Ohanapecosh 2018

This was our third annual trip to Ohanapecosh, but it had some significant differences from past trips. The biggest difference was that we went with different friends. We sadly couldn't align schedules with our usual partners in crime, so we recruited our neighbor-friends, the Kerby family, to join us. They'd never been to Mt. Rainier before, and it's always so fun to bring friends to such a phenomenal place for the first time. Between us we had 10 kids, with Aubree as the oldest.

The second big difference was that we only stayed for one night. We originally planned to stay for two nights and three days, but then we found out Finley's baptism was scheduled for early Saturday morning and we definitely didn't want to miss that.

Again we took the risk of trying for few the walk-up (non-reserved) camping spots. We left home by 8 am, arrived to Ohanapecosh by 9:30 am, and managed to find two camping sites right next to each other.

The Kerby's campsite had an enormous boulder that the kids kept scrambling up and down. Some got stuck at the top and needed help down. Others hurt their ankles jumping down. Finally I vetoed my kids climbing up, and they insisted I was ruining their fun.

After setting up camp, we set out to hike to Silver Falls. The trail signs said it was 1.2 miles from the trailhead to the Falls, but our GPS watches insist it was over to 1.7 miles. 

The Kerby's two-year old, Eli did not appreciate the long hike. He got sick of being in the hiking backpack and took his frustrations out on his dad's head. Ouch! The rest of the kids held their own (with the help of some strategically offered sour patch kids), though there was some complaining by the 6 and under crowd towards the end.

The kids were motivated to hike quickly on the way back because they were eager to swim and play at the river. We weren't back long before they'd all changed into swim clothes and we were off again. The river was lower than we've ever before seen it, which meant extra beach area on which to play.

The water was still frigid. Thane and Lydia were the first to jump in, dunk and swim. Thane shivered the rest of the afternoon.

Aubree, Bryce, and Emerie were slower to convince themselves to get wet. 

 

In fact, Bryce didn't get to the "mostly dunked" point until it was time to leave.

Aubree eventually got in and swam across to the other side. She wasn't ready to try cliff jumping but maybe next time.

The lower water level ended up being great for the younger kids. Way more space to play and wade.

After their swimming escapades, even Aubree and Emerie enjoyed playing in the sand.

Soon it was time to head back to the campsite for dinner. We brought walking tacos to share. Mark wasn't thrilled that the meat was unheated, but no one else seemed to mind too much. For future reference, I probably should have brought more food because we ate every last bite.

If people were still hungry though, they filled the remaining belly gaps with plenty of s'mores and roasted starbursts.

Aubree thinks roasted Starburst are the very best, and most essential, camping food. Unfortunately, this time she got a little too eager and ended up burning her finger badly on a too-hot. Ouuuccchh!

At 8 pm, the dads took the big kids to a Ranger Talk while Julie and I tried to get Eli and Nellie to sleep. Granted, getting an almost 3 year old to bed is WAY easier than a 1 or 2 year old, but she still didn't konk out until just before the bigs got back, after 9pm.

The kids returned claiming the Ranger Talk "so boring!" Mark and Tyler concurred. They'd tried to sneak out early, but Graham and Gideon had volunteered to go on stage, so they were stuck. Bryce especially thought it was too long. He insisted he was "so cold and so tired."

With such a busy day, it didn't take the kids too long to fall asleep once they were in bed.  We adults stayed up talking for a little while, but soon succumbed to the effects of an early morning and a long day.

Around 11 pm I woke up to my name being whispered urgently. "I really don't feel good," came Bryce's voice through the dark, "My head really hurts."

That's definitely not the message you want to hear in the middle of the night in the middle of the forest. Ironically, while packing the previous day, I'd come across the bottle of children's Tylenol.  "Should I pack this?" I asked myself. "No," I internally responded, "we will only be gone for one night and no one is sick. What are the chances we'd actually need it?" Joke's on me.

I figured Bryce had a migraine, which he is prone to get, but I reached out and checked his forehead, and found he had a fairly serious fever as well. Drat.

As the night progressed, his headache worsened. Soon he felt nauseous, so together we left the tent. The cool night air helped and we rustled up an Advil from the car. After an hour or so he felt well enough to try to go back into the tent, and he was able to fall asleep relatively quickly.

We had big plans for our second day out, but had to bail on most of them (sorry Kerby's!). Instead we packed up camp (a job made easier because the Kerby's brought breakfast to share), and only attempted a short hike (Bryce insisted he was feeling much better).

The Grove of the Patriarchs hike is less than a mile round trip, with beautiful scenery the whole way. Despite proclaiming his health, Bryce still felt extra chilled. Instead of putting on a sweatshirt, he decided to pull his arms inside his t-shirt. That ended up being a poor choice. He tripped on an exposed root and was unable to catch himself since his arms were tucked inside his shirt. He fell hard enough to knock his breath out and bang up his knees. Poor guy. Adding injury to illness.

Crossing the suspension bridge is always a hike highlight.

The lower river level meant more room to explore and more exposed rocks to throw.

Another tradition is standing around the big tree and seeing if we can work together to enclose it. I imagine this task will continue to get easier as the kids grow.

We missed being able to go up to Paradise, but we were home shortly after lunchtime and were able to enjoy some good naps. Bryce continued to improve in health as the day progressed and was completely better by the next day. None of the other kids ever got sick, so I'm thinking he really did have a migraine.

Another family memory in the books.