Rapids Camp Yurt, Eagle River Valley

Last weekend, I took Cayden and Catheryn on a backpacking trip.

Catheryn is carrying some socks and underwear, a sweater and extra pants. I want her to get used to carrying a backpack when we go on trips. As she gets older and stronger, we will add more weight to her pack.

We hiked about 3 miles into to a yurt to camp overnight. It was great. It got cold at night though, probably in the low 40s. The kids did great.

What a view from our campsite.

This is us Saturday morning after breakfast and before we start to head back out to the car.

I am so pleased with how well the kids did hiking with their packs. They were great traveling companions. I love going out with them.

Carolyn, Cassidy and Canyon hiked in on Saturday morning and surprised us as we were hiking out.

Cassidy is pretending to eat bear scat. This scat was only 10 minutes old. Carolyn passed it coming in and it wasn't there. As we were hiking out, we found it.

Talkeetna Cabin

Two weekends ago, I took the three older children to Eldon and Beverly's cabin in Talkeetna. It was a two hour drive to the trailhead and a two hour ride on an ATV trail. Becca, Shawn and their son came. Eldon and Beverly. We also brough our exchange student Martina. She is from Czech Republic.

The trail in and out is very muddy. Several times ATVs got stuck. Fortunately we had winches to pull us out. It was a great time. The kids all did great. Martina and our kids were great workers.

Me and the kids slept in tents. We spent two nights there.

These are fresh bear tracks that we saw.

We did some chores around the property. You can see some of the work we did was to add a porch to the front of their cabin.