About 9700 Ft.

Three yrs ago, a week or two before we found out cancer came back for Chloe, my brother Josh and I took our girls on a backpack trip up in WY. The girls had so much fun (we did too) that they have been begging us to go again ever since. The next backpack trip was the subject of many late night talks I had with Chloe in the hospital as she would often ask where we would go, when her doctors would think it was OK or what we would do. I think talking about it helped Chloe escape from the present or something because she asked me about it all the time. Unfortunately, because of her transplant and all that comes along with it she couldn't go for quite a long time. Addie and Josh's girls have waited patiently for Chloe to be able to go with them [Thanks, to all of them. It meant a lot to Chloe]. Just this spring Chlo's docs gave her the go ahead and we were finally able to find a weekend that worked for all of us. Backpacking with 6 little girls (sorry Ads, still my little girl) is very entertaining, and several people we passed on the trail thought we were a bit crazy for bringing them up there but we all had a wonderful time. Here are a few pics of the adventure in no real order of importance or hierarchical sequence.

This was our view when we woke up. Well actually Josh and I never fell asleep. I can never sleep the first night out of my own bed. It was completely peaceful on the east side of the peak, so we laid there under the stars and listened to the cool sound of the jetstreams in the wind coming up over the peak.



Elsie, taking a much deserved break to eat some fruit snacks. She had a lot of fun and the backpacking was a nice focus for her fun, energetic personality. She did great, and it was a hard trail for a seven year old. She liked to wait for me on the trail to point out something cool or tell me [specifically] how I would die and she'd never see me again if I fell off some cliff. I don't think she asked me once to carry her pack for her. She is already talking about the next trip, hoping we can get the same dry mix cobbler we had at dinner and "Warm Chocolate Memories" brand hot chocolate. We sure created some warm memories with it, and they were chocolaty.
Chloe was always by my side so I had quite a few pics of her. I chose to upload this one and I feel pretty good about my decision. As we walked along she told me how pretty she thought the scenery was and how she was so glad we were able to come. She is always so appreciative of the good things around her. I like that. Her muscles are still pretty weak from all the treatments so she struggled to keep up with the other girls. She had a hard time especially on the steep hills, but she only asked me to help her with her pack on the flats. Considering everything she has gone through, I think she did very well. She loves to hike and see the scenery. She commandeered Josh's binoculars so she could watch the many Mt. Goats we saw on the cliffs as we hiked.
Ever wonder what it looks like at midnight at 9712 ft? Here you go. Josh, Jill, Jamie and Joni aren't always there at midnight, but the rest is pretty accurate. Unless you are looking North. Well, any direction but south including but not limited to NE and NW.
I don't have many pictures of Addie close up because she and Joni were always out front leading the way. Addie did awesome this year, carried all her own stuff and never complained about how heavy her pack was or how hard it was to climb the steep rocky trail. I think she likes the adventure. I heard her several times counseling the younger kids on how to be safe while climbing the steep hills. In this pic above they are about to pass a rattle snake in the rock without realizing it. Josh found him a few minutes later when we got to the top. Luckily, none of us woke him up.
This moutain side should be very familiar to my Fam. Growing up we spent a lot of time biking, hiking, camping and horse riding in the mountains just down to the right of the peak. Good times. In fact, it was here and only here where I rode one of my Dad's horses and didn't get bucked off. Dad had great horses, i'm just a lousy rider. This particular day is so vivid in my mind, seems like it was yesterday. I rode this horse that was probably a mare, or maybe a gelding or stallion. It was for sure one of those three. I forget the horse's name, but it had a beautiful shiny coat of brown. It might have been black though, or white or a combination of any of those three colors. Man that was a pretty horse. I'm not really sure what time of day it was, but the temperature was probably nice for riding. I'll never forget it.
Here are six of nine girls Josh and I have between us. From the left, Chloe, Jill, Joni, Elsie, Jamie and Addie. They are all great hikers and had fun singing silly songs and collecting pocket fulls of 'special' rocks. My girls love hangin out with Josh's girls. They can't get enough of them.
Sunset at the Peak.

The Josh Englands. Josh always makes trips like these adventurous and luckily everything I forgot he brought and visa versa. Though I think I forgot more than he. His girls were all troopers and characters, just like their dad.
The Jake Englands

We all had a fun time and the girls are already asking about where we might go next time. We're looking forward to when The Stacie's(y's) can join us when our little ones are older.