Hunters friend Jack Lovejoy turned 10 and for his birthday party his dad Mark rafted a few of them down a stretch of the Deschutes just south of Bend - how cool is that! Here are a few shots from the afternoon fun. There wasn't quite enough room in the boat so I sat this one out but got some great video of them going through a section of class 3 rapids near lava island!
Today I wanted to take the boys up on a mountain hike for some views without a lot of steep uphill mileage. I selected Triangulation peak. While it was about 1:45 drive from bend to the trailhead, it looked to be a hike with some great views of the massive Mt. Jefferson Volcano and a fun hidden cave. The hike was about 4.5 miles round trip with only some minor elevation gain to get to the summer with the amazing views you see in the photos. Also some great wildflowers along the trail
We also hunted and found Boca cave as well that allows for a very unique shot of Mt. Jeff framed in the cave entrance. The cave has been used for centuries by Indian hunting parties to get out of bad weather.
First family camp trip for Abbie and PJ. We went with some neighbor friends of ours (the Gillettes) to Rock Creek campground on Crane Prairie Reservoir in the Cascade Mountains. Just one night but a fun time even though it was a bit of a cold night. Here are a few pictures around camp.
On Saturday afternoon we did a hike to Lucky Lake. Preston gave it a good go but I ended up carrying him most of the way:)
A couple of panoramic shots from down at the lake below our camp site
Hunter is in the second lane. This is a race he won.
Some additional pictures
I had to travel to the east coast for a week and our first meeting was in Toronto so I came in a day early and dad came down to Toronto for the day to visit. We went to the CN Tower. Built in 76, neither of us had ever been up it. It held the record for the highest free standing structure in the world from when it was completed in 1976 until 2007. It is 553.33 M tall (1815 ft 5 inches). Inside, the highest you can get is the sky pod which is 447m (1465ft) or the equivalent of 147 stories. The video and most of the pictures of the city below are shot from the sky deck. The sky scrapers around look small.
The afternoon was spent drinking beers and having a late lunch down by the water. Overall a great day.
We had a nice leisurely hike today along the Deschutes river south of Bend finished off by a picnic lunch. We started at the Meadow Picnic area which is accessed about 4 miles south of bend on the Cascade lakes highway. From here we simply walked south along the river.