Year: 2009

[Photos by Sonja, now with comments by Andy]

With the first backpacking trip a success and a Kaua’i vacation planned for August and, we decided to put all our camping and hiking training towards the ultimate goal: backpacking in the Sierra Nevada. Both Sonja and I longed to be in the mountains again, and backpacking is the only way to really get there. Fortunately, there are lakes in the mountains, and this was a great selling point for Leilani (though in the end, she still prefers streams).

After much searching in books and on the internet, I found the shortest, easiest hike to the prettiest lake: Bull Run Lake off of Highway 4 in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness (about halfway between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite). But the mountains are far away, so after leaving early Friday afternoon (and still sitting in traffic), we drove most of the way there and car-camped in the National Forest, along the Stanislaus river.

The name of the campground is Wakaluu Hep Yo (Wild River in the local Mi-Wok Indian dialect) and it is near an Indian village site (that we didn’t see). What I found interesting is that they have cultural demonstrations by the native Californian Mi-Wok Indians, we didn’t see those either, but it got me interested in their history.

That first night, we slept among the pines, saw lots of stars, and Sonja got to build a fire:

Lelani loves playing in the smaller backpacking tent, and here the static electricity got the best of her hair. Now that it’s getting longer, her hair is getting funnier in the mornings:

For the record, here is our campsite there:

With taking down the car-campsite, and then driving another 30 miles to the trailhead, we got a late start, but that’s one luxury of doing “short” family hikes. Here is the trailhead picture:

The trail starts out along a beautiful meadow, not full of flowers, but there are still plenty. Though I actually think this lily was further along by the stream.

There is something magical about the light in the mountains:

After an easy downhill hike, we stepped over the North Fork of the Stanislaus River where it is barely a stream and found a nice spot for lunch:

In turn, this ant got some of our lunch:

There began Leilani’s hike-long obsession with throwing rocks in streams. She’s always liked to make the rocks splash in water, but here she was demanding we stop at every little stream so she could indulge. I think it was maybe her way of saying the hiking was too hard and that she would rather play.

This hike was significantly different from our previous training hikes in several ways. For one, it was much harder because mountain trails are just rockier and steeper than the well-worn trails in the Bay Area. I don’t think the altitude was much of a factor because we weren’t hiking fast at all (another luxury of short family hikes). The biggest difference, however, was Leilani’s behavior: she was more involved in the hike, both physically and mentally, despite the difficulty.

On all the training hikes, Leilani spent at least half the time being told stories so she would keep walking. It really was just a way to occupy her so her feet would keep moving, because I find it distracting from the outdoors experience to tell stories while I walk. But on this hike, in both directions, she did most of the talking. Instead of being occupied with hearing a story, she really occupied herself by telling us stories. And while they were not full plots, they were complete stories that lasted 5-10 minutes each and that made definite sense.

We also talked about other things, like how mountains are formed or some other natural process; she really likes to hear these, listening intently and asks me to repeat them until she understands. Imitating me who had the map and often walk in front to set the pace, st one point she announced: “Now, I’m the leader, follow me.” Immediately followed by “Which way do we go, left or right.” While that made the parents laugh, she often did lead and find the trail without problem, even climbing up and over rocks.

At one point, she walked off the trail, found a high rock that had a nice view and decided to offer a blessing. We have started doing blessings before meals, but this was totally unprompted. She actually blessed all the people who didn’t go hiking, so that they could go hiking someday too:

Unfortunately, the last part of the hike was the steepest and rockiest, and I had to start carrying Leilani. After reaching a false lake (like a false summit that makes you think you’ve arrived), Sonja and Leilani took a rest, and I went ahead to find the real lake. Then I came back and carried Leilani and Sonja’s pack the last 1/4 mile.

But it was all worth it:

Sonja, of course, had to go swimming and even made it to the island in the middle of the lake.

