The Bighorn Crags - Round 2

A few years back, Brandon and I did a 20 mile (+/-) backpacking trip to the Bighorn Crags, nestled deep in the Frank Church Wilderness. To my utter dismay, I lost almost every single one of the photos from that trip and due to inclement weather, we weren't able to visit some of the destinations we had planned. Needless to say, we knew we would be going back for more when the opportunity presented itself. Enter summer 2014, and the chance to go with 3 of my favorite guys!

I call this one "One of the guys." Loving my lesbo boots! 

It was so great to be able to do it with both my bros! Jacob went with us last time, but this was Ben's first time in. And actually our first backpacking trip together. 

Rock trail

View from our first campsite next to Harbor lake. It was 7 miles in on our first day. We were exhausted, but…can't beat this view. 

The next day we wanted to hike to a lake we missed last time, Ship Island Lake. To save some walking, we decided to hike up the ridge of Harbor Lake instead of following the designated trail.  

A man between two lakes. It was a great view. 

The other side was a little less enchanting, having to climb down a shale cliff.  It's the areas you can see where the ridge makes a "U." It was pretty scary. I only cried the whole way down out of both fear and pain in my knees. But I did it! It was funny in retrospect. 

We wouldn't make it all the way to Ship Island, as a crazy lightning and hale storm blew in. We did get a view of it.  

Me hiding under a tree from the hale. 

It looked like it had snowed and the trail had turned into a muddy stream.

We stuck to the trail on the way back, and it was a pretty, but very long hike home.

The next day we hiked out to Cathedral Rock to camp along the ridge. We found a leveled out spot between to crags just above the trail. 

And the rock had a man's profile.

This was one of my favorite pics of the trip. We saw a lot of variation in terrain on this trip, but this area was my favorite with the sand, boulders and green. 

This was the view from our actual campsite, overlooking the Cathedral Rock on the left there. It was pretty cool. We got all our drinking water from a dirty patch of snow that we boiled and purified. Neat to live off the land. 

The weather wasn't on our side though, when an alarmingly close lightning storm blew in we had to evacuate our high post on the ridge to find lower ground. Ben and I built a lean-to next to a boulder to keep the rain off while we waited out the storm. While sitting we heard some cracking out in the trees and the boys had to get armed for potentially dangerous wildlife (the area is known for wolf packs). It was literally one of my worst fears realized. But we were fine and eventually made a very dark and spooky hike back to our tents.

Where we play shadow games on the boulders. 

Little Red Lighthouse

Columbus is the man that just keeps on giving. Thanks to his holiday, Brandon had a day off, and we got to get out of the city, if only for a few hours. We decided to take a bike ride from the lower west of Manhattan up to the very southwest of Harlem to see the iconic Little Red Lighthouse. 

I'm a pretty awful bike rider, so Brandon insisted on taking both of the kids on his bike.  

Brighton was....a bit nervous.

I think we estimated that the ride was a total of 20 miles roundtrip. We rode along the west Hudson the whole way, and it was a gorgeous day.

Arriving at the George Washington Bridge

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge 

We packed this amazing lunch complete with mini-cherry pies and baker's paper. 

On the way back we strolled through a stretch along the esplanade that featured some pretty amazing statues.

...and a train.

In the last few blocks, Bright just couldn't stay awake any longer, so Brandon had to hold his head up while biking. It was pretty talented considering I nearly crashed a dozen times trying to take this picture.

He knows he has a good Dad

Niagara Falls

My life is about to get crazier than it's already been, so my hot Friday night plans consist of catching up this blog. Picking up where we left off...following the Hill Cumorah Pageant, we drove straight to Niagara Falls, which was another hour and a half or so drive. If my memory serves me correctly, we didn't get to our hotel until about 2 a.m. or at least didn't settle in for sleep until then. The kids were so psyched about the "new house." Tori couldn't wait to try out the new shower. 

All four us bunked in a queen size bed. It was an interesting night. These kids really don't know how good they got it with their dad. Most patient man ever!

First thing in the morning! She could get used to this lifestyle.

Took this pic to freak my mom out! 

We decided to to a boat tour of the falls, and Brighton was extremely unhappy about wearing his very cute toddler sized poncho. Craze-o! 

Grandpa Dean and Tori getting blown by force of the falls. It was very wet and very windy!

We thought it was funny...Brighton wasn't totally convinced. 

Soaked and still smiling. 

Right up close to falls. Thought this was so pretty. 

I've seen a lot of rivers in my day, but I have NEVER seen water that moved with this much force and magnitude. I felt very little...also, I think people that went off this in barrels were mentally unstable. This weekend in upstate New York was absolutely moving in every way. Mentally, physically, emotionally. I hope to do it again...and again. We were so lucky to have shared these memories with my in-laws. It wouldn't have been the same otherwise!