I was up past 1:00 last night packing for our trip to Tamarack lake. When I was a kid, my dad would take the family backpacking. Now that Clarissa is old enough, I’m fulfilling my dream of taking my family backpacking in the Unitas. We left by 10:00 and went through Wyoming to get to the Northeast side of the Uintas to go to Tamarack lake (near Spirit lake). I chose the East side because the mosquitos are supposed to be better there……
On the drive, Basil had an incredible time when we rolled down the window:
https://youtube.com/shorts/_BOI_EHPHxo?feature=share
We had lunch near the trail-head. I had just figured out how to get my gopro to work so I was having a lot of fun with that. Here are some scenes from lunch:
When we arrived at the trail, we noticed two things. First, the mosquitos were completely out of control. Fortunately, I brought head-nets which is a trick I learned from my dad on one of our backpacking trips when the mosquitos were totally nuts.
Secondly, we noticed that Basil was literally in heaven. And his fluffy coat protected him from mosquitos! See Basil’s bliss below:
I have to really hand it to my family. Backpacking is not particularly comfortable for any of them, and Lily is still getting over a sinus infection. And even with the crazy mosquitos everyone still did a good job hiking and making fun memories.
We brought along a flower guide that Lily purchased during our birthday date in Park City (at a cute bookstore). It was fun identifying flowers such as the mountain marsh marigolds (if I remember correctly).
The hike was only 1.4 miles, but it felt like plenty, especially with the mosquito situation. Our campsite was AWESOME. There was a great place for the tent, multiple firepits, a lake view, and great play areas for the kids. Here is Lily taking a video of the camping area:
First I got the fire going, and then we got the tent set up.
Once the tent was up, the kids played and laughed and giggled and recorded videos, much like they did last year after the tent got set up in Kolob canyon.
I took these pictures because I was enjoying the smoke in the sunlight
Also similar to Kolob canyon, I made Tuna noodle helper, which everyone loved:
Eating S’mores was definitely a highlight, and I really enjoyed sitting next to Ammon as we both polished off our second S’more.
Basil was required to wait outside the tent until it was bed-time (as he wasn’t super clean). He did his fair share of whining…poor guy.
At last it was time to all go to bed and yes, to invite Basil inside the tent.
We had so much fun being with Basil and trying to get him to use his doggy sleeping bag that Lydia picked out for him last year.
At night, I told the kids a story before going to bed. It was one of my better stories (Lydia was still thinking about it on the trail the next day), so I’ll capture the bone structure here:
There is a magic society where people have very extreme super powers. Some people can summon fire from the sun, some people can live forever etc. Anciently a strict government was set up to make sure there would be order amidst all this power. So there is a super controlling government and people are only allowed to use their powers in ways the government dictates. Everyone receives orders every day on what to use their power for to benefit their community. But if someone uses their power in any other way, they will go to jail and their are government guards, agents and messengers everywhere. Also, the government is super secret. There is a huge government building and nobody knows who is in it. Know one knows the guards are either. No one knows who makes the laws or who is in charge, they just receive rules and orders mysteriously from the messengers. The story is about a brother and a sister. The brother’s super power is he can create animals just by thinking about it. His jobs often involve stocking lakes with fish for people to eat. His sister, Sabrina, has a gift that she can make things smell really good and she has the unpleasant job of walking the dirty streets every day and making them smell better. Then one day she discovers she can also harness lightning (she finds out by shooting it accidentally at someone who was stealing bread and she just reached out to tell him to stop). She told her parents about her second gift. No one had ever had a second gift before. Her parents were part of a secret underground society that believed the government needed to change and be more healthy. More transparent and democratic. They told Sabrina to hide her power and not to tell anyone because the government would control it, and she might need it someday. Five years go by and then all the underground society people (who are also largely pacifist) decide to leave and start their own society. But the government guards catch them and stop them in the process. The people in the underground society now know they are marked and watched and they feel the government is going to tighten their watch on them. So they decide to make a move and attack the government building to try to take over the government. The underground society is beaten back by guards and they are about to lose when the brother and sister step in to action. Their parents told them to stay away for their safety, but they were watching everything. The boy creates ten grizzly bears that storm the government building and the sister shoots everyone with lightening. The beat everyone in the building, but then start searching for the central room where they figure the leader must be. The find the main command room and find an old man there. They are about to capture and bind him and he pleads for his life. He explains that when he took office 40 years ago, the leader who passed the office to him told him that the ways of the government were ancient and had been that way for thousands of years keeping order. The previous ruler explained to him that the secrecy, the strict controlling of powers, all of it was essential to keep order and he had to swear on his life to continue the government the way it had always been done. So the leader pledged his life to running the government the way it had always been done, but not that it was toppling, he admitted to the brother and sister, he had many concerns about the model, and he wanted to be a part of their team to find a better way to govern. Then the group of the underground society, the brother and sister and the old man all decided to form a new government. And I stopped there because I literally didn’t know what kind of a government would work with people that were so powerful. I still don’t know. If I were to keep writing the story, I think it would explore the tension there. Like maybe they would have a democracy and it would be crazy chaotic and there would be wars and problems, and the reader would need to ponder if that was the best model and better than the former…
Lily and I didn’t sleep much, especially since Lydia woke us up when she was having trouble falling asleep, and Clarissa crawled in our sleeping bag. But I was so happy. My heart felt full. I was camping and I was doing it with my favorite people. And even though Lily was not comfortable for most, or possibly all of the trip, she has effused constantly about how valuable the experience was for her and the kids, and I couldn’t be more grateful to share this day with everyone. Today was a great day! Oh, and it turns out mosquitos can also be nightmarish on the East side of the Uintas too…..