But our family camping trip at Lost Lake is not one of them. We had been planning this trip for over a year. We have very little time in the summer to ourselves due to the time that Jared spends with the young men preparing and going on High Adventure. It comes down to about one camping trip a year for us and Lost Lake was it for 2010, the week after the kids got out of school.
In the 4 years we've been employed in Oregon, the kids and I have never been anywhere near Mt. Hood. So this was going to be a fun new adventure.
It was a darn good thing we had the suburban by this point. Even still, we had to remove one of the seats in the back to make room. And we didn't take our own firewood like we were planning. We have yet to get a rack for the roof so we can use our car topper. That would have helped. We were packed to the gills.
A view of Mt. Hood as we ventured off the beaten path to the Lost Lake campground. We took the scenic route and there were times when it was so scenic Jared was wondering if we weren't lost ourselves.
Karcyn's motto for the trip: "This is the life." She kept saying it over and over from the moment we arrived.
We really liked the campsites at Lost Lake. They were clean and spacious--we had spots to put 3 tents--and it felt like you were the only ones there. The trees are so thick, you can't see the next campsite. Not to mention they were a bargain!
There's a 3.2 mile loop around the Lake and you can fish anywhere you can find a spot. We took the kids fishing the first night.
They all hooked fish, but only Jake got one in.
And no camping trip is complete with out card games.
Day 2:
Nothing like hot chocolate and a warm fire in the morning.
Jake working on some of his Webelos requirements.
More fishing. Jared forgot his fishing license so he couldn't fish, but the little kids could.
Success for Cooper!!
Can't stop now...
Success for Karcyn! She loved waiting for the fish to bite and then hooking it and reeling it in, but man, she didn't want to have anything to do with the fish once it came out of the water!
Eagerly waiting for dad to get her pole and bobber ready for the next go around.
Our little pyromaniac.
Basking in the sun...the first sunny week we had in a long time.
Rowing out on Lost Lake to find Mount Hood.
Found it!
The view from the lake was spectacular. In fact, some of the best shots of Mt. Hood are taken from Lost Lake.
Calvin enjoying his freedom in the rowboat.
This is what Karcyn thought of the boat ride out on the lake. She missed the whole thing. Catching fish sure takes a lot out of ya.
What I didn't get a picture of (because we videotaped it instead) was of Jake and Cooper jumping out of the boat into the FREE.ZING. water and swimming back to shore when we got closer. Jake was a total polar bear and did it. Cooper slid tentatively over the side of the boat (instead of just jumping in to get it over with) getting only halfway in...and got his breath taken away and panicked because it was so cold! In his panicking he all but tipped the whole rowboat over! We finally got him up the side and into the boat and into his towel. He was not happy about that experience. Jake was too cold to talk at the shore, but nothing that some dry clothes and a warm fire couldn't fix.
Here we are eating our yummy Mountain House dinners. Though, according to our ward's young men who ate Mountain House on their 50 mile backpacking High Adventure trek in the Eagle Cap Mountains, if that's all you have to eat for two meals a day for a week, the very sight of those pouches are enough to make you hurl. What I didn't notice until I took that picture is the mountain logo ON the pouch. That looks an awful lot like Mt. Hood from the Lost Lake side. Pretty cool. Considering these meals are manufactured in Oregon, I'm guessing that's our Lake view of Mt. Hood.
Later in the evening, Jared took the boys out on the boat to go fishing as they made their way back to the dock to return the boat. I stayed behind with the little ones and we made s'mores before leaving to go pick up the fishermen.
When they got back, Jared took Karcyn fishing all by herself. After cleaning up and getting Calvin ready for bed, the boys and I walked down to see how they were doing. They were sitting on rocks at the end of our private path from our campsite. How cool is that? Jared said as many times as Karcyn put her line in, she'd reel in a fish. I think SHE was the one that was hooked! But don't be fooled. Her dad LOVED it!
And here's Calvin--doing what he does best. He wanted to go down on the rocks, but I wouldn't let him. Can we say "bedtime"?
Day 3:
Packing up so we can go on our hike around the lake before heading home.
Off we go...
Had to stop and catch some salamanders.
Mt. Hood through the trees from the path.
The path was a 3.2 mile loop around the lake and a good portion of it was muddy, or rocky and steep and just plain uneven terrain. I knew the boys would be fine, Calvin was in the backpack, but Karcyn was hoofing it. And she was a rock star. She didn't once say how tired she was....UNTIL...one of her brothers, who shall remain nameless, had to open his mouth and share that he was tired and asked with a whine how much farther did he have to go. Fortunately that was near the very end. Not only that, but Karcyn was only 4 months out from being potty trained. So she learned how to go in the sticks for the first time and she was a champ! She didn't like it, but she did it.
Nothing like ice cream at the end of the hike!
If you hadn't noticed, we had a fantastic time at Lost Lake. Our '07 camping trip to Wallowa Lake in Eastern Oregon still ranks as our #1 family camping trip. However, if you want something that's only half the distance (3 hours instead of 6) with great fishing for kids and beautiful views, Lost Lake is it.
