We were excited to head over to Sun Valley for Labor Day Weekend. Craig and I headed over early Friday morning so that we could hike another of the 12ers. We had tried to hike Hyndman Peak a couple of years ago and hiked 11 miles to no where because we started at the wrong trailhead. So this time we made sure that we started at the right place. It took a little extra time to get to the trailhead because we got in the middle of some sheep herding, it was actually pretty cool to see, there was at least 1,000 sheep. Once we got to the trailhead we quickly took off. The first 3 miles were nice and easy and didn't take too long. After that it started to get a little steeper and the day was getting warmer. We took a long break under a tree at about 4 miles and took a few things out of our packs and left them there to lighten our loads up the steepest part. We then were on our way to the peak. We started working our way through loose rock fields before we reached the saddle and started the final ascent. It felt like we were going straight up. The rocks were all different sizes and none of them were connected to the mountain. We would slip here and there as we slowly headed towards the top. As we were heading up the last half mile Craig's quads started to really cramp on him, so we stopped for a while to let him stretch and drink some Gatorade. One quad was completely locked out for a while. After he could finally move again we started out again, but only a few minutes later both of his quads totally locked out and he literally had to catch himself before awkwardly falling into a seated position. After about 10 minutes he still couldn't move and at this point we were getting nervous about getting him back down the mountain, since that is all quads. So he stayed eating jerky and drinking Gatorade as I made my way to the top. It ended up that we were only about 300 meters from the top, but I still think he made the right decision to stay where he was. I was really concerned about getting him back down the rocky slope. It was a beautiful view from the top. It was so nice to get up out of all the smoke that was in the valley. I made my way back down to Craig and waited until he felt ready to go. We took off slowly down the mountain. It was just over a mile of the rocky slope and it was the longest mile of my life. I have never been so nervous hiking before. I was so scared that Craig's legs would give out on him and he would just slide all the way down the sharp rocks. We kept slipping and sliding, I ended up with a pretty knarly cut on my right shin and the palms of our hands were all scraped up. Over an hour later we made it down the treacherous part and then shortly after that we were back to the tree where we left our stuff. We got our cooling towels wet in a pond and loaded our packs bag up and then made our way back to the truck. Amazingly Craig's quads did fine on the way back down, meaning they hurt but they did not cramp anymore. That was definitely a major blessing. Both Craig and I and the kids with Stan and Diane had prayed that we would get back down the mountain safely and we know that was most definitely an answer to our prayers. After loading back into the truck we headed into Sun Valley and met the rest of the clan at Smokey Mountain for dinner before checking into our AirB&B.
Saturday morning we got up and headed over to the car show. We walked around to check out all the cars and then headed back to the condo until the car show was ready to start. We went back to the car show for a while before the kids headed to the parade with Stan and Diane. Craig and I grabbed some lunch and hung out at the car show until they were back. We then went back to the condo to watch the BSU football game. That evening we headed into downtown Ketchum to the Pioneer Saloon for dinner. That night the kids went to the Ice Show with Stan and Diane. McKay had never been, so he was pretty stoked. Craig and I have been so many times that it didn't seem worth the cost. Craig and I got a lot of stuff packed up and ready to go for our hike on Sunday.
Sunday morning we packed up and headed to the Sawtooths for a hike on our way home. We went to Cabin Creeks Lakes. It was just over 8 miles round trip and we got to see two pretty lakes. There had been a lot of fires in the Sawtooths, but luckily these hikes were in a totally different area. It smelts like a camp fire as we drove to the trailhead, but we hiked right out of that and it was nice and clear and a beautiful sunny day. The kids of course did awesome and luckily Craig's legs did just fine. We love seeing new beautiful scenery and being surrounded by the God's creations. After our hike we drove home and got unpacked and got laundry going. Monday morning Craig and Stan played a round of golf and then we met up at Stan and Diane's to swim and BBQ. It was a great weekend spent with family and we always love sharing Sun Valley with the kids.
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