The Town that Wasn't; Or How our Hike Turned into a Miserable Winter Wonderland: With Pictures.

This  Morning we met with various family members on a grand adventure. This adventure would involve eight miles of hiking in the woods with five sweet children under five, crossing a river on a log, and enjoying the remnants of the ghost town of Monte Cristo. My Husband and I, with our three, were joined by his Parents, sister, her husband and their two, and his parents and sisters and a brother. We hadn't done a family hike in a while, and were looking forward to some lovely views and conversation. We got to the trail head, and eagerly situated everybody to hit the trail!

   

     

Here we see Abigail is ready to live the easy life, Hannah is also going to live the easy life, and Uncle James is holding Olivia before she gets situated to hike the easy way. After proceeding about a mile in, we had to cross a river via a large log, which we dubbed the "Robert. E.Lee Natural Bridge." The men were amazing enough to carry multiple children and strollers across this bridge. They also chivalrously helped the ladies. Because I was had Hannah in my pack, I was a little fearful of the log, but decided to go for it. When Nate met me halfway across and asked if I needed help, I initially refused, then desperately accepted. As you can't see, I was too busy contemplating everyone falling off to take pictures. Monte Cristo used to be a Mining town, so there was a road that was originally had rails to ship everything out. Once we crossed the river (where the road had washed out years ago, we were able to utilize one of the two bridges crossing the river....Gabriel enjoyed looking down through the slats at the water underneath.

                           

Trevor and Olivia wonder when we will get there

Hannah wonders when her parents will stop squishing her, feeding her hair, and fix her hat.

Then something happened.

SNOW. Three miles in. With so many little ones, we decided to turn back, so we would make it across that log before it was covered in slippery white stuff. Nathan also wanted our children to not lose their fingers or toes to frostbite.

So, back three and a half miles. It looked like this.

Nana Helped carry Olivia....

More and more. This picture make me think that James should be accompanied by some Huskies.

Hannah's First Snow!

By the time we returned, there was over an inch of snow, and several fussy children. Maybe next time we will actually make it!