Friday

After a week of going nonstop, some of us were ready for a day of relaxing!  We also had many loads of laundry to do before packing the next morning.  The big guys were still full of adventure and energy, so they all went to Shelf Road for some more rock climbing while Mom, the rest of us gals, and the three little boys stayed back at the house.

Before the guys headed off in the morning, we did a quick family photo shoot.  We needed a family picture to put on our business website, so that's why we are all wearing matching emblem shirts.

::Shelf Road & Rock Climbing::

Well... it doesn't say anything about a 15-passenger van, but that didn't dissuade Dad.  I think he enjoyed the challenge! ;-)

This is what the guys climbed.

Ryan had the privilege of leading this climb.  The leading climber has the task of anchoring the rope at the top so that the rest of the climbers can be belayed.  This takes an experienced climber and someone with guts.  He anchors at intervals of about 15 feet for safety, but if he slips he could have up to a 30 foot free-fall before the rope catches him....weeee!

Matthew

Josiah

Dad

Trevor repelling back down

::Relaxing::

 Some of us gals enjoyed a little bit of exploring and Bethany & Ashley some photography on the property. And for the record; Mom, Laura, & I did head to the closest town (20 minutes away) to get a much needed relaxing ingredient; PEPSI ;-)))

Of course, it had to rain part of the time on the guys!  Sunday was the only rock-climbing/hiking day that it didn't rain.  We could tell  from the house that it was raining on the guys, and we were praying the lightning would stay away from them!

I did a little bit of sorting pictures.

It was gorgeous weather with sprinkles off and on throughout the day, so the little guys made good use of the playground set. 

Grandma time... Kaden loves to cuddle. ;-)

The Answer....

Ok, I'll quit holding ya 'all in suspense. :-)

James was the closest to guessing!

We had been driving by several of these on our road to the house and kept wondering what they were.  They are short barrels stuck in the ground and filled with sand and gravel; they were found at all of the steepest curvy parts of the road - the spots that would be the hardest to make it through when there is snow and ice.  We decided it must be for using when you get stuck and need some help getting traction.  There were big piles of sand and gravel every so often too (don't have any pictures of that) for refilling the barrels.  We were told that you would never want to travel this road in the winter without 4-wheel drive, and it was easy to see why.  It was like riding a roller coaster (when Dad was driving ;-).  Only, it was completely up to the driver to keep the coaster ON the track and not down the side of the cliff!

Thursday

::Hiking and Repelling at the Crags::

Dad decided to take us on the scenic route to the Crags.  The route we took was the Phantom Canyon Road, which is part of the Gold Belt Tour.  It was so beautiful and worth the extra drive!

There were a lot of very narrow places that we barely fit through in our 15-passenger van!

At one point, we stopped to watch a herd of elk grazing with some horses.  There were also quite a few bedded down in the forest - you can see them if you click in on the picture.

They eventually discovered us watching them and all took off into the forest... it was fascinating to watch.  There were too many to count, but there was at least 30 of them including a couple of huge bulls!

I loved all of the wildflowers.  It's amazing how these grow just anywhere out of rocks!

A manmade mountain! :-)  It's a deposit pile from the gold mine (currently in operation) just outside of Victor. 

We arrive at the Crags Campground where we are to meet Justin's for lunch before we head out on our hike.  It was unclear where we were to meet them, and there were 3 different parking areas; so we drove around awhile hoping to run across them.  To make things more interesting, we had NO cell reception... just like the good old days.  To make a long story short, we never found them and decided to drive to a nearby town to get cell reception.  We passed them on the way and found out they had been doing the same thing.  We had just been BARELY missing each other during the hour-and-a-half of driving around and stopping and waiting!  It made a memory we will laugh about for time to come. ;-)

It started to rain and everyone was starving, so we had our lunch in the van while waiting.

Eventually, it quits raining and we finally get started on our hike.  After hiking awhile it starts to rain again!

So, we pull out the ponchos and some find shelter under a boulder while we wait for the rain to abate once again.

On our way again :-)
The rock cliff in the background, straight ahead of the trail, is where we stopped to repel.

Bethany, Kara & Justin
It was a bit of a challenging climb to the top - and yes, with no ropes.  It made repelling back down seem so much more safe (and it was)! ;-)

John climbed this part with no help... one advantage of still having small fingers and not much weight!  He climbed all the way to the top of the cliff and back down with no fear!  Don't worry, someone was with him at all times!

Mark & Trevor
Ummm....couldn't you pick a better place to arm wrestle?!

The view from the top!

We only had one rope, so it took 3 hours for 9 of us to repel down.  Thankfully it never poured on us or started lightening while we were up there.

Dad

Ryan

Bethany

Mark

Kaden & Aunt Ashley

It started to cool off really fast, and the little boys were getting cold; so Mom, Laura, Ashely, Emily, John and the little boys hiked back down to the van while the rest of us continued repelling.

Uncle Trevor & Kaden relaxing back at the house.