Since the water was relatively warm from being shallow and still, even Andy could swim in the lake and go to the island as well:

Leilani, who didn’t want to go in the water at first, now wanted to go on the island. Since neither of us could swim that far with her, we told her it was impossible.

That, along with being very tired, made her very upset, but later she calmed down and played nicely in the tent.

In the evening, the surface of the lake was very still:

The next day, we explored around the lake. There is a huge boulder that I started climbing. Before Sonja could help her, Leilani started climbing as well (since she wasn’t very high off the ground, I felt I could still take pictures):

Once Sonja arrived, Leilani kept climbing higher and higher.

While I waited for Sonja to get up, Leilani ran ahead to the top of the rock:

I wonder where she saw this:

On the far side of the lake, a little stream meandered through some marshy area that was very green:

Our destination was a big snow patch, not too far up the rocks on the other side of the lake:

SNOWBALL FIGHT!

Leilani really enjoyed the snow, mostly to make snowballs and throw them at rocks. But there were also little caves to crawl into between the boulders:

On the way back to the campsite, Leilani spotted “her” island. She hadn’t forgotten about not being able to go to the big island, so she really wanted to play here. It was a perfect little rock for her to climb around, with little stunted trees and almost a real island. She pretended it was Kaua’i and showed me where all the ports were.

We again had lunch and let Leilani nap before taking down the tent. Then it was time to pack up and hike out:

Leilani walked the whole way back, except for the last little hill to the car. She didn’t lead as much, but she did tell us stories again. She was a little more insistent about stopping at every stream to throw at least 3 rocks. The last stream (the North Fork of the Stanislaus River) was the best, with lots of rocks to throw, so we took a long break there for her, before the last uphill to the car. Leilani got so carried away, she slipped and fell in the water, which made everyone laugh. And we still made it to the car long with plenty of time before dark.

We celebrated the hike and rewarded the hikers with pizza (and beer for the parents) at the Big Bear ski resort. Then had a nice and traffic-free drive straight home at night.

Here is the map and profile of the hike, click image for readable map:

I have not posted in a while, the good news are I had plenty of paid work, and we are going to Kauai tomorrow.

Today Leilani and I stopped at a yardsale – she outgrew all her 3T dresses, and even some of the 4T are getting short. We didn’t find any dresses, but I found a book of Bambi – I bought it hidden away, so she wouldn’t see it… she bought a book too: Tales of King Arthur

She found a spot in the shade, under a table, and pretended to read the book, and was really impressing a few adults by telling them the title, and that Arthur was a good knight, and that she liked dragons a lot. I paid for the book and promised to read it.

I hope she’ll still like Bambi…

After the overnight hike to the hut, we decided to continue the family training and do a real backpacking weekend (hike and camp, carrying everything). We originally wanted to go to Big Basin campsites, but since we plan everything at the last minute, they were full. Instead, we had reservations for the Slate Creek camp in Portola Redwoods State Park, not far from the hut in Sam McDonald Park. None of us had ever been there before, but the camp sites are less than 3 miles from the road, and there is only about 600′ of elevation gain.

[Photos by Sonja, comments by Andy]

Here is the usual trailhead picture again, Leilani has her own pack, and ours are a bit heavier because of the tent and cookware:

Lots of redwoods on this hike. Leilani loved looking into the ones with caves:

And walking on the ones that fell down:

I found this redwood shoot and had Leilani pose with her hands around it (unfortunately, it was in the middle of the path, so I doubt we’ll go back and find it has turned into a tree):

For adult hikers, I usually don’t suggest taking frequent breaks, but kids are different. Plus this was at the top of a big hill:

I think I ended up carrying Leilani’s pack the last 1/2 mile, but she walked the whole thing while we took turns telling her stories and fairy tales. For a while it actually threatened to rain on us (in California, in July!), but we only got a few drops. I think everyone was happy to reach the camp site:

Even if there is a bit of grumpiness, a little tickling can still fix the problem:

The camp is not actually by the stream, but it is only a short walk downhill. We went once in the evening, and ended up going back there most of the next day. [Bay Area trivia: the stream site is the location of the original Page Mill, and the wide trail from the camp to the stream is actually the end of the original Page Mill Road.]

