STEVENS: Camping in North Idaho

The Fiersome Fivesomes Adventure Begins....

The Girlies

Hunt Creek Falls
Priest Lake

Happy to be together...

The week before we went camping, Josh found out that he didn't need to go on the high adventure hike with the young men at church, so it left an entire week open for us! We decided Friday that we would pack like crazy and leave right after church on Sunday for Priest Lake, Idaho. It was fantastic! The best camping we have ever had as a family together. We arrived Sunday about 4pm and were able to set right up, have some yummy mac and cheese, and smores. The kids played all around the campsite, getting dirty! I mean grungy for the next week dirty, it was awesome. We climbed into bed when it got dark, and I to be totally truthful, said about 32 prayers that the grizzly bears wouldn't devour us that night. Come to find out we were the safest ones in the camp, no trace of food, everything put away in the car, unlike our neighbors!

Monday we decided to take the kids up the West shore to Slippery Rocks! It is a four mile hike round trip and the kids did fantastic. All of them, even baby. It probably had a lot to do with how beautiful everything was, Josh and I kept saying we had never seen anything so beautiful. The water was crystal clear, the granite formations unbelievable. I had pull back the reins to keep Josh from climbing up to the summit :).

We got to a pretty little spot in the world had our picnic lunch, and continued up to the natural water slide. We had no idea what we were in store for. It was great! (see below videos)...

Tuesday was our pack up day, but not before we did some swimming down at the lake, it was so warm and so clear. Lovely. Today was our day to hike to some water falls, and walk into moose lake. Come to find out it was more like moose pond, so we high tailed it up to the waterfalls. We spent some time there, and as we hiked out we picked huckle, thimble, black, and service berries. It was a great teaching opportunity, too. White and red you are dead, blue is always a friend to you. We were starving from all the activity and had seen a quaint little place off the road called Andy's that served huckle berry ice cream. We stopped for dinner and treats, and even got a free cone for killing the annoying fly. We came home, did some laundry, showered, re packed, and headed to...

Lake Pend Oreille... this was our mini-Stevens reunion. Everyone arrived Thursday evening and set up camp. It was a really nice evening, we were all in charge of our own meals, so when everyone was finished we let the kids make smore's. They loved it! Grandma Stevens had promised Riley that when she came she would bring, The Indian in the Cupboard, and she followed through. She read well into the night.

The next day we were under attack. We had the site with the hornet nest, and it started with Mabel, our thirteen year old dog being stung. It was so sad. About an hour later Riley got one up his pants that stung him, and then after the camp host sprayed, our niece Bryn, got one in her sandal, it was so sad. Even with all the casualties we ended up having fun. Auntie Sarah packed crafts for the kids to do, so they all painted, glittered, feathered, and stamped masks. After lunch Sarah and Bryn layed down for a nap, and the rest of took off to find some adventure. We went to the Farragut State Park Visitor Center, and learned about the area birds and animals. We found Josh's first birthday present, (his 27th is this month) a navy hat for the Navy Training Center. We decided that we should tour the Brig, and Camp Ward were 297, 000 sailors were trained from 1942-1946, one of them being Ned Elisher Stevens, Josh's grandpa! We found our way down there, and it was so fun to see all the pictures, clothes, news reels, of that time.

Towards the end it was just Kim and I and we found a piece of Kim's history too! Exactly 42 years ago to the day, Kim and the other LDS Boy Scout Troops, were engaging in an encampment. It was really fun to see how our family is intertwined with the area.

Saturday was the warmest day with no rain, so Josh and Brett took Olivia, Riley, and Ira and loaded them into the canoe and paddled down the lake to the swimming area. The rest of the day we spent at Beaver Bay. Riley and Ira stayed in the raft most of the day, switching occasionally to the canoe. The most humorous part of the day was when two little girls came over to play with the sand toys that we had. Soon to follow were there 50 other family members. We felt swarmed as slowly our little spot on the beach disappeared. We loaded all the gear, Sandi, Sarah, Ira, Bryn, Josh and I into the canoe, and headed to the other side of the bay. It was comical to watch Sandi and Ira, all muscles tense at the idea the canoe could go over at anytime. We spent the rest of the afternoon, watching the kids play, and the high light, Josh showing everyone how to gunnel jump, an ancient practice (wink wink) of standing on your canoe's end, jumping to get it to move, and artfully balancing while it moves! The whole bay hushed as he did this, and on the second attempt he got across the bay towards Ira and Riley who were sitting in the raft, Ira must have thought that he was going to hit them because, he bailed ship, and then the canoe was dead set for his head, so Josh then jumped off, and thankfully stopped the canoe before disaster could happen. It was all quite funny.