Backpacking, or as Max says, bmackbacking

I'm a firm believer that boating is better than backpacking and here's why. In a kayak, even if I do nothing all day I will eventually get where I'm going. Not so with backpacking, if you don't hike, you don't move, you never arrive. (I know it's the journey and not the destination but if you don't hike there is no journey) Having said all that, there are some places that are worth going and that you cannot boat to. One of those places is the West fork Blacks fork. If you know it, you love it, if you've never heard of it, I'll never tell you where it is. If Uncle Steve reads this I'll be a dead man just for posting the name of the place.

So we put a pack on Max and on Noah and Ani got her own pack. Tiff and I had most of the stuff but the boys carried their own sleeping gear. Max made it about a mile with his pack, Noah was a trooper and carried his all the way in and out. We spent a cold night(Ani's water froze solid) and it could not have been better. This is far and away one of my favorite places in the world.

Starting out, packs on, everyone's feelin good!

Max is done carrying his pack. He carried it about 2.5 miles on the way out but we had taken his sleeping bag out. Both he and Noah we super good kids on this trip.

Me and My boys, Max looks like a bruiser in this pic.


Ani does her part to improve the fishing.


Our camp.

Massive Brook Trout. There are some descent size fish in here but I didn't catch em. If you've never seen one, Brook trout are the most beautiful of all trout.

Cooking a little chow. The boys had cheesy shells and Tiff and I had some chicken and rice. I can't think of a more wonderful spot to be eating my dinner.

Sucks to be a dog when all the humans are eating without you.

Noah boy learning the finer points of throwing a dry fly.
Now is a good time for the first of two Norman McClean quotes, this is from memory so bear with me.
"It's a well known fact that all first rate fishermen on the sea of Galilee were fly fishermen, and that John, the beloved, was a dry fly fisherman."

Max throwin a Caddis. Tiffy tries to stay out of the way.

Tiffy gets all the credit for this fantastic shot.


Little waterfall/logjam on the hike out.


"Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the earths great flood, and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks lie timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters"