It had been a long time coming but we made it out for our first overnight backpacking trip. The kids packs initally weighed in between 8-10 pounds, but as Merrick's google prove there were some items that were added after weigh in. He knew we might swim and when he asked to take googles I naturally assumed he meant swimming. To his credit he did wear them almost the whole first day. We hiked into site 9 at Newport State Park near the tip of Door County. We were passed by one other hiking group that coincedently had the same packs as the kids were wearing, it didn't go unnoticed and I like to think it added to their feeling of real hiking. The whole trip was almost too cute, particularly as the helped each other buckle up their pack harnesses as soon as we got out of the car. We hiked in, with plenty of snack breaks and had lunch on the trail. There were some bugs but not too bad and the temperature was great. We also grazed for the first time on thimble berries. I had found them in the woods before but never ripe enough to eat, this time they were fall of the vine ripe and wonderful so long as you heeded Merrick's warning and did not eat two at the same time. The tartness is too much and as Amy found out could make you cough a little. They are an interesting flavor that starts off like strawberry and finishes like a tart raspberry or apple while the whole texture is almost jam like and disintegrates in your mouth almost immediately. We ate lunch, tortillas and peanutbutter on the trail and the kids had some room to run in the woods were we stopped. From our last water break the two oldest headed off to camp on their own and were happy to be there until we caught up with them and reminded them that they had left their hiking sticks behind were we sat for a break. On their way back to get their staffs they luckily, we thought, were quiet enough to see two snakes. Camp was set up, water was filtered and wood was cut and collected for the night's fire. With all the work done we headed Lake Michigan for a swim. The water was clear and cool but Grace, the fish, lead the way and ultimately convinced Merrick and Ella to join her for a swim among the ancient rocks. We traveresed some pretty good drops off the old granite ledges to a sunny area. I have forgotten if it was Sophia or Ella that first hit a small patch of grass on the ledge and without noticing sent two garder snakes of multiple feet in length sliding out in front of them and into the cravasse immediately in front of them. With the view so beautiful Merrick quickly joined them and when he hit the small, less than 2 foot square, patch of grass another snake scurried behind him and into a crack. I said nothing, fearing that they would start to dance out of fear and tumble over the rocks. Once they were all back and Amy and I told them what had happened we started looking around the area much closer, we came across 5 snake skins that were in the 3-4 foot range and as we stood there we lost count of how many snakes showed up, including Grace pointing out one that was slithering towards from a Tree! In time we headed back to camp to change and let the kids try the dehydrated food that they had picked out for dinner (2 Macoroni and cheese, spahgettie and meatballs and an alfradeo) Only Ella filled up on her meal as the others found them much less edible. There meals were augmented with some string cheese and later the sipped hot chocolate around the fire. Ella and Sophia had a tree that was good for climbing including a perfect branch that Ella used for reading and the two younger ones seemed to spend a lot of time 'helping' around the kitchen (bear box) area. As dark closed in the kids retreated for a breif poker game in the tent, but we did hear coyote howls over the cacuphony of children laughter. We had some rain over night but awoke to blue skies and cool temperatures for a relatively easy hike out after an oatmeal and bagel breakfast. It was fun to listen to the kids talk about whatever hiker talks about at meal time....how much lighter their pack will be when they put it back on.
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