I know you have all been waiting, so here is my recount of our wonderful camping trip to Rock Creek.
The trip started early Sunday morning with a 6 hour drive to Rock Creek, a campsite on the
other side of Yosemite. The drive had lots of wonderful scenery, as we drove through the mountains. We arrived in the early evening to our tents already set up. (you see, at 2am that morning, Grandpa took some of the boys early to scout out a good camp site and set up camp- having teenage boys to do anything at your beck and call is awesome!) This is Chris and I's tent, which basically became Gianna and Elia's tent as well.
We took the girls all around the campsite to explore. Our campsite was nestled between two mountains with a large creek (small river?) running behind us. With the river drowning out any noises from other nearby campers and with the wall of mountains, it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. These were all taken not 10 steps away from our site.
It got dark quickly and as soon as the sun went over the mountain, it got cold. We were feeling 85 during the day when the sun was out and in the dead of the morning it was getting down to 40/45. Bone-chilling for what this Texas girl is used to!
Monday we did some small hikes near a town called Mammoth. We saw an earthquake fault, which was pretty cool. There was a place where you could climb down into it and there was snow down there. We also went to a June Lake, which was so cold, but the water was as clear as glass. It was gorgeous. Of course, I have no pictures from that day. We came home to a wonderful dinner of Mary's chili. I could probably dedicate a whole post to the food that we had. For some reason, camping makes food taste better. We also had a lot of fun each night sitting around the campfire. Elia learned to put her hands up when we were holding her and say no to the fire.
Tuesday was amazing. We went on a 4 mile hike- 2 miles up and 2 miles down the mountain. Our campsite was at about 8ooo feet and at the highest point in our hike I think we got up to 10200 feet. So beautiful. Only pictures can really tell you how beautiful it was, and even pictures don't do it justice. We bought another baby carrier through craigslist so now Chris and I I have matchy matchy backpacks. Its nice to have those teenage boys (and Chris) around to help carry the babies.
It was a wonderful day, but sadly Ana developed elevation sickness from this hike. Well, we don't really know if the hike actually did it or if the hike just exacerbated what she already had, but nonetheless, Mary, Jenny and Phoebe spent the night in a hotel with Ana at 4000 feet just to make sure. And she got better right away, so alls well.
Chris and the boys spent Wednesday morning hiking up the mountain that overlooked our campsite. Once they got back, we packed up and headed home. Such a wonderful trip! Can't wait for our next camping trip!
