The Trip - Day 10

July 19, 2011

This was the epic adventure day of the entire trip. It started out like a normal vacation day, with Asher attending his writing class (learning about short story forms), Sylvia playing at the children's museum, and Mattias programming at the library. After lunch was when the excitement began - little did we know how long and exhausting the day would become.

Here is a picture of Fuse Lake, our end goal.



To get there, we drove down the Bitteroot valley, and up to the top of Skalkaho pass. There is a very fun waterfall right at the edge of the road. Along the other side of this one-car-wide dirt road, is a cliff drop off, down the edge of the mountain. It was a tense drive up, always wondering if we'd meet another car coming around each corner. Blessedly, we survived to tell the tale.

Because of the road, (and stopping to play and hike around the waterfall), it took a couple hours to drive up and find Fuse Lake's trailhead. Once we got there, everyone was ready to hike.


The older kids and Brad made good time, heading up through a forest trail, covered with bear grass and other wild flowers.




Sylvia and I walked went along at Sylvia-pace, discussing the wildflowers and rocks as we walked along. I also counted to 100 with her, before we would stop and take a drink of water.
The scenery was beautiful, ,and I loved seeing the wildflowers along the trail.


It was almost 3 miles in, and the last half mile was steep and rocky. Sylvia was not going to make it up some of the steep parts, so Brad climbed the last part with her sitting on his shoulders.

Sylvia was not sure about this arrangement at first, but they quickly became good hiking buddies. When grandpa (and I) needed a break, we would plop down on a tree, and catch our breath.


We made an exciting discovery as we came within a few hundred yards of the lake - SNOW!
Sylvia thought it was great to make snowballs in July. Maya loved eating it. The lake is at 7,400 ft, so it makes sense there would still be snow after such a wet winter and cold spring.



The older kids had gone ahead to the lake. We got a good picture of everyone with Grandpa before they set off for serious fishing. Or should I say, before we got hit by a quick downpour, and then they set off to fish.


Part of the reason for this outing was to take Asher to a place to fish. He had to catch, clean, cook, and eat a fish to complete his fishing merit badge. Brad said there are usually a lot of greyling in this lake. With dicey weather, and evening already upon us, they did some speed fishing.




Asher did catch one, and he was so excited! He said the feeling of catching that fish was one of the highlights of the whole trip for him. Unfortunately, while landing it, it flopped around on the rocks, and came unhooked. Back into the water it went.

Meanwhile, the rest of us were damp and cold from the rainstorm. Mattias gathered twigs, and started us a one-match fire, inside a ring of rocks. It was surprisingly warm, for being such a little fire. Sylvia was excited to try roasting some of the cherries we had brought along. She stuck one of the end of a stick, and put it in the fire.



Sitting here at the fire with the kids was one of my favorite times on the trip! It was warm and cozy, and beautiful. But most of all - it was totally isolated. No other campers, or hikers, or roads for miles around. I loved it!!

I wish we could have packed our gear in and camped there. That will have to be an adventure for another year.

Sadly, our cozy break was ended by a fierce hail storm. We heard it coming, and then saw the wall of hail pelting towards us on the lake. The kids were amazed that you could see it coming towards us like a wall. Here is the lake mid storm.

We huddled together in a cluster of trees. I had the older kids gather over Sylvia, I was worried about her getting hit by the marble sized pellets. They hurt.

When the storm was over, we threw handfuls of hail on our fire to put it out, and headed back down the trail. We did not want to get caught in another storm in the dark.

I jogged down half way with Sylv on my back, until my knees were about to give out. Brad came to the rescue and carried her the rest of the way on his shoulders. In the picture below, you can see them heading down the trail.



Even though our legs were tired, we were all satisfied. It had been a great day. I was so proud of the kids for not whining at all. They were all helpful and positive. The scenery had been great, and it was wonderful to see Grandpa Brad out in his element. We will definitely need to take him up on more fishing/backpacking trips in summers down the road.

We drove down the other side of the pass, to avoid driving off a cliff in the dark. It took a couple hours to get back home, but it was interesting to see some new country before dark set in.

Definitely an epic adventure to remember.