Siouxon Creek Trail Revisited Twice

Jourdan also returned to Siouxon Creek on Monday, September 2 without his backpacking gear to enjoy a 10 mile day hike.  This hike was a nice break from the heat in the valley because the temperatures were much cooler up in the forest.

They hiked up to visit Siouxon Falls:

While the boys were hiking, Julia and Mom spent some time fishing.  We did catch a couple of fish, but they were really tiny, so we tossed them back.  Julia was tempted to try and keep hers as a pet because it was "so cute"! 

The next weekend of September 7, Jourdan took his friend Mason up to Siouxon Creek to hike a more difficult 12 mile portion of the trail.  Mason is Jourdan's friend from choir and the musical.  He lives in our neighborhood, and is the only friend who graduated last year staying local for college - Jourdan is thankful to have at least one friend stay nearby.

 

 

So, these relaxing pictures of the boys at the top of the mountain don't tell the story of what was happening at home.  We, the parents, thought the boys had left for their hike at 9:30 am.  So, when 7:00 pm rolled around in the evening, and we hadn't heard from them we (mostly the moms) started to become a little nervous.   That nervousness intensified as the sky got dark, and no one had heard from either of the boys.  Our family ended up leaving a church meeting early, loading the car with gear, and heading up to the trailhead to search for the boys.  We were concerned that they had either gotten lost, or one of them had become injured (due to the difficult terrain on the portion of the trail they had taken).  Both families became involved in what we thought might turn into a search and rescue mission.  Long story short:  the boys left later than anyone realized, didn't have a charger for a dead cell phone, didn't think to call from a different phone when they got out of the canyon, and stopped to pick up a to-go pizza on the way home.  We were all relieved when they showed up at home safe and sound.  However, this mom was terrified, not to mention extremely car sick from the high-speed ride to the top of the trailhead to look for the vehicle they were driving.  Our family had made it all the way to the trailhead, and due to lack of cell service, didn't know the boys had arrived back home until we drove the hour back out of the mountains. 

We're glad that everything turned out well.  It was a great learning opportunity to the merit badge Jourdan was earning... great life lesson for the future.  One more merit badge down, many more to go.