Climbing Castle Rock

The kids had so much fun climbing Castle Rock with Paul on Abigail's birthday, they were eager to take the rest of the family up. So after church we took a Sabbath family hike up the mountain. Abigail and Deborah took turns carrying Sarah and we took the Honda so the little kids could have a rest if they needed it.

Lavonne & Josh went with us and it was a beautiful day.

Paul drove the Honda through this stretch on the way up to make sure it wouldn't get stuck.

The trail went right to the base of Castle Rock. The kids scampered right up. You can see Quentin up on top next to the tallest rock.The underbrush at the base of the rock was very thick. I couldn't carry Benjamin (the girls carried Sarah), but he was a real trooper and struggled through to the top.The view from the Rock was awesome. Paul's seeing how close to the edge he can get. Of course the older kids had to follow him.

Of course I couldn't miss the opportunity to get the perfect family picture.

Anna looks like she's going to fly down to the runway you can see down by the lake. Nondalton stretches out to the right of the airport. It looks like a long way to walk...

The closest village to the South is Iliamna. It is on the horizon if you follow the Newhalen river which flows out of Six Mile Lake that Nondalton is situated on.

To the North you can see Lake Clark which empties into Six Mile Lake. At the base of Tanalian Mtn. in the center of the photo is Port Alsworth. At 20 miles away it's the closest village to the North.

Quentin

Deborah

Above Castle Rock is a flat table at the top of the mountain. It is very steep to climb so Paul went up with the kids from Caleb on up. They had an awesome time exploring the crevices while Lavonne, Sarah and I and the little boys picked the berries that surround Castle Rock.

Josh is holding a chunk of ice they found in one of the crevices.

Exploring the tabletop.

The older kids took turns driving the Honda so the little kids could take turns riding. From this view you can see Castle Rock with the tabletop above it.

As we were walking back down I started feeling something hitting my back. I turned around and saw my handsome husband with the most mischievous grin on his face. He had discovered that the hollow mountain celery made an excellent blow gun and the berries made great paint balls. Soon it was all out war between he and the kids. I tried to stay out of the way.

The berries in the picture below were the ammunition of choice. Since we don't know what their real name is, we call them paint ball berries.

We had an awesome time and were only slightly sore the next day.

Paul fixed the water leak under the apartments and restored their water. The phone is still out and I am still not missing it!