Backpacking at Big Pine

The day after school got out (June 10), we packed up our van with our backpacks and drove to the Cannon's home to meet up with them and half of the Kimbler family to make our way north to big pine for our first adventure of backpacking as a family. We arrived at our destination at around 11 am ate some lunch stored gear in the bear boxes and then hiked a mile into our camp ground. I was grateful it was just a mile to carry a not so good backpack. We unloaded our gear and set up tents and then took off on another hike below the Palisades. It was a nice little hike. Just long enough for the kids not to get too tired. We had a little encounter with a snake that luckily I didn't see but others heard hiss at them. The kids had so much fun playing together and loved the stream and the rocks that were in our camp area. We made our backpacking style dinner of spaghetti cooked over a little backpacking stove. We also roasted marshmallows thanks to the cannons for bringing them. We ended up turning in at around 9ish because it was dark and cold. We were up fairly early and started the day with a nice bowl of hot oatmeal and a steaming cup of hot chocolate. We cleaned up and headed out on a hike which included part of the John Muir trail. We hiked up past a waterfall and then on to the rangers station where many ate lunch and we played in the pond there and the kids pretend to fish. It was so beautiful up there and a really good hike for us and the kids. We were down and back to camp and then back down to our cars by 2 pm. We then decided to drive into Bishop and eat lunch at Jack's and then got some things at the bakery there. It was then home to get cleaned up.