we came out of it with a new hobby we both enjoyed, and battling through the adventure together made me feel like we were even stronger of a team.

The following summer we tackled our second trek: Oregon Butte. This time I had the proper hiking boots (oh how I love my Merrells) and we were just all-around more prepared. We even enjoyed some bacon for breakfast. Thats what I call camping!

Unfortunately, we haven't backpacked since. The summer of 2008 quickly gave way to our IVF journey, and in the summer of 2009 Kendry was just a newborn.

With the warm weather arriving, Justin and I are both getting excited to do some camping and hiking. Naturally, we intend to take Kendry with us, which is why we recently purchased a Kelty carrier for him. Yesterday I took him for his first ride.

Hear me out before you laugh at the thought of me trekking around my neighborhood like a lost hiker with a 23lb kid on my back. I am, after all, still training for my Big Climb this weekend and figured walking some hills with the extra weight on my back would be a great workout. Sure enough, it was.

I did feel a little like a pack horse, with the shifting sounds emitted by the Kelty reminding me of a saddle squeaking lightly with each step of the horse. And Kendry grabbing my pony tail like reins didn't help. I suppose its unfair to expect a 10 mth old not to grab the pony tail bouncing up and down mere inches in front of his face.

It hit 70 degrees here today, so Kendry's first real hike isn't too far off. Possible hiking sites: Clearwater National Forest or Palouse Falls.