Camping with the family

Oh yeah, my favorite thing to do.....camping.....the fresh air, the clean waters, and getting to eat as much as I want to.....The fam went to the North Fork of the Blackfoot trailhead last week for a few days of R & R.   HP & WP both took their horses and also a mule to carry lunches and extra gear.  One thing they forgot was extra water for the trail rides.   It was hot dry and very dusty on the trail.  The "fam" stopped a lot along the way so me and my 4 legged kin could cool off in the creeks.....Ahem needless to say I got a bit muddy....and dusty. 
     The first ride was just along a mountain road......plenty of water, but no squirrels along this route.......BORING!!! I do my part by checking every culvert along the way just to make sure none of those noisy little critters aren't lurking there....and we didn't see any deer either.    We get back to the motorhome for dinner and kick back and relax for the rest of the evening.....we had the entire campground to ourselves this trip. So quiet.  The next morning we headed out fairly early to do a "day ride" to the North Fork Falls.....Geez it's only 10am and already hot.   WP is in the lead and keeps telling HP there are tons of bear tracks in the trail......scary!
    We make it to the first bridge and our first cooling off spot.....I love swimming in the creek.  WP keeps close watch to make sure I don't venture out too far.....the water runs fast at times and could sweep me away if I am not careful.  The trail keeps getting hotter and we have to climb uphill for quite a ways to reach the falls.....I sure can't see what a big deal this is......you can't see the waterfall, just hear it....and they won't even let me get close enough to even try a peek over the edge.......BORING.....and hot...  WP shares her water with me and my big sister, Annie.  Annie has a real hard time with the heat. We get to have dog cookies here and WP sneaks all of us some of her turkey sandwich......I do love trail rides that include lunch...I usually get people food treats on them..  They decide next time to have the mule carry extra water for us if it happens to be hot.    We get back down the the North Fork Cabin and WP takes a few candid photos....yeah, I know I am not very clean but what do you expect when it's this dusty...here we are sitting on the front porch of the cabin......we are about 7 miles in at this point. I am very tired right now...

And here is the bridge we had to cross to get here.....

But what a view from the bridge, looking towards the falls.....(yeah I don't see any falls either)!

And then here's the other critters with us.....guess with all of us, there was 8 family along this trip.......I guess you call horses family...... WP is always refferring to her horse, Barney, as her boyfriend........are boyfriends considered family? We he does live with us so I guess he is.....I like him anyway, he is very careful when I am underfoot and that is a very good thing considering the size of those feet.....Holy cow they are as big as pie plates!

    So we take off from the cabin towards the trailhead.   Along the way we run into the ranger and his friend...they tell us to be very careful as a bear was spotted along the trail we are on.   So we ease on along and of course when we least expect it, on a corner, in dense underbrush, on a part of  the trail where there is no tother place to go, wham HP comes face to face with not only the bear, but her two cubs as well.....HP's horse, Matt does a very abrupt about face which also makes the mule turn too.....WP following behind on Barney is now in the lead and making a fast exit on this part of the trail.  We all look back to see one of  mamma bear's babies heading up a tall tree.  My little heart is beating so fast.....being so short I just didn't get to see what happened but I follow everyone else and head back from where we just came....so we all take a break and wait.....HP walks alone back up the trail keeps talking very loud....he soon returns and reports no bears in sight......whew that was a close one.

     It was a very exciting day but when we finally get back I am not feeling very good.......and neither is my brother Charlie, in fact we are both very sick that evening.....too hot and way too much dust.   I think I inhaled an entire truckload of it....WP is pretty worried about me because I just lay there.   So she decides to see just how sick I am......out comes the turkey.....and POP up I come ready for just one more bite......I may be hot, tired, and a bit choked up from too much dust but I will always come alive for turkey.  We came home a day early because of the heat but maybe next week we are going someplace else and a new adventure....

   Did someone say huckleberries?????