Metolius Camping for Mitch's 15th Birthday

This summer is going by WAY too fast!

Mitchel's birthday approached way too rapidly.
We had planned a camping trip with Papa, and Aunt Jen on the Metolius river.

I thought it would be nice to do a trip on a "fishing" river.
Plus we LOVE LOVE LOVE camping.

We were pretty excited leading up to it. We got together and all meal planned, but then Grandma got a pinched nerve in her back and couldn't go. She still did her shopping and sent us with food, but it was a bummer for her to miss the trip.

Still, because G-ma wasn't going, we were able to CARPOOL with Papa.

He came over Thursday morning and we loaded up his truck!
After some maneuvering and reevaluating the things we were taking...we were ready to go!

Check in time at the camp spot (which sounds so funny to say...check in like at a motel or something) was at 4pm and we were only a little less than an hour away...

When we got there I was pretty stoked.
The campground was nicely spread out (for the most part).
Our site was fairly secluded..

We started trying to put up our tents but there was NO clear area to do so. The ENTIRE site was covered in wood-ish thick bushes. We set up our tents in semi clear spots, but I tried repositioning mine because there was sooo much under it.
We ended up asking the host if we could change to the site across the way.
He agreed (with slight hesitation, because they aren't "supposed" to do that)

We had the boys carry all the things we already unloaded over to the "new" site. Then we carried over our tents. It was MUCH nicer. AND right next to the river!

First thing up...the hammock.

See, room for tents

We went exploring waiting for Jen to show up with the cousins.

After some exploring Jen arrived.
We helped her set up her camp and then the boys got their poles together for some fishing at dusk.
We walked down a little over a quarter mile to the lower bridge. Everything under lower bridge is pole and fly fishing. PLUS you get to keep what you catch.

Next to the bridge were more signs with more information...
Like it was lureless only...
So the boys had to adjust their set ups.

Fishing in general proved to be harder than they thought at this place.
They have begun to put a lot of logs in the river to increase the fish habitat. It was shown to us how difficult it is to NOT catch a log in the Metolius. They kept snagging again and again.

Definitely need some waders to make this river fishable/bearable. 
After a couple hours of effort and a lot of frustrated snags the boys were ready to retreat to camp and get dinner ready.

The clouds raced in and we heard the thunder in the distance. While snuggled around the campfire contemplating smores the rain began to fall and the sky lit up with lightning.
We huddled under the canopy and watched the fire go out.
Once it passed we put the kids to bed and we stayed up talking and reminiscing ...it was great.

Hammock in the rain

The next morning we woke and sat staring at the river.
It was lovely.

Brent got to the camp at 2AM!!!
He ended up getting off work WAY later than he expected.
PLUS his mom was having a mini breakdown and called him hysterical so he had to leave the campground and drive to Prineville deal with his parents issues and THEN come and join us at camp.
His car was at the camp a total of 5 hours and we got this lovely note on our window.

I swear...camping is going to be yet another thing you can only do if you have money. Not only was it almost $20/night to pitch a tent (no electric or personal water spout) Literally just to set up a tent...they add a $9/car per night fee.

So all together this little weekend getaway for three nights of camping cost Jen and I $162 JUST for LODGING...to camp. Sheesh.

I remember in high school I camped almost every other weekend with my friends. Just pulled off the side of the road on Mt. Hood and didn't have to pay anything.

Okay...RANT over.

 Brent took August with him when he was tending to his parents. That way August got to check in at home and I was able to hang with the other two and the river.

We explored some more and decided this day to take a hike over to the fish hatchery. It was about a 3.5mile hike one way. So all in all we did about 7 miles.
It was so pretty.

Along the river you could see the intentionally placed logs to enhance the fish habitat.

We arrived at the fish hatchery and this is when Brent and August met back up with us.

After feeding the fish and walking some laps around their little man made pond, we decided to head back to camp. Breanna and Cam drove back Brent's car to camp. Bray decided to go with the teenagers in the car, but the rest of us decided to walk back to camp on the OTHER side of the river.
It was quite the adventure.

Daddy being a wilderness explorer...found a moth

August trying to walk Sheila

 The trail started out great, but then it got a little more like we were forging our own path.

We stopped by this old shack that Pawpaw had noticed from the other side of the river.
It was pretty cool to explore.
The boys went in and started making up stories and acting out scenes.

I started a bouquet right after we left the shack and were frolicking in a meadow...
I tried to take a photo of it, but it was awfully windy too.
 

We passed through a huge chunk of ferns. I LOVE ferns.
This was pretty exciting for me. I don't really see them in Central Oregon often. I was surprised to say the least. Ferns in the dessert.

Trying to avoid the trees

 Brent ended up getting Aug on his shoulders when most of the brush was over his head, but then we were swallowed by bushes. Above is Jen emerging from the "path" that we took through the very thick trees...
Next Brent tries to make his way out with August on his shoulders.

 Then we hit a spot like swamp.
We could feel water all around our feet, and were in thick thick grass and skunk weed. It was crazy. We were all laughing. Papa was kind of freaking out about bears...something about this being a place they like. I was more worried about all the SNAKES Tyler kept finding.
We were able to find little bridge type things made with sticks and fallen limbs.

Looking back at the waters edge where we just trudged through. What a fun hike!!!

Breanna, Cam, and Bray at our campsite on the other side of the Metolius. We had to hike another little quarter of a mile to the bridge then head back over...

I got a little scrape from the walk. It was all dried up and crusty when I noticed it.
I tried to wash it in the river, but the water is like 30 degrees I SWEAR. It was so numbingly cold my foot hurt after only a few seconds in it.

Oh well.

We decided to make lunch and then do Mitch's presents. Mitch decided he wanted to do smores this day and save the cake for the next day. We had brought a couple of his gifts camping with us, since this was his ACTUAL birthday 7-11.

He loved them all.

 After Papa made us a great dinner, we decided to play Quelfs. It is the BEST BOARD GAME EVER.

It is so interactive and fun. They boys learned it at church camp and Brent bought it right away.
It was fun to introduce it to the family.

This night there was no rain so the fire blazed and the smores melted into amazing goodness.
It was the perfect night. The boys continued to play different card games while I sat and visited with Papa and Jen.

The hike wore us out a little we were ready to turn in early, just after 11pm.

Again, we woke to a beautiful day. We ate a wonderful breakfast Jen made and then decided to fish again.

  We walked about 2.5 miles down to a good spot past lower bridge.
We kept walking to find clear areas to have the boys put their lines in.

Again we learned this was hard to do.
There was a lot of  trees and rocks that kept getting us snagged.
After a little over an hour we hiked back and decided to do the cake!

After the cake Dad had to leave and go to work. I took a nap with Aug and the boys all went with Aunt Jen and Papa to fish.

Papa was showing them the fly fishing, so they were able to do it wherever...

Before we left the next day Bray tried to teach August how to play craps, like Papa had taught him...
It was hilarious.

We ended up saying goodbye to our campsite and heading over to see the head of the metolius river. It is a small creek type thing coming out of the side of the mountain.

There it goes. To become the swift moving river.

It was all barred/fenced off. You had to stand on a platform and look at it.
The water looked so good too! It was SO HOT out.

From here we went our separate ways and Papa drove us home!
It was a great weekend. I am so happy that my kids love to camp and request to do that instead of having birthday parties.