So in the spirit of father’s day this year, my wife encouraged us to go on our very first family backpacking trip. While my son has a few years of backpacking experience in scouting, this would be a first for our 7 and 10 year old daughters. I knew that we needed to pick a beautiful place where they could have a lot of fun, and where we would only need to go a few miles in.
Therefore, my wife and I chose Dolly Sods in West Virginia: one of our favorite destinations in our days before children. While it wasn't blueberry season yet, I suspected that the early June weather would be just right for us: warm / not too humid during the days and crispy cool at night. The bugs weren't a problem, either. While I had plans to start us up on a fire road on the western side of the Wilderness, we found out when we arrived that the road had been closed off, due to some erosion earlier in the month. Fortunately, this forced us to begin at the south entrance, which turned out to make for a more scaled down (and ultimately much better) trip for us. After making our way to the southern entrance, we had about a half mile hike to the first camping area. The next days trip would be determined on how far I felt the girls could go. As it turned out, it made good sense to target a campsite just a few miles upstream from where we camped on Friday night. That way it gave the kids more time to explore around and play in Red Creek. We would then double back to the car on Sunday. In total, it was about a seven mile round trip, not too shabby for a seven and nine year old.
Raina enjoying the fresh air.
A panoramic of Red Creek
Oatmeal somehow tastes a lot better in the woods.
Linden wondering when we are going to get there while Jaden scoffs at the comment.
Yes, the girls had "borrowed" backpacks from Jaden's Scout troop.
Jaden wondering whats wrong with the tent.
Enjoying an early dinner of couscous
A panoramic of our campsite, next to Red Creek
A hammock is a great thing to have on a trip like this.
Just chilling out after long day of hiking & swimming in Red Creek.
On our way back down to the car.
While I would have loved to hike up to this point in the Sods, it made a lot more sense to simply drive up there.
Nice day for a view.
Linden's action pose.
