Backpacking Adventure

Nate has been wanting to go backpacking with me for a long time. My only experience with backpacking was in college with a pack that was way too big and falling in the river after a 12 mile hike. I figured I would give it another chance. We arranged for Nate's mom to come into town to visit and watch Carter. This would be the longest we had been away from Carter so I was a little nervous. It had been along time since she had come, so it worked out for everyone. Carters cousin Elle ended up coming along too.


Lucky for me REI just had their anniversary sale, so I got my very own pack on sale and a few other great deals. We packed up and headed out Friday morning at 5:30am. We were doing the Hells Gate hike up near Payson. We got their and started hiking around 7:30am. Hells Gate is were 2 creeks merge, so we had a lot of down hill going in, which meant we would have up hill coming out. It was 14 miles round trip and we did both ways in 3 1/2 hours. It was hot and a tough hike, but worth the trip. It was beautiful and we saw lots of interesting things.


We even meet up with a Rattle snake on the trail. Allie and Nate were up front and it "rattled" right when they got up to it. It was probably 10 feet off the trail. He was all coiled up and ready to strike. YUCK!



Once we got down to the creeks, we found a great place to set up camp right where it merges. It was so pretty and peaceful. We hike around along the creek to do some fishing. Nate caught a few Chub, but no Trout. Fishing was not that great.We set up camp and took a nap. It was so nice to relax. We cooked up some dinner of Mashed Potatoes and Top Roman (Yum). Anything is good after a long hike and camping. We got ready for bed and watched all the stars coming out as it got dark. (you just don't see star in the city anymore).





Since fishing was bad and it was hot we decided that we would hike out in the morning and drive to another creek to fish. It would be a lot cooler. We made up breakfast that was soooo good. I was starving. Oatmeal, hot chocolate and bacon. While we were cooking and taking down camp we heard a big splash in the water. A bolder had fallen off the cliff. I looked up and something was sitting on the very top. It walked away and had a big long tail. It looked like a mix between a monkey and a raccoon. It was crazy. About 10 minutes later we heard something closer to the creek. About a dozen of these critters were climbing on the rocks and coming down to get water. We accidentally scared them away while trying to take pictures. We came home and looked them up. It looks like they are called coatimundi and are native to mostly southern and central America with a few spots in AZ.


Allie has really sensitive paws and she wore them out on the way in, so we put some little dog shoes on her and she hike out like a champ. It was a tough hike out, but I think the motivation of being able to take off the pack and sit in the car in the AC got me moving. When we got back to the car we headed about 30 minutes to another creek to see if fishing would be any better. It was a beautiful creek and had plenty of space on the side for me to walk and not have to climb through bushings to follow along. Spring fishing must be over, because he only got 3 fish. We hiked along the creek for 4 hours, so when we headed out we were hungry. All I wanted was a chocolate shake. It was sooo yummy.

Nate's faithful Fishing buddy

This little guy almost attacked Nate as we were jumping over a rock

When we got Carter, Elle, and Grandma Jo were just finishing up playing outside with Carter's new water toys. He was so excited to see us and kept giving us some big hugs. He looked exhausted, so we put him down and went and took a SHOWER......... It was a great weekend.