Clackamas River Trail ...Take Two

Mai and Ki and I headed back out to Clackamas River Trail #715 yesterday. Last time Ki and I went, we were both injured and didn't make it to our destination of Pup Creek Falls before heading back. This time we were going to start from the opposite end of the trail for some new scenery. This was originally supposed to be some "me" time and I was heading to the coast for a hike. I even got a CD book to listen to in the truck and was going to go quite far away for a new hike, but when Mai invited herself, I figured we would stay a bit closer to home, so that's how we ended up on the Clackamas Trail.

This trail has lots of old growth forest with five-foot-thick douglas firs and huge Western red cedars. There are tons of burned trees at the start of this hike - Mai liked huddling inside of them like little caves.

Everything was so mossy and beautiful.

We had a great lunch when we came upon a little clearing with a fire pit someone had built. At this point, I knew we wouldn't make it to Pup Falls and back before Mai was pooped out. Mai was pretty upset with me because she still felt good, but kids forget how long the return trip to the truck might be. It had started to rain a bit more and although she was sweaty and didn't want to wear a coat, her little hands were already like ice cubes.

I told her we would keep going until she felt we should turn around. After a couple of good long hills, she said it was time to head home, and on the return hike, we saw some kayaks and rafts battling the river. I actually thought one of the rafts was going to have some serious problems. Her kayak friend went through just fine, but she actually lost control of an oar and her boat tipped up completely sidways and hung in the balance for what seemed like forever. That she didn't completely flip over was amazing. She finally got righted and I breathed a sigh of relief.

I was starting to kick myself for not trying to go all the way to pup falls because Mai seemed to be doing pretty good....and then the following happened.

Me: Mai! Stop running - this part of the trail is too dangerous.

Mai: ...ignores me and says nothing.

Me: Mai! Stay to the left between me and Ki.

Mai:...ignores me and says nothing.

Me: Mai! If you do not listen to my words, you will no longer be allowed to go on hikes with me.

Mai:...Wadda ya think I am?..
...Stoooopid?

Me: Counting to ten before I answer as she goes flying through the air and lands flat out.

Mai: Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Ok, good call on heading back when we did. She limped along at about a half mile per hour pace for the next five minutes and then we saw the rafting dog and that took her mind off of things.

 

The catarafts reminded me of Mom's comment the other day on needing to get all fixed so she can row this summer. She's on week 3 of treatment this week. Keep her in your prayers that her bones are getting super strong and that the meds are doing their job.

Mai found a great spot for us to view our river friends, it would be nice out here in the summer.

It's so hard to hike with kids because you just don't know when they're going to decide they are too pooped out or how hurt they might get. I've had to carry Mai on my back for over a mile before because of blisters on her feet (because she refuses to listen to me and wear socks!!). Today my main concern was that she wore snow boots and I had no idea if she could handle them for 7.2 miles. I'm not sure how far we went. It was a total of 2.5 hours on the hike so I'm pretty sure we were not that far away from Pup Falls, but I knew we made the right decision to turn around when we did as little girl WAS tired, lost a glove, and was only half-heartedly able to look for new slugs to add to her collection before we settled into the truck for the drive back home.

Superbowl today...who's your team?
We're going to a superbowl/birthday x3 family party today. Going to lose some money playing cards before the game (because my MIL ALWAYS wins...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr) and then I'm going to try to win some money in our superbowl pool. All the kiddos are playing too, so it should be lively over there today during the game.
HAVE FUN!!