The Hazard Chronicles

This post will be brief, but there are lots of good pictures:

On Friday afternoon I loaded the four oldest kids in the car and started driving toward the North Cascades. We were meeting friends at a campsite, and the next two-and-a-half days would be spent in exploration of this beautiful corner of the world.

We got amazing weather while we were there. The fall colors mixed with the rugged terrain left me speechless on many occasions.

Some of the best times were had just sitting around the fire or playing in the woods around the campsite.

One story I have to include here:

All the kids sleep next to their water-bottles in case they get thirsty in the night. Well, one of the mornings, Maren wakes up and says "Dad, can I have some of your water? My water tastes gross."

"What's wrong with your water, Maren? It came from the same place mine did."

"I don't know," she responds. "It just tastes yucky." She pulls her water bottle out, and now that it is light we can see a distinct yellow tint tint coming from inside the container. "Look!" she cries, "It's all yellow!"

I try to hide my look of shock as I glance over at Jackson who is unsuccessfully trying to make himself disappear into his sleeping bag. Finally, he meets my gaze. "What?" he asks. "It was so cold last night. So cold, and, you know..." he trails off.

Oh, I know. Say no more. "Here Maren," I hand her my water bottle. "drink my water. As much as you want."

I don't think she ever put two and two together. 

That is probably a good thing.

Five adults and ten kids. We descend on the campsite like a hoard of army ants :)

The dog's name is Kenai (I have no idea if I spelled that right). Our kids fell in love and cried when it was time to say goodbye. Now they think we are getting a dog. Keep dreaming, kids. Keep dreaming.

Early on the first day we took a short drive up to look at Liberty Bell and the surrounding peaks. It is impossible for me to look at these mountains without subconsciously asking myself when I can come back to climb them.

Although we didn't spend any time on the big mountains, we did climb quite a bit on lower crags. I haven't climbed at my limit at all in over a year, and I had mixed feelings about my performance- I led 5.11, and I top-roped some 12s (it was pretty ugly though). If anything, it was motivation to get back into shape. The kids all did okay too, but I think they had more fun running around with the dog or building forts than they did on the rock.

When we got home, Rachel and I went out together to watch a screening of "The Dawn Wall," a climbing film about a book that I just finished.

It was a good weekend.

Rachel and Lindsey had fun at home while we were out exploring. They went out to breakfast, painted pumpkins, went swimming, and went to the movie theater. 

Have a good week!