Playing in and around a stream seems to be Leilani’s favorite hiking activity, so we made sure she gets plenty of it. We want the hiking and backpacking to be something fun for her, not something that we drag her along just because we like it. We do sometimes have to move her along during the hiking part, and sometimes we have to convince her to go exploring, but without fail we always find something fun and exciting that she likes (and I always like exploring).

Some of the fun things we did at the stream include making bark boats:

Spotting a banana slug (endemic to the region):

A pretty butterfly:

A pretty snake (who did not eat the butterfly):

Finding some blue jay feathers:

Pumping and filtering water (Leilani helped with this chore, filling her own bottles and one of ours, and then loved drinking out of the hose, as well as pretending to spray me):

And soaking up the beauty of the forest:

Since the hike out was relatively short, we didn’t take down the camp until after lunch and a nap on the second day:

Leilani also grabbed the camera and took some of her art pictures:

In the end, it was a beautiful weekend in a beautiful forest. I guess you could say we were happy campers:

Children develop slowly, and as a parent seeing your child everyday, you don’t always see the progress. But sometimes, you notice something from one day to the next. I’ve regretted not writing about those little jumps I’ve noticed in Leilani before, so I want to mention two that happened yesterday.

Leilani is still a bit clingy, and especially when upset, wants to be picked up and held in our arms. Sonja resists this because Leilani is almost 35 lbs (16 kg) now. I, Daddy, am still a sucker and can’t resist carrying her around sometimes (I do avoid it when she’s whining). I did notice Leilani getting heavier, and she has been going through a growth spurt right now. We can tell because she eats a lot, and she is a bit clumsy, bumping, tripping, and falling down more as her body changes.

But yesterday morning when I picked her up, she didn’t feel little anymore. I’ve gotten so use to her being a little bundle I can carry around sitting on my arm, with one leg in front and one in back. But yesterday, it felt like her knees were sticking out at me and she didn’t just fit in my arms the way she used to. I’m a bit sad about this: I don’t want to carry her around forever, but she is so cuddly and likes to give me hugs and kisses in my arms. I guess we’ll both out the cuddles soon.

The other mini milestone is not so sentimental and innocent. We know Leilani lies about things sometimes, usually totally inconsequential things like what she ate at breakfast and whether she remembers it (ie we’re sure she know what she ate/did but pretends not to). I can’t think of any motivation other than her own realization of what the truth is and how you don’t always have to say it. I imagine she’s testing the waters and seeing which truths matter and which lies she can get by us. So last night, she was pushing those limits.

Sitting on the potty, she started talking about one of the worst insults she knows, “poo-poo head” (taught to her long ago on Kaua’i). For some reason, she wanted to say that she had not used this bad word in a long time. From the other room, Sonja heard this and said it wasn’t true, that she used it just this afternoon when she had been playing with Seyon at a park in San Jose. As a matter of fact, Sonja added that Leilani enjoyed calling him names but got upset when he did the same to her.

I don’t think Leilani heard that last part, because as she was reminded of playing with Seyon, her face lit up and she started talking excitedly about it. But what she was remembering was the teasing and how she was calling him other names. I call it her mean streak, this need to call kids names, and then pretend to spray a hose at them or worse, pretend to throw chocolate pudding on them–teasing combined with slapstick. So I started lecturing her, first about the name calling and the not remembering, but then mostly about being happy and exicted at the thought of hurting other people’s feelings with names.

I’m not happy about turning into a Dad who lectures (the mini milestone of the first lecture went unrecorded, too), but it seems that talking about issues and making her see how unhappy we are about certain behavior is the only way to address them after the fact. But she has become sensitive to it, and knows she doesn’t like my lecturing, because the point is to make her feel bad about her actions.

