4th Annual Fall boys Camping trip (2017)

We just got back from our annual fall boys camping trip for 2017.  

Previous years:

A little later than average this year - Sept 30/Oct 1 and the weather was a little more cool and unsettled but still a great time.  This year we were joined by PJ for the first time!  Kelly was a little nervous about this but decided to ok it.  The trip this year was via canoe upon request from Noah.   The plan was to travel along an ~8 mile stretch of the Deschutes river from Tenino boat launch just below Wickiup reservoir to Wyeth boat launch just above Pringle falls.  This stretch has no rapids and is a nice easy down-river float.  Here is a map of the route and our selected primitive camp spot (blue dot) along the river.

We dropped one car at Wyeth and had Kelly drive us to the put in point at Tenino.  Here we are at the put in and just starting down river.

We selected this camp spot about 2/3 down river to our exit as it was relatively remote.  Had a great little eddy to pull the canoe into to unload.

I had a few new recipes I wanted to try on this trip.  The first was pizza over a camp stove. I originally learned this with NOLS many years ago but haven't tried it recently.  Chose to top it with peppercorn feta, kalamata olives, and arugula on half (for Noah and I).  First pic is Hunter helping me by cutting up olives.  Of course the trip wouldn't be complete without hot-dogs over a fire which we did later when the wind died down.  I also cooked a peach cobbler for desert.

Here is a video of the kids throwing pin cones in the river on a walk for entertainment.
After a cool night we rose Sunday morning with a little rain to start but clearing to partly cloudy with a cool wind but not bad for October.  For breakfast I made Fresh sourdough french toast with raspberries and pumpkin spice maple syrup along with a side bacon.  It was tasty!

  

3rd Annual Boys Fall Camping Trip - Tam McAuthor Rim (2016)

September now has a tradition of a Donaldson boys fall camping trip.  First trip was in 2014, where we canoe camped on Sparks lake.  2015 we did a backpacking trip to Benson lake which was the first backpack for Hunter and Noah.   This year in 2016, we backpacked again - this time up Tam MacAurthor rim above 3 creeks lake in the 3-Sisters wilderness.  We have been to 3-creeks lake in the summer as a family but this time our target was to camp out on 'The Prow' - a high point cliff that overlooks the 3 creeks basin at 7732 ft elevation.  (The parking area at the lake is at 6550).  The hike to the Prow and back is about 5.3 miles so this would be the longest backpack for the boys to date.  As they will tell you - a big difference when you have a pack on your back vs just a day hike. 

 We left Bend about 2:30 Saturday after the last soccer game and got on the trail about 3:45.  Here are a few shots on the way up.  You can see the prow clearly in the second photo.  

Here are some shots from the top and the cliff area around the prow.

We set up camp about a 100 yards back from the prow in some trees.  While this is high fire season we set up a very small fire to take the chill out.  Noah got inventive and started toasting fig newtons on sticks.  After fire was out we watched the stars for a while - amazing since it was so dark.  

Sunday morning I got up to enjoy the sunrise and after breakfast, we decided to do a hike over towards broken top to see if we could see the lake in the crater as well as get some sweet views of the 3 sisters.  I had been to broken top crater back in August from the other side and wanted to see if we could link it up from this side.  Hiked for about 1.5 miles to a point where we could see it but the scrambling got a little dicey so we decided to turn back to camp.  Boys had fun building cairns on the way back as well as sliding down a snow slope still around from last winter.  Got back to camp just before 11. 

After packing up camp with slightly lighter packs we had a quicker (downhill) and relatively uneventful hike back down getting to the car around 1:30.  Enjoyed dipping our feet in the lake looking back up at where we had been. Of course we stopped in Sisters for an ice cream at snow cap before driving home. 

2nd Annual Boys Fall Camping - Benson Lake Campout (2015)

We just returned from our second annual boys fall camping trip. Last year we canoe camped on Sparks Lake. This year Hunter wanted to do a backpacking trip so I selected Benson Lake as a good starter - a 1.5 mile hike into the lake with wilderness camping.  Mileage-wise not a lot, but with packs on it was plenty to get a taste and enjoy the experience. We left home after the boys soccer games on Saturday afternoon. The drive was about 50 minutes from Bend past sisters on hwy 242. We had spectacular weather and it didn't even get very cold at night. The water was so clean and clear we drank right out of the lake. The boys loved it.    

Early Fall Camping on Sparks Lake

Second week in September...  Fall is in the air, but the nice weather is still holding.  It was expected to be in the low 80's in Bend this weekend, so I figured it might be a good to try a last camping trip in the mountains with Hunter and Noah before the weather turned.  I expected it to be cool at night since the lake is at 5400 ft - almost 2000 ft higher than Bend.   My plan was to take them out in the canoe to a wilderness camp site at the far end of Sparks lake. (Kelly and I did a moonlight canoe on Sparks in early August)  Its impossible to get a camp spot here in the summer time but I figured September would be fine, and it was.  This would be their first non car camping trip!  They both did their soccer games in the morning and we headed up to the cascade lakes around 2:30 Saturday.  We probably got on the lake around 3:30.

Here we are launching and going to the camp site.  Also note, it seems to be frog season at Sparks.  The shores and water was covered in these tiny frogs - see the bag full the boys collected.  

We found a nice spot on a bluff at the far south east end of the lake with a view of Mt bachelor in the background.  Lots of lava for the kids to climb and and explore while I set up camp.  Hunter remembered slicing hot dogs like a squid  from our trip to Canada 3 summers ago so we did that again this weekend.  

The night was cold but not as much as I expected.  There was only a slight hint of frost the next morning.  In the morning we dressed warm initially but once the sun came up, it was really nice.  We hung out, ate, played, read some devotionals about the outdoors  and set out for our return journey.

We stopped for lunch and some scrambling on this neat uplifting of lava not far from the return point.  It was great fun to scramble up the narrow fins of rock.  Also being late season the water in the lake was super shallow in parts - you can see it in some of these pictures.  

A short but super fun night out.  The boys loved it.  I think we will try and make an annual trip of this each September!