Life's Too Short Not to Have Fun!

Fun? Excitement? Exploration? Adventure? YES PLEASE!!! These are some of the things Michael and I live for. That's why when our friends, Bruce and Janet Ivey, called and invited us on a little overnight backpacking trip we jumped at the opportunity!

Michael has known the Iveys for years since one of their boys was in Michael's class and a good friend of his. They were definitely like a second family to Michael and we have both had many happy memories with them.

They are really cool to do things with because they have a genuine interest in the world around them. They are outdoor enthusiasts and are not afraid to get dirty or even sleep on the ground. I love their energy in the natural world! It was not a hard decision to go backpacking with them.

The Iveys had decided on a beautiful trail that meandered up on a ridge overlooking Cache Creek and the amazing valley surrounding the area. The trail wondered over the rolling hills from one country highway to another, coming to a total of around 10 miles of hiking. It was just perfect for a nice overnight trip.

While a good deal of the trail we hiked was considered wilderness area, it was quite easy to see that the hills are used part of the year as grazing territory for quite a number of cattle. We were kind of humored by the fact that motorized vehicles, bicycles, and even hang gliders were prohibited but cows were allowed to trample through. There was tremendous damage done by these huge beasts. Almost the entire trail was trembling under the evidence of the herd. The earth was cracked and rutted where they had tramped through muddy ground at some point. The good news is that the grass and weeds weren't totally out of control. Pat on the back for the cows on that point!

When our hike began, Michael and Bruce were shuttling our vehicles while Janet and I started our hike. I had a really nice time with Janet. She is an amazing source of information. She was telling me all about the territory as we hiked along. She would randomly stop to look at a little wildflower or explain a certain aspect of the area we were looking at. It was cool.

My favorite part of that first day was that we stumbled upon three different snakes. The first was a rather long King Snake that slithered across the path in front of us. What a treat! He very graciously paused in mid slither so Janet could get a picture. He was beautiful!

The next snake we saw was a baby Rattle Snake. This little guy was all coiled up on the path resting peacefully. He had the prettiest pattern on his back. Janet started pulling out her camera, but just before she could turn it on, the snake dove into a crack in the ground. He was quick!

The third snake looked like some kind of little garden snake. I'm not sure just what kind, but this one was stuck down in this water container. At least we assumed he was stuck. I'm sure he could have gotten out if he really wanted to, but I helped him out just in case.

We hiked through the wild oak trees that dotted the hills until we got to our destination of the evening. There are no designated camping areas in the Cache Creek wilderness, so we pulled over onto a lumpy cow field and declared it camp. We found some surprisingly flat spots to set up our tents. That was sure nice. The men caught up shortly after we had arrived and soon we were all sitting together, chatting, eating, and enjoying the peaceful evening that slowly melted into the quiet of night.

We felt like we were the only people alive that night as we faded happily into a cozy sleep. It was so peaceful out there and the only other signs of life we had seen that day were in the beautiful things of nature. It is just so nice to be able to dwell fully on what God has created. In an environment like that it was hard not to have your heart swell with thankfulness of God's goodness to us.

The next morning was so quiet and nice that we slept in a bit. Boy was that a nice change! The gentle spatter of rain didn't exactly make us want to leap out of bed an conquer the day either though. When we did finally crawl out of bed, we were able to enjoy a marvelous breakfast of scrambled tofu and toasted bagels. All very delicious! After that we were definitely ready to hit the trail again!

The landscape couldn't seem to make up its mind and we wove in and out of the oak covered grassland and shrubland that was blanketed in a thick covering of chaparral.

It was interesting because this portion of the trail seemed to be a lot more steep up and down sections. We enjoyed it though. And pretty soon we can to an area that had some really cool views of the valley. It was gorgeous! The creek wound its way gently through the valley floor and the flora seemed to slip down the hill sides to join it.



When lunch time rolled around we decided to stop on top of one of the hills we had hiked to re-energize. The funny thing is, due to our late breakfast I don't really think anyone was hungry. But we all ate anyway and had no trouble getting the food down. I think most of all it was just nice to get those packs off our backs and sit down for a while.

I was actually very pleased with the lunch Michael and I had packed when compared with the Ivey's lunch. They were contentedly munching down on dry fruit, energy bars, cheese, and mixed nuts. Sounds good, but we had packed some yummy sandwich fixings that were about 100% more desirable to me. We packed our bagels full of tomato, spinach, and green peppers. It was just the thing after hours on the trail!

The remainder of our journey was basically downhill. I was amazed and what a difference the downward slope made in our pacing. I typically don't go fast on steep downhills because it bothers my knees. But this trip suggested that if I didn't, I would quickly be left in the dust. Janet really surprised me. She was off like a bullet! Apparently downhill stuff is what she does best. She really flew! Bruce kept up with her fine. Michael was good enough to stick with me most of the time. I sure wasn't going to run down that long hill! I walked as fast as I thought was safe for me and somehow I kept up. :)

At the very end of the trail we reached the creek. We had to find a section to cross over to where the car was parked. Luckily we found a pretty narrow section with some stepping stones to help us out. Our shoes were still kind of muddy, and the rocks were pretty slippery, but some how we all made it safely across. :D


It's amazing how worn out you can feel after a little overnighter like that, but I really had to fight hard to stay awake on the drive back home. I normally wouldn't have bothered trying, but Michael was pretty drowsy too. Can't have my driver falling asleep no can I? :) But of course the tiredness we were feeling was because we had enjoyed ourselves immensely! I sure hope we can squeeze a few more trips like that in before we leave the country.