Breaking the Rules

I have this little rule that if I haven’t written about something that happened longer than several weeks ago, I just have to move on and write about our current events.

But, we took a little trip during the week before school started.  It was so great, I just don’t want to forget it.  Plus, I am forgiving myself for breaking the rules for now since things have been so crazy here lately.  So, here is our trip:

Back in April we reserved a cabin up in the mountains for a couple of days and then we all ended up with the stomach flu.  The owners kindly just held on to our money and let us reschedule.  We decided that getting away right before school started would be the perfect time.  So, we took the boys to meet their teachers and then headed off to the mountains!

We made a quick stop first at good old BJ’s Velvet Freeze to start the vacation of on the right foot.

Is this girl spoiled, or what?!

We arrived at the cabin, and within the first 3 minutes the boys began shouting that we had a little visitor!

There is nothing quite like being in the wilderness.  We had thirty acres to call our own for a couple of days, and the boys thought they were in Heaven.  I’ll be honest- I thought so too!  We set off to explore “our” property.

Amelia found some little flowers and insisted that she hold one in her mouth for the whole expedition.  She sure is cute!

The next morning we decided to expand our horizons beyond the 30 acres and go on an 8 mile hike through the mountains, ascending over 1300 feet to a peak elevation of over 11,000 feet.  We actually didn’t plan on an 8 mile hike with all the kids, but that is how it turned out, and we all have good memories of it, which is nothing short of a miracle!

Here we are- nice and nimble at the beginning!  The boys cheerfully scampered up the trail, collecting sticks as they went.

That is, until Adam spotted an angry bear.

I’ll go ahead and zoom in a little closer…

I actually have no idea what brought that face on.  Maybe he had some sort of premonition that our jolly little stroll was going to end up being an 8 mile climb straight up the mountain side.

Amelia didn’t seem to have a problem with that fact.

So we forged ahead.  A couple of hours into the hike when we were all getting a little weary from the steep climb, one family member still kept up a cheery pace.  He exclaimed as he took 2 steps for every one of the rest of us, “Well, my legs are sure tired, but I’m not going to stop!  I’ll just have a good attitude and keep on going!”  Yep, it was Adam!  He spent the last third of the uphill portion imagining that we were in the movie “Frozen.”  It helped him make it through the rough spots, but annoyed Derek and Evan enough that I’m not sure if I could call the strategy a success overall.  He sure got my vote for best hiker, though!

We finally reached a point where we were hiking along a ridge at the top of the mountain and the boys were starting to give out a bit.  Based on our calculations, we should have already reached the “Pancake Rocks” which were the final destination.  We ran into some hikers headed the opposite direction and asked them if we were on the right track.  They assured us that we were, and in only about THIRTY MORE MINUTES of hiking, we would probably arrive.  We might as well have told the boys they could see the pancake rocks as long as they were willing to break both legs and give us all their toys.  We almost turned back, but Ropers aren’t quitters, so we picked up our tired feet and went on up the trail.

After about thirty more minutes of hiking wearily up in the thin air, we finally reached our destination- Pancake Rocks.  We sat and ate our trail mix and beef jerky while gazing out on the beautiful view.

Unfortunately, right as we reached the rocks, some dark clouds began to roll in.

When the dark clouds began to rumble a bit and we felt a drop of two land on our heads, we decided it was time for the Roper family to say a quick goodbye to Pancake Rocks and the top of the mountain.

The trip back down went a lot faster, although our weary legs didn’t want to move after sitting for a bit.  I taught the boys the words to the chorus of “Follow Me Boys.”  We sang enthusiastically as we went down the mountain, both to keep ourselves distracted and to remind ourselves to “pick em up, put em down” with those tired feet!

The picture doesn’t quite convey how steep the mountainside was.  If Adam took one step back, he would be rolling down the mountain for miles (or until he hit a tree)!

We got back to a sign directing us to Horsethief Falls.  Nobody felt like hiking the extra mile round trip to the falls except for Evan.  When we passed the sign on the way up, Evan wanted to ditch the rocks and do the easier hike to the falls in the first place.  We figured if he could do the rocks for us, we could do the falls for him.  The rain was holding out, so we turned down the trail toward the falls!

We all agreed it was worth it once we finally arrived.

Isn’t 'Evan a handsome guy?!

When the rumbling clouds turned into loud claps of thunder through the trees, we decided it was time for us to snap a quick family picture and make a hasty retreat back to the car.

We still had more than a mile to hike back to the car, and at this point our happiest hiker finally gave into fear of the loud thunder and the steady drizzle of rain coming down.  Glenn had to carry both Adam and Amelia back down the mountain.

We made it back to the car and moments later the steady rain turned to a torrential downpour.  We were glad we weren’t out hiking with the four kids!  We went and picked up pizza for dinner, then our weary muscles were begging for a soak in a hot tub.  Luckily, the cabin just happened to have one and the clouds parted just in time for a nice warm soak!

We changed into our pj’s and watched “The Absent Minded Professor” and then the worn out kids fell right to sleep.  Glenn and I began packing up to leave the cabin in the morning. 

We stepped outside and happened to notice that the stars were brilliant!  I couldn’t help but go and wake up Derek and Evan.  The four of us stood outside and watched falling stars and found constellations in the chilly night air.  It was beautiful out there!  It was the perfect end to our peaceful time at the cabin.

Nothing beats spending time together as a family- we had had a great trip!