After Summerland, I really, really, really wanted to go back to the Park for Henry's overnight. We applied for permits. DENIED. We applied for another set of permits. DENIED. Oh, yeah? Do we need permits to camp in a National Forest? No? HA!
So... forget about the Park. We're going to the Peninsula.
And no, not that park on the Peninsula. They wouldn't let us camp there either.
Instead, we headed for Lena Lake. It's usually just a place to crash on the way up the Brothers, but that was a little ambitious for the boys. We found it to be a lovely little lake in the woods.
The hike up was actually pretty easy. The boys are getting to be really strong hikers. Compared to last year these guys were masters of the trail.
One of the downsides of Lena Lake is that it's not hard enough to scare away the yahoos. So we dealt with the yahoos. That included lots of jeans and flip flops, heavy pots and pans, and poor trail etiquette.
The upside was that we got a great campsite. True, we had to stalk it a bit, but not in a creepy way. We sent the kids over to ask if the couple that had a half-assembled camp if they were coming or going. Henry and Ben were so charming I'm sure even if they were coming they decided to give us their primo spot.
The lake shore was sloppy with mud, but the boys didn't care.
They fell in the water, but the boys didn't care.
The slipped in the stream and scratched up their side, but the boys... well, actually that did bother them. Poor guys.
But dinner was served shortly afterward and then hot chocolate and then suddenly it was all good again. Heck, I even made a fire using nothing but grass (and a lighter). Take that, Bear!
As expected, the boys didn't sleep late so both Rob and I were up pretty much with the son. (HA! Get it?) Breakfast was second to throwing rocks in the otherwise-still water.
The nice thing about getting up freakishly early is that we got on trail freakishly early. We wandered past other camps that weren't quite ready for the day and were half way down the trail before we started seeing the dayhikers on their way up.
There were no big spills, no crashes on the descent. It seemed even quicker and shorter than on the way up.
In fact, the only thing that seemed long about the entire trip was the long drives (and ferry rides) to get to the trailhead.
The Peninsula was nice, but next year we're going to the Park.
