Saturday the kids and I decided to go into the mountains for National Parks Day. We packed out back packs and headed in the Land Cruiser to Silver Lakes. I was particularly excited to see how the cruiser would fair on a semi crappy dirt road. As we drove up to the first lake we were noticing the the trees shouting out to us with their vibrant fall colors. The further we went up the more the Big Tooth Maple seemed to beg for attention with its bright red/pink shades. Bump Bump the cruiser went as we climbed the dirt road to the second lake. The kids were giggling with joy as they were tossed around the back with each pot hole the tires hit. As we arrived we headed to the trail head. Soon after the hike began two paths diverged... we decided to take neither and headed out into the forest in search of the Beaver Dams.
At first the path we chose was not too difficult. An occasional log to climb... maybe a rock. But as we began to narrow in on our search for the beavers, it got mucky. The kids were up to their knees in mud. Our shoes were wet from falling into the many very shallow stream. "What was that mom?!". "Those are little baby fish in two inches of water." We knew we were close. Their was signs of the beaver's work everywhere we looked. But the thistles unsympathetically poked at the kids bare wet legs. The brush was getting thicker and thicker and the children struggled to move 10 feet within 5 minutes. It was there I realized they may just be too young to follow mom on one of her whims in the forest. Back we went after 4 hours of hiking. Tired, hungry, a bit overly emotional, Sage was disappointed that we did not see the dams. "Sweetheart, sometimes as hard as we try we fail at our goals and desires. We may not have found the Dams but wasn't it a fun adventure trying to find them!." Sage replies, "I guess mom... I guess."
