Fathers and Sons and More

A full weekend! On Friday I left work early to load up the boys for the ward's Fathers and Sons camp out. I forgot to bring the camera... no big deal though. We loaded into the Jeep even though I could do it in a Yugo. It was sort of a test run to see how to pack the Jeep for future camping adventures. We drove an hour and arrived at a no longer in use nuclear power plant. Apparently the power company put a small lake in there and some grass around it and that was where we camped. My bishop and a few others towed there very large 5th wheel and travel trailers down for one night. They parked in the parking lot and so did I. I set up tent on the park grass and it was lame! I could go on with my disgust in the event but I'll stop there. In the morning Calvin, Oliver and I drove home the long way. Enjoying snacks and a cool morning air we drove through the old mining town of Ione. Very cool. A few hours of yard work in the afternoon while Mommy got to primp and pamper did us some good. That evening we all jumped in the Suburban to explore a new "trail". I recently picked up a new 4x4 trail book with trail of all difficulties. It was time to check one off the list.

This is Shirtail Canyon Trail.
Just outside of Colfax you come down and cross the North Fork of the American River.
And then head up to Iowa Hill, an old mining town. They pulled over $100,000 of gold per week when they were at there prime. Mostly hydraulic mining.
We came across some peacocks along the way.

This is not the same bridge as the first picture. It is the Colfax-Foresthill suspension bridge. Though it looks attached at each end it is only attached to the cables above. When the car gets on it the whole bridge does some swinging the way a rope bridge would.

We threw a few dozen rocks down below. Very fun. We will probably be back in the heat of the summer for some refreshing swim time.