Backpacking!!

We went backpacking in the Olympic Mountains, and it was lovely! I was a bit nervous b/c of being 15 weeks pregnant, but everything turned out great. Here we are at the beginning of the hike, crossing a small stream. The mountains here are gorgeous. We started at a small river.
This bridge apparently was broken by a falling tree just before we went on the trip. The sign said that only one person could walk across at a time. It was a bit scary...

Every time we hit a really rough patch (all uphill the first day), we would come across a nice little waterfall. They were cool and refreshing and usually made me feel better.
We got to Flapjack Lakes, but couldn't stay there b/c there were too many people already camping there. The ranger had told us that Black and White Lake was really spectacular and just a mile higher than Flapjacks. We were tired, but decided to attempt it. Our first hurdle was to cross a part of the river/stream that was washed out in a recent storm. We had to pick our way across and hunt for the trail on the other side. You don't see the boys climbing this ridiculous hill with our packs. We should have been worried....

The views on the way up were amazing....but it took all of us two hours to go that last mile. The trail was falling off the mountain and there were plants occasionally growing on the trail. It was frightening and ridiculously steep after hiking all day. Even the boys were exhausted when we reached the top.

The lake was beautiful. We soaked our feet for a bit, ate and set up tents. We definitely felt a lot better!
I made a snow angel in July - while wearing shorts! On our hike up we noticed that some of the trail looked like it was actually a stream when the snow melted. I think the snow is still melting from winter.

Our camp was funny. Matt and Candie decided to try a new type of tent, but didn't realize that the "2 man tent" was so small that the little pads you carry to go under your sleeping bag had to overlap! I wish I had gotten a picture of them trying to sleep in that thing. Good thing they like each other...
John, me, Candie and Matt

At bedtime, John and I saw a deer right by our tent. It actually got a lot closer and would have walked just past us, but John accidentally used the flash and it decided to go the other way. Poor Candie had never been camping at all before and heard animals all night. I think she only got 3 hours of sleep.
In the morning we woke up and found a black bear! He was foraging for berries or something on the hill just above our campsite. Other than the odd look, he didn't seem too interested in us. Nevertheless, we decided to cook breakfast at the bottom of Flapjack Lakes Trail instead of in front of him.
John and me with my protruding belly.

Candie and Matt