Back to Basics

One of my all-time favorite activities is to go hiking. Well its a little tough to do with a 20 month old and a just-turned-3-year-old so last weekend we finally invested in some Kelty packs. Today was the big day we got to try them out. We knew exactly where to go - Dana Peak Park. Our old stomping grounds from before Cali was born. The summer of 2005 we spent several days a week there. We only hiked a few times (I was pregnant with Cali already) but we spent tons of time on our boat, swimming in the cool clean water, picnicking at the pavilions, wading at the shore, and the guys tubing. So many fun memories there. Unfortunately last summer we had too much rain and the lake flooded so much it completely destroyed the park. All the pavilions, outhouses, the entire RV park, even the guard shack were wiped out. The park is still closed and will take a long time and a lot of money to return to its former glory. As of now you still can't even drive up to the park, the closest you can get is about 2 miles from the usual entrance. So that's where we parked and for the first time since the end of summer 2006 we were able to walk up to the old park entrance and see the main part of the lake where we spent so many happy hours in the past. We didn't go to the main park area because we had already walked a mile past a "Park Closed - No Trespassing" sign and then saw the guard shack attendants RV was there so we snuck down a trail to the back end where the boat ramp is at. Then around a little spit to a nice rocky little shore. Roundtrip we probably did at least 4-5 miles. The weather was perfect: sunny but not hot, a nice breeze. We saw two people on horseback, one boat nearby, and about 4 cars in the parking spot. As for wildlife we saw one squirrel, one little green frog (I actually caught it for a minute), some minnows in the creek, a dead fish head, various birds & hawks, two deer on our way out, and a whole variety of butterflies and grasshoppers.








And just because I was curious... Calories burned: 720 (but that's with a 10-20 lb load, my load was more like 30-35 lbs). Click here for calorie burn calculator.