Crater Lake Campout 2011

Our family went on a fun campout trip to Crater Lake with Kim's brother Jeremy and his kids Victoria and Bryan on Thursday August 25th through Monday August 29th.

It was our first time camping all summer and Elyas's very first time camping ever; we were very excited to share this experience with him.

We were going to go on a Gourley family campout earlier this summer, but our little family caught some sort of bug that kept us from going. That trip would have been Elyas's first time camping and he would have been able to share it with his cousin Alexa; the two are just a month apart so that would have been fun. We were sorry we couldn't go.

This trip was planned shortly before we moved to Klamath Falls. We are so glad because it gave us something to look forward to after moving down here.

We arrived Thursday Morning at the Mazama Village Campground.  It was really a beautiful campground and we had an awesome site.

This camping trip was awesome. We played games, went hiking, went site seeing, ate camp food, and gathered around the fire each night making each other laugh.

Our first hike was on Friday the 26th. We the Plaikni Falls trail, a newly discovered hiking trail that leads to a pretty waterfall. It was a 2 mile hike, which would have been pretty easy if we had been prepared. We knew we had planned on going on this hike at some point, but at the time we were under the impression we were going grocery shopping, so Kim left her shoes and Elyas's body wrap at camp. Kim was wearing flip-flops and we didn't have a sun hat for Elyas; we didn't even have our camera, luckily Jeremy brought his (we'll have to ask him for some copies). We took turns holding Elyas as we hiked down the trail.

Our second hike Chris decided to skip, but Kim was better prepared this time, she brought Elyas's wrap, hat and smothered him in sunblock. She was even good enough to remember to wear shoes and leave her flip-flops back at camp. We hiked the Cleetwood Trail, which brought us all the way down to the lake shore; it is the only legal and safe trail to the shore. It was a very difficult and steep trail, Kim slipped and fell at one steep point on the trail, and then further down she rolled and stepped on her ankle. She was a trooper though and kept going, although after her injury everyone pitched in and carried her fishing pole, tackle box,
chair, and Elyas. Despite the injury and mishaps the trail was well worth it and the lake was beautiful.

On the way home from the hike, we decided to pull over and have a snowball fight (I stayed in the car and took pics), yep there is still snow at Crater Lake that is probably never going to melt!

Even though it would have been fun to have Chris on the hike with us, we are happy he decided to stay behind, because while we were out there was a thunderstorm that hit camp and it rained. It was shocking because although we heard thunder and were threatened by some dark clouds and wind, we never saw rain. Chris was able to save everything by acting fast and covering everything that wasn't suppose to get wet. Chris was happy to experience a bit of rain because since moving to Klamath Falls we have barely seen a cloud in the clear blue sunny hot sky.

The camping trip was a success. We had tons of fun! It was so fun to spend time camping with family. We would definitely come back to Crater Lake and camp again. The end of August seems to be the time to go too because the mosquitoes weren't as bad as we thought they'd be.

Our last day was fun but sad because we had to say goodbye. Elyas was happy to go home; although he loved his camping experience, by the end of it he was ready. It was especially hard on Kim to say goodbye because she has been so homesick and really enjoyed the company of family. We love you Jeremy, Victoria, and Bryan! Thanks for going camping with us!!!