Photo Friday-Trailblazers

Over the Labor Day weekend, we did our annual camping trip with several fabulous friends and our hordes of children. This year, we trekked up to Lassen Volcanic National Park in the Shasta area of northern California. This was the first time our family had been to this majestic park. We felt relatively safe, as this volcano has not erupted for almost 100 years...

On Saturday morning, the 6 adults that had made it to camp by that time took our 9 children on a 3 mile round trip hike to Bumpass Hell, where many mud pots and boiling ponds smelling strongly of sulfur fascinate the visitor. Strange name, I know. Apparently it was named after a hiker who severely burned his leg after falling into one of the boiling pools. You can Google it. But the important part is, my children did it! Yes...there was lots and lots of whining. And Robbie fell asleep in the backpack on the return trip. But the number of times they got to slide down snow covered hills made up for it. Here are some photos from our hike...

This sign was posted in not just one, but two places at the beginning of the 1.5 mile trail. Why would this encourage you to hike? Of course, I only took a picture of it and we still did the hike...

This is the opposite direction from that sign...and yes. That is snow. But what do you expect at 8000 ft?

I was most proud of Kate on this day. I really wasn't sure she would make it all the way to the mud pots, let alone back to the car. It was slow going in a few spots, and I had to bribe her with the hope of snacks, but she was a willing participant early on.

We heard almost zero complaining from Padyn. I'm not sure if it was peer pressure or if she just enjoys hiking as much as I do. Either way, she helped make it an enjoyable morning.

There were several places that we were distracted from our destination....

When we arrived at the boiling ponds and mud pots, the children were a bit disgusted by the smell. Can you see them all holding their noses? But after about 10 minutes, we were all used to it and eagerly ate our snack right next to a very stinky pond.Trailblazers...

On the hike back, the kids decided to take a slight detour and do some butt sledding down the snow covered hill. I think this was Kate's favorite part of the weekend.
Bye bye Bumpass Hell....

This coming weekend might not be as adventurous as our last one, but we will try to enjoy it anyway.

Happy Friday.