Camping near Tyler Creek (and hike #5: Tyler Creek)

 We wanted to take the trailer out for a spin and check a few things off our summer bucket list: go camping, float a river, go mountain biking. So we selected a weekend (July 23-25), invited Grandma Susan and Grandpa Dennis, and headed north to check out a new campsite they had discovered previously.

After picking up dinner in Rexburg, we met up with the grandparents (there were four vehicles for the eight of us) and caravanned in to their find only to see it was already occupied. So we drove a little farther down the road and found a beautiful meadow to park our trailers in.

On Thursday evening, we set up the trailer, let the dogs roam (they brought Ruby and we brought Peach) and found a little friend in camp.

The frog Ana found and Seth caught in a pitcher so the girls could see it.

After getting acquainted with our friend and our locale, we turned in for the night.

The following day, we hiked from the campsite Grandma and Grandpa had hoped we would be at all the way to the source of Tyler Creek. 

Miriam, Peach, Winnie and Ana getting ready for the short ride to the other campsite so we could hike.

Ana, Grandma Susan, Miriam, Grandpa Dennis and Seth hiking along an old logging road.

Rebekah stopping to take pictures of wildflowers along the way.

Peach and Winnie scampering to the head of the creek. We all drank from the creek source. It was crisp, cold, clean and delightful.

Bekah taking pictures while Seth checks out his GPS.

Seth had been hoping to see an arrowhead along the way. He had even told our hiking party that if anyone could point one out to him, he'd pay them. While on our way back, he stopped for a minute and looked down. Not two inches from his boot was an arrowhead. His dad was incredulous; Seth was ecstatic.

Grandma Susan and Miriam talking at a stopping point along the way back. Grandpa Dennis had a trail camera that he wanted to check on.

Bekah getting tackled by Winnie.

The rest of the day was spent taking it easy at camp. Bekah and Ana shot their bows, everyone had a little down time, and our family went on a little walk around the area to check out the marshy creek that ran through the meadow. Then we revisited Tyler Creek just to splash around and get cool.

Bekah, Ana, Miriam, Winnie, Seth, Peach and Grandma Susan sitting around camp.

Ana, Miri and Winnie enjoying their 20 minutes of screen time.

Miriam, Seth and Bekah walking along the marshy creek.

Peach at the creek. That's one happy camping dog.

Winnie sticking her front side in the creek.

Seth and Miriam having a contest to see who can keep his feet in the cold water the longest. Miriam won.

Winnie sporting her new goggles and nose plugs. Does a 7-year-old really need those for playing in a creek? Of course not. But she had ordered them for swimming lessons, and then the lessons had been canceled due to the Idaho Falls mask mandate. So she needed to wear them for her sake.

Saturday morning we loaded up the bikes and left Peach in the care of Grandma Susan at camp (Grandpa Dennis had left the night before so he could teach a gun class Saturday) so we could bike around at Harriman. We went about 8 miles and stuck to the easy trails for Winnie and her bike's sake (it's a fixed-gear bike).

Ana off her bike for a break.

Seth, Ana and their bikes on the Big Bend Loop.

As we finished our biking and loaded up to head back to camp, throngs of people were arriving at Harriman to enjoy the trails at the state park. But the masses weren't contained to Harriman. All along Island Park, we saw crowds and crowds of people. We realized that our family camping trip had coincided with Utah's state Pioneer Day holiday weekend, and we gaped at all the vehicles and people.

Our last hurrah for the weekend was floating from Big Springs to Mack's Inn. And we weren't alone. The new hotel at Mack's Inn runs a shuttle to the drop-off and lends out all sorts of floating crafts. The river was so full that we occasionally bumped into other people's kayaks, rafts, canoes, tubes, etc. And we "got" to listen to their Bluetooth speakers playing rock music. (One couple was in kayaks. The husband tried to speak to his wife, and she shouted back at him, "I can't hear you!" over her music. *facepalm*)

We ignored the throngs and enjoyed the view of the river and its surroundings. We tethered the tubes and two-person raft together and drifted down the river unless it got too shallow; then someone would get up and drag us over to a deeper part. We splashed, we laughed, we got wet. Winnie would jump out and back in again, shivering because she was cold and wet. Seth, lying in the raft and soaking in all the water Winnie would bring back in with her, would snuggle Winnie. 

As we got close to our pullout point (which was a small point not as far down the river as the main pullout point), the sky darkened, the wind picked up and lightning flashed across the sky. Seth, Susan and I started dragging our chain of floats to get out as quick as we could. When we got out of the water, Grandma Susan and Bekah stayed behind with our watercraft while the rest of us dashed back to Big Springs to get the truck. We could tell that our pullout was fast becoming a popular spot (all the people on the river wanted to get out as soon as possible because of the thunderstorm), so I stayed in the van with the the three younger girls and the heater blowing while he got the truck as close to the pullout as possible without getting stuck with all the new traffic. He parked it, dashed through the trees, got Grandma, Bekah and the tubes/raft and hauled them back to the truck as a long line of vehicles tried unsuccessfully to navigate the narrow mogul-pocked road to the pullout. 

Instead of staying to eat dinner at camp, we packed up everything as quickly as possible and got out in case the rain made it too difficult to pull the trailer out of the meadow. The awning we had left out on the trailer wasn't happy we had left it in the wind/rain, but I'm sure we can replace that one piece. :-)