First Backpacking Trip!

This year, Elvin decided to take Eliana backpacking to have some quality daddy-daughter time.  It has been over 10 years since Elvin has gone backpacking and Eliana had never been.  Both had a great time!

We drove to a trailhead on Mt. Hood, about 1.5 hours away.  On the way, we stopped at Dairy Queen for a blizzard.  We couldn't think of a better way of starting out the hike!

Here we are at the trailhead for the Twin Lakes trail.  Even though Elvin is carrying the tent, sleeping mats, sleeping bags, etc for both of them, Eliana's backpack did have some weight to is as she carried her own clothes, snacks, some water, and her stuffed cat!

And we set out!  It was about a 3 mile hike up to the site, with a little bit of elevation gain.

 The day was nice and cool--perfect weather for hiking.

Eliana carried an emergency whistle just in case.  And she wanted really badly to blow on it, which Daddy didn't really want.

 We found an interesting looking beetle while out there...

After hiking two miles, we reached the closer of the two lakes.  We stopped to fish.  Eliana learned how to cast in to the water.  It's definitely a learning curve as she got the hooks caught in the trees overhead twice!  Lucky that Daddy brought extra stuff!  We didn't catch anything and actually didn't see any fish of any size in the water...

We finally reached the site at about 3pm.  It took us less than 2 hours to hike 3 miles even with lots of stops.  Once we got there, we started setting up the tent.  Eliana helped out with the poles.

Then she decided to be a circus performer and pretend the log was a tightrope.

One of the highlights of the trip, according to Eliana, was the campfire.  Elvin let her stir the fire with a stick and she was amazed that she could create sparks.

Once the fire got going, we roasted hot dogs for dinner.

And then Eliana got to eat a bowl of instant ramen for the main course.

We then went back to the lake to filter water for drinking--there was no wind and the forested hills were reflecting off of the water.

We then went back to the campsite and had more dinner.  (Dinner was less than a sit down meal and more of a drawn out series of snacks.)  Elvin brought a beef jerky type of snack that was made from bacon.  So we warmed these over the fire and they tasted delicious.

It started to get pretty chilly pretty quickly because we were at about 4,000 feet elevation.  It was probably in the 50's and it would get to the 30's at night.  But our down sleeping bags kept us toasty warm.

Even at dusk, the lake was beautiful.

The next morning, we stoked the fire and had breakfast, which included more roasted marshmallows! These are the special treats one gets to eat during a backpacking trip.

Then we decided to hike the trail that surrounds the lake.  It was nice to hike around without our packs.

Then we broke camp and it was time to start the hike back down.  Eliana was sad to leave the campfire--it was one of her favorite parts of backpacking.

A mile later, we were back down to the Lower Twin Lake.

It was a good 3 mile hike down to the car.  Here is Eliana pretending to sleep.

And we made it!  It was a great weekend where Eliana and Daddy got to spend quality "alone" time together, and enjoying the beautiful Mt. Hood National Forest at the same time!