Lake Crescent

The kids & I went camping last week (Wednesday - Saturday) with some friends. We had driven past Lake Crescent a few times before and always marvelled at how beautiful it was. Let me tell you - it is beyond beautiful! Breathtaking, awe-inspiring, paradisiacal . . . Basically, we had a great time.

Here's a shot of the back of my car as we were heading out. And I'm a light packer! I really (really really **Hint for Christmas** really really) need roof racks and a locking car top carrier!

Ahhh . . . Lake Crescent. We camped at the western end of the lake. This is the view from "our" beach. And, as usaul, the picture just doesn't do this sight justice.

The campground was full of some amazing old-growth trees. This one shaded our campsite.

Jared & Micah have become quite the master campers. They are pros at getting the fire going.

The remains of one of our yummy meals. This was a tasty cherry cobbler. It was devoured before I had a chance to snap a shot of it.

The water in the lake has a very low nitrogen content, which means algae doesn't grow well in it. Consequently, it is crystal clear. This shot is looking down from the end of the dock. The bottom here is probably about 15 feet down.

The first day we were there, we spent the whole day swimming and playing in the sun. Later that evening, Jared was running down a hill and he tripped and fell, scraping up his arm & shouldar pretty bad. While I was bandaging him up, he went white as a ghost and said, "I can't hear or see anything!" I caught him just as he passed out. Scared the crap out of me; I didn't know if he hit his head when he fell. But I think he was just hot (it was in the 90's) and dehydrated, because he was fine after a few minutes. Fortunately, that was the only real "incident" of the whole trip.

This is the swimming area near our campsite. The kids would swim out to the log boom and climb all over it. The water was surprisingly warm, considering it is glacier-fed.

Synchronized diving. Jared, Micah & their friend Coltrane practiced this over & over until I finally got the perfect shot of them in the air.

Our 2nd day there, we hiked out to the Devil's Punch Bowl on the west end of the lake. The directions we were given told us to drive to the end of the road, then follow the trail a short way until you see a bridge that spans the entrance to a grotto, perfect for swimming and jumping off the cliff. Well, apparently there are two roads/trails which lead to the Devil's Punch Bowl. The trail that we took (pictured above) is the THREE MILE hike in. The other trail is under a mile. Ugh. A SIX MILE round-trip hike with 10 kids in 90 degree weather . . . exhausting. But the kids did declare it to be the "Best Day Of The Whole Summer!"

Micah jumping off the bridge into the Devil's Punch Bowl. Yep, the water really is that color!

Seven of our kids lined up on the bridge, ready to jump in.

And away they go!

Jared jumping off the cliff. This is as high as we would allow them to jump. The rock drops straight into the water, so there wasn't really a risk of them hitting the side. While we were there, we saw quite a few older guys come and jump off the very top. Scared the crap out of me. Many of them had stories of people they knew who had snapped their necks doing this. So why . . .!?!? Sigh. I'm sure my boys will be stupid enough to do that someday.

Emma refuses to be outdone by her brothers. If they can do it, she's determined to do it also.

Thankfully, Adana was content to just paddle around the grotto in her life vest, or bask on the rocks in the sun. I'm not kidding myself, though. Give her a couple more years and she'll be climbing up that cliff with everyone else.

These are the memories that will last these kids a lifetime. Isn't this the perfect picture of summer?

This was when we were heading back on our return 3-mile hike. She was sound asleep the whole way.

Unfortunately, my camera battery died, so I don't have any shots of our hike on the 3rd day up to Sol Duc falls. We hiked a little ways up-river and the kids swam in the frigid water. It was gorgeous!