At the end of day one I asked the kids if they wanted to sleep in a tent or under the starts. I've traditionally slept under the stars along the river. It is funny, when I'm backpacking I'll sleep in a tent. On a river trip I'll always choose to sleep without a tent, near the river where it is cooler. Simone and Adam were the first to voluntarily sleep under the stars without a tent. Then Molly and Madiline. I was so proud of them to take on this new challenge. We would all sleep under the stars. Adam slept in his own place with Taz. The rest of us lined up on a tarp on our paco pads on the soft sandy beach and snoozed into the night. No critters, bug bites, or scary stories...just sleep.
Day 2 started off with a good sleep and a great day of rafting...then there was the creek hike and toad camp...
Morning girls on day 2. Beautiful, natural, and well rested.
Uncle David, a seasoned veteran of under the stars paco camping.
Soft sandy beach sleeping.
Daddy Phil, Simone, and Madiline.
Super adventurer Adam spreading his wings and camping under the stars with his awesome companion Taz!
Morning worms.
Tweener Molly catching the later morning snooze.
tax, the living alarm clock!!! Wake up. Time to have another adventure!!!!
Sunrise captured in the reflection in a pond.
View from the toilet back to camp. Good morning!
River rock from the duni.
Adam's adventure led us to these rock formations.
There is white gold in them there hills...and river rocks.
Sleeping Beauty!
Taz, guarding the girls as they sleep well past 7 am.
Wake sleeping beauty....
Awake on the river....
The worms.
Worm one.
Worm two.
Osprey neat.
Sunscreen warrior!
Molly n Adam helping to load the boats.
Downstream....
Klamath fish whisperer.
Mooly, copilot fish whisperer.
Simone on a serious fish catching project.
My morning kayak.
Taz, getting his morning life jacket adjusting. Check!
Phil and his daughters with Molly too.
Molly.
Dragon fly cling on.
Mermaid Molly in the river!
Moll, the biggest fish/ mermaid I caught on the river!
The pretend rescue!
Turtles everywhere. A good sign of a healthy environment.
Swimming Taz.
Taz to the rescue.
Stoker Molly
Wading out into the shallow water.
Molly paddling the I.K.
Taz finally relaxing. It helps that he has a short leash attached to the boat when we are on flat water.
Amazing colors on this Madrone
Swallow nests under a bridge along the river.
Tiny beaks poking out.
Hey, what are you looking at?
Molly and Adam waiting for uncle David to run Dragon's Tooth.
Taz just chillin below Dragon's Tooth.
Heading down river below Dragon's Tooth.
Auntie Lisa and Molly IKing.
Camp 2. Also known as Toad Camp. That night Molly and Simone were going to camp in their own spot in the trees. Suddenly they came running back into camp in a panic. Toads were everywhere. You could hear the sounds they make and when we turned on our headlamps there were leaping toads. Adam decided to also come back and camp in the Toad free zone which was our tarp that we had laid out on the ground.
The next morning Madeline was so intent on finishing her book that she was even reading while going down river in her inflatable kayak.
Proof that the kids helped unload the boats at take out. We would have had everything done except the Forest Service came in to launch and took up part of unloading zone. Great job you guys!
