Goats Rocks Wilderness Area

Last weekend we headed to Goats rocks to explore the area and camp.  We decided to take the Snowgrass flat trail 5 miles in and set up a base camp.  It was a continual climb and we gained 2,000 feet in elevation.  Once we were set up at base camp we were able to do a few day hikes to explore Goat Lake and Old Snowy mountain. 

 Heading out to Goat Lake

We hiked all the way to the top up to the tree line and we were rewarded with an awesome view.

 Goat Lake was beautiful and refreshing.  We had amazing weather on Friday and the temperatures were warm enough to jump in the alpine lake and be able to warm up after.  It's very refreshing to jump in a lake with ice chunks floating next to you!  I could hardly take a breath when I came up for air.  Alia was the bravest, jumping in 3 times!

She had a blast sledding at Goat lake

 Maia and Avery enjoying a moment in the sun.

 The wildflowers were amazing on the mountain!

 

 There were so many little streams from the snow melt

 

 Alia found the perfect snack spot

 We spent a few hours here playing in the creek.

 

We brought 2 tents and I got to share with Alia and Maia

 Maia all tucked into her sleeping bag.

 

After hiking almost 30 miles in 3 days, it's safe to say we wore him out!

We had an amazing view of Mt Adams at base camp.

On our way to Old Snowy

A storm blew in and we tried to wait out the rain under this small tree.

 On the second day we decided to try and summit Old Snowy.  We made it almost to the top when a rain storm hit and we had to turn around because the wind and rain made it too dangerous to try and climb to the very top.  We were able to cross Packwood glacier and then had to turn around.

 

 It was raining really hard on the way back to camp.  Scott was a camp angel and made dinner for everyone while we hid out in our tents.  The rain stayed all day and we spent the day reading and playing games.

 

The rain let up long enough to warm up and dry out

 Heading back home with our memories of another fun adventure!

Happy 12th Birthday Avery

 Avery is so thrilled to be with Banana even after 12 years!

 Launching stomp rockets

 We headed over to Tacoma to watch The Incredibles 2 at the theater.

 

 Thanks for the gifts!

 Homemade ice cream cake is the perfect July birthday cake

Always messing with Grandpa!  They set the table and gave Grandpa very small dishes.

Avery's Birthday Questions

1.  Favorite color: All of them because I like to draw

2.  Favorite toy:  Mom's hairbrush because it's a dragon

3.  Favorite game:  Robot game on my Ipad

4.  Favorite food:  Hunger Games

5.  Favorite animal:  Maia

6.  Favorite book:  Hunger Games 

7.  Favorite thing to do outside:  Wilderness Program

8.  Favorite holiday:  My birthday

9.  When I grow up I want to be an engineer because I like to invent and build things.

10.  If you could buy anything what would you buy?  A giant house with secret passageways with themes and it would clean itself.  

11.  What do you like about yourself?  That I am creative and observant

12.  What do you like to do with Mom? Play games  With Dad?  Be annoying and wrestle

13.  What's the funniest thing that happened this year?  Going to Waskowitz and staying in my cabin

14.  Favorite family tradition?  Going on trips

Team Davis heads to Yellowstone N.P

Since we've had free flights for the last decade. we haven't really taken the opportunity to go on a road trip with the kids.  We all felt like exploring the west and on a whim last week we decided to check if there were any cancellations for camping in Yellowstone.  As it turns out, Grant campground had an opening for 3 nights and we booked it and packed up the car and headed out.  We ended up driving a total of 2,500 miles and 30 hours.  It was a beautiful drive through WA, ID, MT, and WY.  The park is truly magical and so wild.  It covers 22 million acres across most of Wyoming with some parts in Idaho and Montana.  When  you picture the old west, the park was exactly what you think it would have been like.

  Dinner stop in Missoula MT.  This was an excellent BBQ restaurant where all of the food is made fresh daily and when they run out, you're out of luck.

After dinner we found a park and ice cream! 

 There were a lot of bugs in Montana!

This is our impressive collection.  

We stopped at Earthquake lake on the way to Yellowstone.  It was created by an earthquake in 1959 where part of the mountain slid down and blocked off the river.  The new lake is 200 feet deep and 6 miles long.  You can still see where the mountain slid.  28 people lost their lives that night while camping in the valley.   

We rented this Ford Excursion Max for the trip and it was great to have all of that extra room!


Ready for smores


Good morning!


There's nothing better than hot chocolate coffee on a cold morning.

 Grand Prismatic Spring in the evening

Grant Prismatic Spring in the morning

 Old Faithful erupts every hour and a half and lasts a few minutes.  It shot up 100 feet.

 West Thumb Geyser Basin where the water is around 200 degrees Fahrenheit

 Norris Geyser Basin, the hottest place in the park, at 459 degrees. Steamboat Geyser is here.

Artists Paint Pots

Mud Pots

 We enjoyed many sunset hikes when it was cooler out and the park was empty.

Cool and empty but we had to keep the mosquitoes from snacking on us.

 We drove down to the Grand Tetons

 This is Hayden Valley and it was one of our favorite places to visit in the park because there were so many animals in the valley.

 There's a Grizzly bear munching on flowers on the hillside.  Don't worry we were right next to the car and there were a lot of other people to Alia's  left that the bear would have gone after first.  A Grizzly can cover 50 feet in a second after all.

 There were so many bison roaming around the valley.

 They love to take their time crossing the road to the water hole.  We all sat in traffic for 15 minutes waiting for them to move.

 The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Lower Falls

 Mammoth Hot Springs.  2,000 pounds of rock is deposited on these stone terraces every day.

 The Arch way going out the North entrance near Gardiner Montana.  The kids loved the little door.

On the drive home we witnessed the start of a brush fire on 1 90 near Vantage WA.  It was pretty scary driving up to it not knowing if we would make it through.  They had to shut the interstate down on both sides from 11:30 pm to 12 noon the next day.  It turned into a wildfire and is called the Rye Grass Coulee fire.  1,600 acres burned and the town of Vantage had to be evacuated.