Please let there be silence from the lambs!

This Labor Day weekend we went camping with Chad and Angela at Iron Bog lake. It was a really difficult hike in--I thought, anyway--but the lake, and the other lakes nearby were just gorgeous!

We hiked in Friday night and set up camp.

The lake is just out of sight on the right side of that pic.

Saturday morning Ryan and Chad went fishing and they were quite successful! Look at those beauties...and the fish look nice too. :)

Come on. Who didn't see that joke coming?

Aren't those fish great? They're cutthroat trout, and they're so colorful! That's Ryan's fly rod beneath them. He caught the top one on the fly rod and Chad caught the bottom one on a worm. We had them for dinner with foil-wrapped veggies and they were so good. They didn't even taste that "fishy."

While the boys were off fishing, however, Angela and I had a few hundred mutton-heads come by our campsite. Friday night while we were setting up the tents, we heard this constant cacophony of "Blaa-a-a-a's" coming from over the next hill. And Saturday we finally got to see them.

Oh joy.

Here they are on the opposite shore. They were just bleating to beat the band! I had no idea that sheep were that noisy. It was just this mindless, "Blaa, blaa, blaa," the whole time!

Here they are coming up the trail around the lake and past our campsite.

And here's Angela with her little Mia, watching all the sheep go by. We had to literally stand in their way to keep them from just tromping through our camp. Mia, bless her little heart, was just shivering with excitement. She wanted to go after those sheep so bad! Angela didn't want to unleash the tiny terror on the woolly crowd, so she helped Mia scare them instead.

Then the sheep dogs came by.

And aren't they fantastic? They were so big. Really mellow too. They just came right up and let us pet them.

After all that excitement, Ryan and Chad showed up with their catch (convenient, no?) and wanted to go hiking to another lake. Fish Pole lake. So that's where we went.

Here are the guys scoping out the new fishing ground.

And here's a wide shot of Fish Pole lake. I love the faded colors of the trees.

We found some really cool logs of driftwood there too.

Ryan fly fishing, with Mia standing watch. That little puppy was such a trooper. She's only four months old, but she kept right up with us while we were hiking. Inspiring and frustrating at the same time. How can I complain about being tired when this little black puff of energy keeps going?!?


Here's a chipmunk I saw back at camp. I gave him a chunk of my onion bagel. He liked it a lot.


Here we all are Saturday evening. Two days of hard hiking does tend to make an inexperienced lil' camper like myself feel a tad grungy. I was very glad for my shower on Sunday afternoon, let me tell you.


But, all in all, I think the trip was worth it. It was my first ever serious backpacking trip. I made it. I drank the buggy water along with everyone else. I slept in a serious backpacking tent.

I did it and I had fun too!