Bechler

Oh man. Last week was so great. Since I was just a little girl, I've wanted to go backpacking in Bechler. My Grandpa Johnson loved taking groups through there and I never had a chance to go with him. A few years ago, my cousins revived the tradition and I was so excited to go with them this year.

Cole was a good sport and agreed to come with me. We had a great trip. It was absolutely beautiful!

Here we are looking fresh just starting out. I was pretty nervous, actually.

Our camp was about 8 miles into the backcountry. A mile or two in, we had to cross the river. My cousin's son, Cort, just piggybacked Cole across. 

We got to cross the river several times, but usually there was some type of bridge across the water.

Our group had two camp sites. We got to go to the one farthest in and the extra mile and a half or so was by far the hardest part of the trip. We were all beat. Poor Cole was completely exhausted, but he refused to let me carry his pack or to stop and take a rest. 

We finally made it to our little camp by the river and the miles were instantly worth it. It was so pretty.

 I really wished Floyd was with us because he would have loved this pretty river with no one around to bother him while he fished it.

We set up camp, which included pitching our tents, cooking dinner, pumping fresh water from the river, and lashing our packs onto the bear pole. 

Our camp had a little potty out in the woods and I actually quite liked it. Call me crazy. It was really peaceful.

Day 2 brought 8 more miles of hiking, but this time without our heavy packs. We hiked to Union Falls, which is the second highest waterfall in the park. I love waterfalls. Three rivers join together to form this waterfall. It was really pretty. We hiked to the base of it and stood it the mist. 

From there, we hiked to Ouzel Pools and did a little swimming. It was a great swimming hole - the water was warm, but not too hot. 

Cole hiked back to camp with Jeffrey, my cousin Mike's son. It was really fun to get to be with cousins I haven't seen for awhile and to get to know some of their kids.

Sunday morning, we woke up early and broke camp. I was really sad. It was such a pretty little camp and I wasn't ready to leave it.

We had a little Sunday School on the trail. Jon (a seminary teacher) talked about grace. I enjoyed his lesson. He told us grace would even allow us to do things like climb the really big hill we were just about ready to climb. I think his words inspired us, because we all killed that hill. I had been dreading it since Friday when we hiked down it.

Cole was pretty excited and a little exhausted when we made it to the top of the hill. Me too!

Savannah came with Kelli and she and Cole had a fun time together. It's fun to let them spend time without all the other kids interfering:).

I don't know why, but the 8 miles we hiked out seemed so much easier than the 8 miles we hiked in. It was crazy. 

And before we knew it, we were back to the truck and heading back to civilization. 

It was such a great trip. I loved every minute of it except for miles 7-8. I love my family and I loved thinking of Grandpa Johnson and how he would smile at the pack of his family hiking through his wilderness. Thanks for the legacy, Grandpa!