Robber's Roost

On Memorial Day we thought we would try a local hike on Mt. Charleston.  We invited Brian and Hilary and let one other family of friends know.  That snowballed into 6 families including 13 girls (8 and under) and 3 boys, ages 12, 11, 3.  Hee hee.  Isaac and Cameron were very glad they had each other.  In fact, they mostly split off from us and got themselves into tight spots.  I don't have many pictures of them.

Background info, Robber's Roost is claimed to be an old hideout for bandits who would rob people along the old Mormon Trail.  It's not a bad hike, but there is no way anyone with any sense would try and take horses up there and what kind of bandit are you without a horse?  The cave was big enough to sleep in and was very blackened from smoke, but completely devoid of creature comforts.  The kids LOVED hiking around and exploring.

A sampling of some of the girls climbing up.

And now at the top.

Makenna wore her "crocodile hunter" outfit for an outdoor adventure.  (There is a notebook for sketches in her backpack with pencils, a monocular, and when not in the cave, her flashlight is there too.)  Jess was going for cute.

Jess and Ellie posed for lots of pictures.

We took more of Brian and Hilary, but this was my favorite.

Here is a rare picture of the boys.

I'm including this one as proof that I do attend these family outings.  I usually have the camera and am never in the pictures, but Matt did snapshot duty while I chased after the girls to make sure they didn't fall off anything too high.  

This is Makenna's special buddy.  She always runs to her when she sees her at home, church, store. . . 

Our family.

Makenna was quite the climber.

Here is a perspective shot.  There were quite a few people repelling with gear above us. 

Here is a shot of 4 adults (and Jess) discussing the upcoming triathlon.  "What's the weather going to be like?"  "Are you ready?"  "I haven't been on my bike enough." We had trained together here and there during the summer, but we had all slacked off a bit since school started.  

I was glad to see proof that Jess did actually drink from her camelback.  She had carefully packed it before we left.  Pictured below are some things I found in it when I unpacked it that night, plus a lot of water. 

She would make a good boy scout.  Always be prepared.  I know she did eat another granola bar.  Look closer at the bandaids. :-)

She labeled them both!