Bean Family Blog: Long Weekend at the Cabin

I took a couple of days off and we spent an extended weekend at the cabin (This was back in June). The grass has really taken off lately, so we brought our landscaping crew along with us.

On Friday morning I found this next to our driveway.

I brought the kids outside so the could check it out. It is a polythemus moth. I have seen some really cool moths and butterflies in my day, and this one is very impressive.

One of my most favorite activities is catching high mountain lake trout. Many of my fondest childhood memories took lace at mountain lakes. Some fish are suicidal, but many are really picky. My advantage is that I can see how they react to my lure/fly/bait and change accordingly. I always bring such a huge arsenal of equipment the trout don't stand a chance. I remember packing a gigantic (and very loud) tackle box on my pony to fish back in the day. It banged against my knee the whole way in to the lake, but is was worth it. That was before soft packs were created. My arsenal is now relatively compact and quiet.

On Friday we rode the horses to three mountain lakes. I forgot my arsenal in the pickup. I did remember the 27 bottles of water, 4 bottles of sunscreen, 2 bottles of bug spray, lunch cooler, extra kid clothes, fishing rod, spurs, hobbles, and knife, but not the arsenal. I realized this about a mile or two into the trip. Karen nobly volunteered to watch the kids while I went back to get it, but I decided to press on without the arsenal.

Karen has been on many horse rides into the mountains with me. She knows that I like to see areas off the beaten trail. Karen likes trails. As we pull in to the trail head, she begins her analysis, which goes something like this. The scale goes from 1) Are there bathrooms? to 2) Has anyone else ever been up this trail? and 3) Where is the trail?

This trail began just above a 2. There was horse manure nearby and she could see an outline of a trail. Needless to say the trail sucked, but all horses and riders did well. At one point the horses had to step down a couple of feet to the water, then step up the same amount and scramble up a steep, wet, rocky section.

We had a new horse in the mix this time: Bobby. This was Elena's first time riding her own horse in the mountains by herself (with me leading Bobby). We discovered that he is really careful and athletic. He is a very safe horse. Karen and Marcus rode our youngest horse (Clyde), and she did an excellent job of keeping him in check. Here are some pictures of the riders:

As it turned out, it was a good thing I forgot my arsenal. The kids were more interested in the horses and wildlife than fishing. We walked through one meadow that had about a million toads. Here is Elena posing with one of the toads she caught.

Here we are hiking through Toad Meadow.

The trail to this lake was still covered in snow, so we just hiked close enough to get a good view of it.

The horses took a break while we hiked.

After visiting three lakes, we were ready to head back to the cabin. Then we saw Yoda hiking into another lake and we had to follow (we didn't realize it would be 15 degrees cooler and breezy up on top of the mountain).