The Clegg family tradition of summer backpacking has risen again! Every summer growing up, my Dad would take us girls on a daddy daughter backpacking trip. We would go with other dads and daughters and it was a wonderful tradition with so many happy memories for me.
My Dad asked if I was interested in continuing the tradition with my kiddos. So I took Jacob and Sarah and we went into the Uintas with my Dad and my sister, Melina.
Day 1
Day 1 started early for our crew. We left our house at 7:00 and made our way out of Colorado and across Wyoming. We met my Dad and Melina in Green River at noon and then made our way south into Utah. We traveled up to Spirit Lake and found our trailhead to Tamarack Lake. It took a little time to get ourselves organized but we eventually made our way on the trail.
The trail was only 2 miles – not long – but it was the perfect distance for the kiddos. This was their first experience with backpacking and we wanted to keep it positive. We didn’t make it far on the trail when a family coming down told us there was a baby moose ahead. I was a little nervous about them not mentioning the momma moose because we definitely didn’t want to get in-between them. But we ended up seeing them across a meadow and that was definitely our most exciting animal moment. We did see some bear scat but (happily) we didn’t see any bears.
I was so proud of the kiddos. Once we got to the lake, we found a great place to camp and got settled in. We got to the lake later than we had hoped and it was not long before the wind started in with a vengeance! We got our tents up and we started on dinner. The kids learned how to purify the water and we quickly ate dinner before it got dark. The wind became pretty intolerable so we covered everything and got settled in our tents.
Our tent was COZY! We had the three of us in a two man tent but it actually worked out fine. It was cold and so being close worked out well for us. I forgot how loud the wind can be in the forest. With so many trees it just rushes. It felt like sleeping next to a waterfall and I know none of us in our tent slept well and we were all very happy when the sun finally peeked its way up.
Day 2
Finally at 6:30 AM the kids and I decided to get up. The wind had quieted down and we were excited for a fun day in the mountains. Melina and the kids made a fire and the kids LOVED IT! They had so much fun keeping it going and coming up with stories (they were cooking a “pig”). We had breakfast and cleaned up. Quite a few fisherman hiked into the lake and we had fun watching them do some catch and release.
We decided we would try and hike around the lake a bit. We didn’t make it too far before the trail got overgrown. We decided to hike back and go to a different lake. We made our way to Jessen Lake. It was fun to go on an adventure and explore a little. This lake was quiet and a relaxing break.
It started to sprinkle so we decided to make our way back. It was looking pretty stormy by the time we got back, and soon enough – HAIL! We ran to our tent and hunckered down! Our tent was amazing though! It kept us safe and sound and we were all so grateful. The hail lasted about 30 minutes and then the sun came out.
Once the weather settled down, we started on dinner. We had our traditional potato soup with corn bread and it was so tasty! However, we may have ate it in the rain. Luckily, we had brought some ponchos and so the kids and I were rocking those! The kids played charades while the soup cooked and they were so good at making the best of the situation.
It was getting cold and only wetter. The kids ate quickly and ran off to the tent. My Dad and Melina offered to be on clean up and so the kids and I got snuggled in our tent. It was only 6:30 and so we had a LONG time to go before the sun went down. We played a whole lot of Skip-Bo and Uno, we sang a lot of songs, and even changed the lyrics to fit our situation with a lot of Primary songs and we had a lot of fun with that. We said a lot of prayers that the rain would let up. And it did! By the time darkness came, the rain had mostly stopped and it made my momma heart so happy to see my kids says prayers asking for help and prayers of gratitude when it was given. They are the best.
Even though this night wasn’t what we hoped it would be, it actually was one of my favorite memories of the trip. I loved having uninterrupted time to just be with Jacob and Sarah. It was a sweet memory that I am so very grateful for. We were all pretty tired and so once the sun went down, we were all ready to go to bed.
Day 3
Our final day we woke up and hit the ground running. We had decided the night before that with all of the bad weather we were experiencing, we were going to skip breakfast and cleanup and just pack up and hit the trail. This was definitely the right call.
We got camp packed up and were on the trail a little after 9. The trail was pretty rocky (which had its own difficulties) but with all of the hail and rain it made for a lot of mud and puddles of water. But we made it back to the car quickly and the kids were pretty happy! The kids pushed through and I was so proud of them.
The drive down was filled with some crazy jams. I will just leave it at that and keep that a secret special memory with Jacob and Sarah 😉
My Dad found the spot where the first rendezvous happened and we stopped there to take it in. History is amazing. My Dad also found a small church building that was so sweet.
We made our way back up to Wyoming and ate at Penny’s Diner for some breakfast/lunch. Sarah had been dreaming of hot chocolate and a big cinnamon roll and her wish came true!
The drive home was long but surprisingly hilarious. I was tired. So what do I do when I am tired – JAM! The kids saw me jam like I’ve never jammed in front of them before. We all laughed a lot and we made it home in one piece (despite the tiredness and many storms we went through on the drive).
It was such an amazing trip. I am so grateful for my Dad and all of the preparations he made to make it a memorable experience for us all. I am very happy I could have that experience with my Dad and Melina. And I am so grateful that I could have that time with Jacob and Sarah. These trips are fun but I feel like there are so many lessons to learn too. The kids really had to be resilient and tough and there were new places of depth they found within themselves. When I asked them how they felt about the trip, they said it wasn’t fun like some things, but they felt really proud of themselves for what they did. And I was really happy with that. A weekend of wonderful memories.
