Backpacking with Gabe

This past summer, in August, Gabe wanted to go backpacking just with Daddy.  He had been backpacking before, but before it had been with the girls and other friends.

So we decided to head out to Mount Hood, which is a short 1.5 hours away.  Here we are at the trailhead loading up.

The kids really enjoy geocaching, which is a hobby where people hide boxes or tupperware full of little trinkets, and then through an app, you try to find them using clues and GPS.  Gabe enjoyed doing this and searching for geocaches hidden along the trail.  Here he is using the app on Elvin's phone.

After not being able to find a couple, we finally found one.  Gabe signed his name on the slip of paper in there and took a trinket.  We brought little erasers and left an eraser in there to replace the trinket we took. This geocache was quite small.

We found other caches along the way.

After a couple miles hike, we finally made it to camp.  After setting up our tent and eating a snack, we set out to explore some more.

Gabe is subconsciously attracted to water and found this log along the shore to sit on.

He ended up spending a lot of time making mud pies.  It was nice that the place was not too crowded, perhaps because of the cooler weather.

There was a rope swing attached to a super tall tree.  Gabe enjoyed swinging out and back in, lots and lots of times.

We even went back the next day for him to swing some more.

For dinner, we had mashed potatoes and sausage.  Yum.  Unfortunately, there was a burn ban so no campfire!

Gabe, being part monkey, can't help himself and climbs everything around him.

We hiked one mile up to the next lake and stopped to throw rocks.

There was a cache on the way up.  It was hidden beneath these boulders.

We found more caches up at the second lake.

We made it back to camp and played games and cards really late into the night.

The next morning, we woke up way after the sun came up.  But it was a little chilly.

For breakfast, it was Cup-O-Noodles!

We made our way back down the trail.  Gabe said coming down seemed a lot faster than hiking up.

And as per tradition whenever we visit Mount Hood, we stopped at the Dairy Queen in a small town called Rhododendron for a yummy basket of chicken strips for an early dinner!