Elk County trip 2012

The last weekend of August we went on our 4th annual Elk County camping trip with our friends, Chad and Sheila and Keith and Ronda.  We had so much fun!  It was a beautiful weekend weather wise and we saw a lot of wildlife and the campground was not very crowded.  We got there Friday afternoon around 4 and set up camp and just hung out the rest of the evening.  We stayed at Parker Dam State park and had 2 campsites for the three families but we were in a corner of the campground that backed up to the woods and had LOTS of room for the kids to run around and play.  We had Mountain pies for dinner, which were delicious and then just hung around the campfire the rest of the evening.

Saturday morning we all decided to go on a little hike. Our family didn't really sleep very well the night before so Katy needed an early nap and Ricky stayed back at camp with her during this hike.  



Collecting Acorns:

Caleb found a little toad.

It was a little over a mile up to the top and all of the kids did great... well, except for Joanna, I ended up having to carry her on my back most of the way.  We rested a little at the top and enjoyed the view.

Oh, and yes, Chase has a mohawk.  It's gone now.  I said he was allowed to have one for a little while until we had to go to church again.  He felt very cool with it and looked like a little knucklehead (but still very cute of course) :P

 

That evening after dinner we went out to look for Elk, or whatever we might see. 

We saw a family of turkeys.  there were 12 little Poults all walking in a line.

Someone had the idea to walk through this field up the hill and see if we could see some elk on the other side.  Although none of us were very happy about walking through the itchy field it did make for some nice pictures.

When we got down to the other side, we didn't see any elk but there was a little construction site that we walked around in a little.  The kids loved all the dusty dirt and piles and equipment to climb.

turkey track:

On the hike back Ricky spotted a bear feeding in a nearby field!

We also saw some elk starting to come out and feed:

It was a beautiful evening.  I wish I could capture how pretty it REALLY was with my camera.

Sheila was able to get a lot of use out of the carrier I got her this weekend :)

After our hike we went to our favorite little place up there, The Elk View Diner, and had apple dumplings and ice cream with coffee.
Sunday, we kind of just putzed around for a while.  I think some of us went on a little hike and some of us went on bike rides.  In the evening after supper we went out looking for elk again.  
We went to the nice new visitor center that they have there and were able to walk out and see a whole herd of elk moving through their fields.

We could hear them calling to each other but it doesn't "show up" on this video.

The actual visitor center is really neat too.  They have lots of interactive computer things for people to learn more about the elk and other wildlife in the area.  We pretty much just hung out there the whole evening.
Monday morning, Ricky and Keith went out bright and early to elk spot some more.  They actually saw a bunch too and had a really good time.  I like this picture Keith took for me :P

After they came back, we had breakfast and then started packing up.  Ronda and I took the kids down to the swimming beach and just laid on the beach for a while, I did swim a little and the water was COLD.  We left around 2 and got home later in the evening.  It was such a wonderful trip!