Calamity Camping

Spring camping is hard in Idaho! We had been having great weather, so we planned a camping weekend to Calamity Campground on Palisades Reservoir. We were going to bring our new kayak to try out on the lake and everything. Then the weather took a turn, got really cold, rainy, and snow was expected in the mountains. Mark needed to get away, so he said we were going anyways, even if we just played games and read our books in the trailer the whole weekend. We left the kayak home, and Mark, Bailey, and I went camping! It was our first time in an actual campground. We usually just dry camp. SO MUCH FUN! We got there on Thursday night and set up camp. The campground was beautiful and we could instantly tell we would love the area. After dinner we walked down to the lake and did some exploring. 

Our fun campsite.

Palisades Reservoir.

Skipping rocks.

Aren't they the cutest!?!

 That night we played lots of games in the trailer. In the middle of the night we woke up to big booming thunder storms, which we love!

Endless games in the trailer! These two share a love for dill pickle chips.

 Friday was extremely overcast and a thunder storm was supposed to roll in in the afternoon. We had a hiked planned that we were a little nervous about doing. Bailey has a big fear of lightening. She isn't afraid of many things, but that is one thing that causes a total panic. We decided to hike anyways, and just keep an eye on the sky. So glad we did! We had perfect hiking weather! We hiked the trail leading to the Bear Creek Hot Springs. We knew we wouldn't be able to make it to the hot springs because the water was too high to cross, so we went 5 miles out and then turned around and came back. It was our first time on that trail and we loved it! The valley was beautiful with flowers starting to bloom and an overcast sky. We decided once the mud dries up, it would be a perfect running trail. We can't wait to try it in the fall and make it all the way to the hot springs. 

  

Bear Creek Trail

So pretty!

Hahahaha, this is why the hike took so long!

Bailey loves yellow wildflowers!

I found a four leaf clover! That was the luck we needed to make it back before the storm!

The drive to and from the trailhead was gorgeous. We had a view of the Palisades Reservoir for most of the way.

 We had lunch and then decided to take a drive my friend told me about. We drove along the river looking at big cabins and beautiful scenery. We made it to a fun waterfall along the river just as the rain started. 

The falls!

We love this part of the river! 

Our cute little deer friend. 

Lots more games in the trailer that night because it was cold and stormy. We woke up to snow! It looked like someone had sprinkled powdered  sugar on all the trees. We had a 10 mile trail run to do (our last long run before our race), so we headed up to the Rainy Creek trail. We got a mile up the trail and realized that we couldn't cross the river. Mark made it part way out and it was already above his knees and moving fast. That means it would have come above my waist. There is no way I would have been able to stay on my feet, so we turned around and headed up a different trail. It was great until the snow starting getting deeper and deeper. We finally turned around and just had to do a few miles on the dirt road. We got all of our miles in, and it was quite and adventure.

Our Saturday morning trail run!

Snow!

Bailey made a cute little snowman!

He's such a happy guy!

 We had so much fun and we wanted to stay an extra night, but Mark had early morning church meetings. Boooo! I'm so glad we decided to go because we found a new campsite we like, and a new trail that is awesome!