So she immediately pointed to some pretty crystal perfume bottles we have as decoration in the bathroom and said no, she was excited by how pretty the bottles were with all their colors. I don’t remember her exact words, but it was such a blatant lie that I called her on it immediately. I told her to stop lying and trying to make excuses (it was really the first time I’ve seen her make up a false excuse for her behavior). To break her out of her lie, I asked her if she remembered what happened to Pinocchio when he lied. She knows about the nose. I said her ears would get longer (pulled) when she lies. She has been really good for the past weeks, and this was the first time I even threatened to pull her ears in a long time. I didn’t pull them in the end, but I think (or really hope) she realized she cannot get away with lying and making excuses.

PS: Just because I’m still thinking about it: the first mini milestone I forgot to write about was around 18 months when Leilani played by herself for about 30 minutes, with us parents out of the room.

Up until then, she was totally dependent on someone for everything, including entertainment. This means that the only way Sonja and I could sit down alone was when we had a baby sitter. But this one time, one of us started playing with her in the living room, probably with some of her wooden puzzles or blocks, and then got up to do something else. Usually the complaining or crying would start in less than 5 minutes and we’d have to be back at her side. But this time, as I remember it, we both looked at each other after about 10 minutes and realized she was still playing happily by herself. We checked on her now and again, but I think we had a half-hour to sit down and relax and start feeling our independence again.

Photos uploaded by Sonja, comments by Andy:

Now that the weather is finally warming up, we need to practice carrying our packs for some mountain hikes. So I found a hut in the Bay Area, owned and operated by the Sierra Club. Ella and her parents Shay and Ayalet want to start camping and hiking, so they came along too. I think this was their first camping trip with Ella.

We started in Sam McDonald County Park, which is off Pescadero Rd off La Honda off of Skyline. It’s pretty much in the middle of the Santa Cruz mountains, but there are lots of cabins up in the woods there, so it’s not the middle of nowhere. The hut is more like a vacation cabin, it has electricity, water, a kitchen and flush toilets.

Here’s the obligatory start photo, where everyone has their packs on. It’s about 2 miles to the hut and the girls carried their little backpacks the whole way, without ever complaining about them. They carried their own small toys, pens and paper, and Leilani had some of her own clothes. The parents’ packs were not that heavy since we didn’t need the tent or any cookware, just sleeping bags, clothes and food.

I think it was the first time Sonja used her big backpack in a long time, too.

The girls really amazed us being such good hikers. They even had energy to run and play chase:

Of course, we also told them stories to keep them walking. Leilani always asks Uncle Shay for Thomas (the train) stories since he makes them up for Ella. On the second half of the hike, I took over, and I think I was telling the story of the Jungle Book (or at least the Disney movie version).

The girls loved the hut, especially the loft. What a great place to play and jump on (and off) the pile of mattresses. When they got too wild unsupervised, Sonja went up and did some drawings with them (but mostly for them):

We also played frisbee outside, after which Leilani tried on the sunglasses she found for me. I think it makes her look like a dragon fly, but the reflections are cool.

The game was pictionary (found in the hut), the rules slightly modified. But it is a fun game that kids can play just as well as adults. You can see the fully equipped hut kitchen in the background.

We stayed all morning at the hut the next day, relaxing, playing games, then cleaning up. We got another group photo at the hut before leaving:

The hut sits up on a ridge, with nice open views and trails in many directions.

There were also some flowers still around. I’m amazed that we always seem to see one or two new flowers on each hike:

What was so interesting?

A big beetle!

On the hike out, we took a different trail that went down through a beautiful forest:

The color of these berries is even better without the flash, but I never saw the red-eyed fly when I took the picture:

We ended up in grove of redwoods:

The girls played by a stream for a few hours while Uncle Shay hiked to get the car. It was late already, so we just got a ride back to our car as well. We all drove to Pescadero for dinner at a good restaurant (artichokes, yum).

Then we enjoyed the sunset from Pescadero State beach before driving home on Hwy 1: