Camping in the Gifford Pinchot III

 One of James's favorite places to visit in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest is Mt. Saint Helens. The kids enjoyed their dad telling them all about the history, and how much things have changed since he was a kid. Do you still remember the day this Mt. erupted?

 Indian paintbrush...one of my favorites

 James counted 449 steps to the top of Windy Ridge.

 It was worth the climb

 Not many tourists up here on this Monday post Father's day weekend. The snow melt and beaver dams made Meta lake "mega" lake. Kids took advantage of this opportunity to take a dip.

The water had overflowed into the interpretive patio area. It was only a couple feet deep here, and had warmed nicely by the sun. The kids took turns "polar plunging" into the lake by jumping off the rail, and then recovered in the patio pond.

Camping in the Gifford Pinchot II

 We took a stroll through the Grove of the Patriarchs.

 Ate lunch by the river, and said goodbye 😢 to Nathan and Clover's family.

 We continued the adventure onward to Mt.Rainier

 Found snow. Kids had fun engaging in an epic snowball fight with Dad and Uncle Jim.

 Waterfall detour

Stopped by Longmire to learn the history of an old mineral springs resort that once existed back in the late 1800's. Uncle Jim treated us to dinner at the lodge. It was another great day making memories.

Camping in the Gifford Pinchot

What a beautiful day with this adventurous bunch. Our first adventure was exploring Layser Cave.

Epic views of Mt.Adams.

Couldn't resist posting this picture of my niece Emery shining the flashlight under her chin 😁

We stopped for a short hike upstream to this water fall.

That's Tim jumping across the logs. He eventually made his way up the slope to the top of the falls.

Allison caught a minnow

And Weston, aka the forest creature whisperer, found this cute little salamander.

Perfect way to end the day. Uncle Jim playing his guitar while we all warm ourselves by the fire.