A View of Three Sisters

On our way back to the campsite, we decided to take the scenic route. A view of the three sisters wilderness from the top of the road.

What does your family do when they find a patch of snow in 70+ degree weather? This is one way to cool down, and have fun clobbering your family with soggy handfuls of melting snow.

Can you tell who was the last one to wake up? He was happy once his belly was full and his fishing pole was in his hand.

Our campsite was at Frissel Crossing Campground. I highly recommend this spot. Our campsite was huge and the river was 20 feet away from the picnic table. Our neighbors were barely visible and quiet. For Memorial day weekend, we lucked out.

Weston placing his spinner on the line in hopes of catching the biggest fish.

The hammock is always a great place to be.

We were sad to say goodbye. The kids had nothing but good things to say about our whole weekend, with repeated "thank-you's" to James and I. There was something for everyone here, and everyone took a little bit of it with them when they said good-bye. Another grand Pettett adventure.

Random Trail

The south fork of the McKenzie river has lots of different trails that flow into the forest, all covering beautiful landscape with hidden treasures to seek and find. On our second day of camping we went into the Waldo Lake wilderness.  

There were many waterfalls and flowers along the way.

Can you see Tim off to the right of the picture? This was a challenging cross. It was almost a game of don't touch the lava as we navigated on the rocks and fallen trees.

Love it when one of the kids finds a giant rock to climb and concur. It was just around this bin that Tim spotted a bear. Tim was in the lead on the trail, but came quickly running back to join the family to tell us all about the bear. He was able to only see its tail end, and discovered that the bear was just as scared to see Tim as Tim was to see him, as he darted off into the woods.

This picture of us all makes me laugh. We all look a little awkward, but there was only two photos to choose from. The first one made Weston look like a giraffe eating a sandwich...maybe I should have posted that one, hehee

Wild bleeding hearts? I think this is the first time I have seen these in the wild.

There were many massive trees growing along the trail. Here's my man child standing next to one.

And this is where our journey ended. The trail had been severely washed out. We tried navigating through it in hopes of finding it again, but no such luck.  We were a little disappointed, but happy for another grad adventure together.

Oregon grape is the name of this yellow cluster of flowers.

Little yellow pansies throughout our walk.

Skookum Campground

This was our first adventure, as a family, in the Oregon Cascade mountains. We set out looking for some epic views of lakes and waterfalls.  Who knew that on this grand adventure we would run into some snow. Its was in the 70's, and those patches of white were holding on to the bits of shade, but fading fast. The melting snow made the pools and falls of water that much more grand.

There are obstacles in our way, but we can still see the trail. It looks cold, but the weather is glorious.

Found a couple adorable frogs swimming in the puddles.

We could hear the low rumbles of this waterfall before we even reached it. This first photo is from above, and the next is from the mid way down.

And then we came around the corner to this jaw dropping view. Erma Bell Lake in all her glory. "Time to whip out the fishing pole!" Weston said with excitement.

Weston is a happy camper. He caught his fish!

Between two of the Erma Bell lakes was this beauty. It was a steep climb down, but worth these shots. It made me feel like I was on Kauai again with the misty spray and mossy rocks.

It just kept getting better. Middle Erma Bell was just as beautiful as her big sister.

The flowers were so  pretty. I tried to good photos of some, but couldn't capture them all. With the white dogwood trees in bloom, and all the different varieties of ground flowers, it was hard to keep my eyes on the trail.

There is always one or two that get a little tuckered out from the journey. But we all left feeling a little closer to nature and each other.