Alpine Swim

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Today was my favorite day. When I was washing the breakfast dishes at the communal spigot yesterday morning, another mom was telling me about a hike they did to the Chaos Crags. My sister had also mentioned this particular hike earlier this month when she camped here. I remembered her saying it was steep at parts but the mom made it seem totally doable with kids. Both really enjoyed it, and it apparently ends at a lake you can swim in. With nothing better to do today (besides canoeing later- Arya's been asking about going on a boat every day), that became our plan.

We started out at 1045am, strolling up at toddler speed, which means lots of sitting on logs, picking up sticks, collecting rocks and even her first squat in the woods. The trail first parallels Manzanita Creek (which is very full right now) and then veers to the left away from the campground and towards the crags. The terrain is alot of fallen and dead trees, some burnt from a fire at some point, and lots of debris and rubble (we're guessing from an eruption or rock slide). We passed giant boulders and eventually switchbacked up the mountain to find ourselves on a beautiful alpine slope above the treeline! This is when Arya gave out. She was past her hiking tolerance point and refused to go further. She almost made it the whole way, though! We were very proud of her. The trail is 1.9mi each way with a 1000ft elevation gain.

We reached the highest point of the trail and descended some steep, rocky and loose switchbacks to a gorgeous lake. I had worried we would find ourselves at a mud hole but it turned out to be our own private alpine swimming hole!

After snacking on grapes and string cheese in the shade, we decided to atleast dip our toes in the water. I expected the water to be ice cold from snow melt but it actually wasn't too bad! And with that, Chris and I stripped down to our underwear (and just took everything off Arya) and jumped in. I sat on a submerged rock, holding Arya while she kicked and splashed the water. Chris swam around in front of us. I kept thinking I ought to jump in, too, but I was holding Arya while Chris swam, and then a bunch of hikers finally caught up to us at the lake. They kept coming, too. Soon we were surrounded by a dozen other hikers with us still in our underwear. So I decided my chance to swim was probably over. We dried off, and I not so stealthily removed my underwear and put on my dry shorts behind a rock. I'm sure a number of people saw my white butt. It took five minutes of convincing but we got Arya to hike back up the slippery switchbacks. The higher we climbed the more and more I was regretting NOT swimming in the lake. Chris swam in it, and I didn't! We made it to the top and I just stood there unsure of what to do. Give in to spontaneity.. or just continue back since Arya was tired. Eventually, spontaneity won out. I sprinted down the switchbacks while Chris and Arya waited at the top. This time I just removed my shirt, shoes and socks, and jumped into the water with my underwear and shorts on. By this time, several people were standing and swimming in their underwear as well, laughing at me for having run all the way back just to swim for a couple minutes. It was wonderful! And I was so glad I did it! I really don't do enough spur of the moment things.

After that, I put my shirt, socks and shoes back on over my soaking clothes, grateful the day was hot and would dry me pretty fast, and headed back up to Chris and Arya. Since Arya absolutely refused to walk any further, and there was no amount of bribing we could come up with to sway her, we carried her the whole two miles back down the mountain. Chris took her the first huge chunk (well over half) and when his arms got tired, I took over the rest of the way. She really doesn't weigh much more than my backpacking pack, it's just an awkward carry. We made it down in record time. I was shocked- the trail was so much shorter when we weren't going at toddler speed!

We ate lunch and attempted nap time. Since Arya had power napped in Chris' arms on the hike down, she wasn't having it. So, Chris and I rested in the tent while Arya just fidgeted and played in bed. Afterwards, we headed down to the camp store to rent a canoe at 4pm, the latest you can rent since they go by the hour. I was seriously worried we were gonna tip the boat in the first few minutes. Arya was initially having difficulty understanding she couldn't stand or make large movements in the boat. It sunk in, though, and we enjoyed paddling around the lake. It was so beautiful! Chris and I were discussing how much we loved this campground. Besides being gorgeous, there were near zero bees and mosquitoes to harass us during meals and in the evening. We're definitely coming back, we decided.

When we got back to camp we realized the steak we had planned to eat for dinner had gotten completely water logged in our ice chest. It looked gross and we weren't sure it was safe to eat anymore. So I picked up some pasta and sauce at the store and ate it with salad and grilled mushrooms. We capped off our amazing day by sitting at the lake with our camp chairs and wine, enjoying the beautiful sunset over the water. Arya passed out easily after all the adventure today, and Chris and I sat talking and staring at our campfire until well after the whole campground had gone to bed. Perfect last day of this trip.

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