It wasn't quite the adventure I was hoping for, but I'd gotten the bug to go on another backpacking trip with the kids before the end of the season. The smoke finally cleared out and we were on our way east of the mountains on Saturday morning. Unfortunately the 62 and partly cloudy turned into a steady drizzle by the time we got to the trailhead for Hyas Lake. The kids decided they wanted to go on the 2 mile hike, hand out at the lake for awhile, and then make a decision about camping there or not. So we did. Proud of them for making that call.
The big meadows were really cool.
Reed loved finding thimble berries along the trail.
Hyas Lake was beautiful and this late in the season it had dropped enough to have a little white sand beach area. It would have been amazing at 80 degrees and even at 55 and rainy was still pretty awesome.
We made our hot chocolates and waited to see what would happen with the weather.
We settled in under the cover of some douglas fir trees and the big kids read a book while Reed and I hiked up the lake to see what it was like at the far end.
It was an interesting marshy area at the north end - would have been spectacular in better weather.
We ended up aborting the sleeping portion of the trip as it would have been a muddy mess. I put a ton of gear in my pack and we hightailed it out of there. We brainstormed ideas on what to do overnight, but it turned out that about 20 miles down the valley it hadn't rained at all and we found a nice car camping spot on the Cle Elum River!
Ooops - the rocket were a bit slippery and Reed ended up in the river! Good thing we had dry clothes on hand!
We played a number of fiesty hands of Spot It.
Cutest sleeping buddies!
Yummy Sunday breakfast and no rain overnight! Win!
