Hiking to Cecret Lake

On August 9th we took The Prince and V on their first real hike. We went with my sister and her husband and two kids. We were also joined by two of my brother's kids. My little family unit didn't spend much time hiking with the others because we were so slow. The Prince was a good walker, but he got distracted by every little stream we crossed. He wanted to throw leaves in the streams and watch them float down. He loves the water. Eventually Captain F, who already had V in the Baby Bjorn, put the Prince on his shoulders and carried him for a while. The Prince walked up all the switchbacks, though. He really had fun. On the way up, Captain F read a sign that said something to the effect of, "In a thunderstorm the temperature can drop 20 degrees at this altitude." We all thought that was an interesting fact. We were barely at the lake when the rain started to drizzle. We booked it down the mountain. Captain F carried the Prince the whole way down and I had V. Right when we got to the trail-head it started to hail. My sister and I, with our daughters in tow, stuffed ourselves into the shuttle bus and left the others hiding under a tree. They got the better end of the deal. When we got to the parking lot, we still had to run quite a ways to the cars. I covered V as best I could and ran. It felt like being pelted with marbles. Little V never made a sound, even though I know some hit her. It was a great adventure. We all did have a fun time. The funny part is that when we were packing up to go on this hike I thought to myself, "I should be packing each kid a sweatshirt and water. You never know when the weather can change in these mountains and you should be prepared." But then I remember that I over prepare for everything and haul too much stuff around. I told myself I was being paranoid. The one time I don't take too much stuff . . .

P.S. Another one of my favorite moments was trying to find a secluded spot to nurse V at the top of the mountain. There are always a lot of people traversing this trail. The best we could find was a rock, only slightly off the trail, overlooking the rock-climbers across the way.