Hike: Talapus Lake
7 Nov 2011 14:20![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nwhikerTalapus Lake
Distance: 4 miles.
Elevation gain: about 1200 ft.
Wow. That could have easily turned into a catastrophe of a hike...
This is an easy hike, we've done it several times before (at least two with kids), so we know the terrain reasonably well. It's a pretty hike, nothing extraordinary, but it's out, it's a lake, and there are grey jays. I love grey jays. They're also called "camp robbers" and one snatched a cookie or some such from Perry's hands when he was in the backpack years ago, to our laughter and poor baby Perry's utter outrage. Anyhow.
It was a very cold morning -26F here at the house- so we expected to be hiking in temps around freezing. Spent much prep time making sure all the kids had appropriate gear and layering etc.
Remember this hike to Glacier Vista when I wrote, Note about AC and her asthma inhaler, and knee braces. When we ask her, "Do you have your inhaler?" that means "is your inhaler on your body, or in the backpack to be used if need be"?, It does not mean, "Did you use your inhaler?" Despite going over this in detail on just about every single freaking hike we've been on this year, she does not seem to get it, and left with car without her braces or her inhaler. It's not that she's ever really needed it, it is that she should have it in case she does need it.
Yesterday, she was sitting in the car, while the rest of us ran around doing last minute prep, and I asked if she had her inhaler. She said something that confirmed that she'd heard the question, and I went on to do something else.
The hike is, as I said, relatively easy, and while the elevation gain is average for us, it's a gentle slope all the way up. Yay, right? Maybe at one point. At this point, a gentle slope means we pick up the pace and book up the hill.
Which we did. And I heard AC's telltale cough.
And found out the little brat didn't have her inhaler. It wasn't at the car. In fact, she hasn't used it since her backpacking trip... no wonder she's been having a hard time at gym.
I was so pissed. I engaged in some Very Bad Parenting. Very bad.
Suffice it to say that it degenerated into a fight, because I wanted her to accept responsibility, she just blamed me and everyone else in the world, I got pissed, I got pissed with dh for telling me to calm down and not yelling at her, AC said something nasty to me, I snapped, and said something mean in return, and she got really angry, took off on the trail -up the trail- at top speed.
Umm... Yeah, her top speed, even as out of shape as she was, is higher than ours. And she refused to stop, kept on climbing. We were, quite frankly, going to go back to the car. But away she went -with our backpack, btw, ie all our gear- refusing to listen or stop when we called to her.
Putting herself, of course, even more at risk for an asthma attack.
The only one who could potentially catch up with her was Perry, but sending Perry solo after her? Not the best idea. We did separate, Perry and I being the faster pair went as fast as we could, while dh and Linnea walked at a speedy but not breakneck pace.
Perry and I finally got to a point where we were only two switchbacks behind her, I called for her to stop, that this was stupid and dangerous, and then the hiking gods, she stopped. Because we were will into the frozen zone, with icy patches on the trail and I detest ice and I detest even more having to go fast on ice. So we caught up with her, and we waited, AC between sobbing and sullen silence -I did apologise, btw, not that she listened- until dh and Linnea caught up.
Dh does not yell at the kids in a serious way often, but when he does? Oh it has impact! The lecture he gave her was epic. Since she's taking Outdoor Ed at school, he also related it to that, and I do hope the god damn fucking inhaler is in the pack next time. I must add that I used to have a spare in the hiking backpack, but she took it for gym one day and never replaced it. But it wasn't just not bringing the inhaler, it was hauling ass up the trail solo, not listening to us telling her to stop.
Anyhow. That, however, was that.
Considering where we were on the trail, we decided to go on up to the lake. We'd already done the hard part, AC at full speed, so hey, may as well.
It ended up being a nice hike. Yeah, there were the three families with a bunch of kids who were completely rude and who tossed trash everywhere (I filled my pockets...), but overall, it ended up being a very nice hike, and a fun one.
We also saw some grey jays. They are so funny, they show up as soon as you do, in small groups, and sorta fly in closer and closer to see what they can nab!
My only regret is that I should have initially said we were going to Ollalie Lake, not Talapus. We could have made it there, it's in our range, but having said Talapus was our destination, there is no way, no how the kids would agree to anything further!
Anyhow, some photos.
The "We Were Here!" shot.
Talapus Lake from the outflow area.
Linnea by the water.
Reflections...
As always, all the photos are in the set on Flickr.
Distance: 4 miles.
Elevation gain: about 1200 ft.
Wow. That could have easily turned into a catastrophe of a hike...
This is an easy hike, we've done it several times before (at least two with kids), so we know the terrain reasonably well. It's a pretty hike, nothing extraordinary, but it's out, it's a lake, and there are grey jays. I love grey jays. They're also called "camp robbers" and one snatched a cookie or some such from Perry's hands when he was in the backpack years ago, to our laughter and poor baby Perry's utter outrage. Anyhow.
It was a very cold morning -26F here at the house- so we expected to be hiking in temps around freezing. Spent much prep time making sure all the kids had appropriate gear and layering etc.
Remember this hike to Glacier Vista when I wrote, Note about AC and her asthma inhaler, and knee braces. When we ask her, "Do you have your inhaler?" that means "is your inhaler on your body, or in the backpack to be used if need be"?, It does not mean, "Did you use your inhaler?" Despite going over this in detail on just about every single freaking hike we've been on this year, she does not seem to get it, and left with car without her braces or her inhaler. It's not that she's ever really needed it, it is that she should have it in case she does need it.
Yesterday, she was sitting in the car, while the rest of us ran around doing last minute prep, and I asked if she had her inhaler. She said something that confirmed that she'd heard the question, and I went on to do something else.
The hike is, as I said, relatively easy, and while the elevation gain is average for us, it's a gentle slope all the way up. Yay, right? Maybe at one point. At this point, a gentle slope means we pick up the pace and book up the hill.
Which we did. And I heard AC's telltale cough.
And found out the little brat didn't have her inhaler. It wasn't at the car. In fact, she hasn't used it since her backpacking trip... no wonder she's been having a hard time at gym.
I was so pissed. I engaged in some Very Bad Parenting. Very bad.
Suffice it to say that it degenerated into a fight, because I wanted her to accept responsibility, she just blamed me and everyone else in the world, I got pissed, I got pissed with dh for telling me to calm down and not yelling at her, AC said something nasty to me, I snapped, and said something mean in return, and she got really angry, took off on the trail -up the trail- at top speed.
Umm... Yeah, her top speed, even as out of shape as she was, is higher than ours. And she refused to stop, kept on climbing. We were, quite frankly, going to go back to the car. But away she went -with our backpack, btw, ie all our gear- refusing to listen or stop when we called to her.
Putting herself, of course, even more at risk for an asthma attack.
The only one who could potentially catch up with her was Perry, but sending Perry solo after her? Not the best idea. We did separate, Perry and I being the faster pair went as fast as we could, while dh and Linnea walked at a speedy but not breakneck pace.
Perry and I finally got to a point where we were only two switchbacks behind her, I called for her to stop, that this was stupid and dangerous, and then the hiking gods, she stopped. Because we were will into the frozen zone, with icy patches on the trail and I detest ice and I detest even more having to go fast on ice. So we caught up with her, and we waited, AC between sobbing and sullen silence -I did apologise, btw, not that she listened- until dh and Linnea caught up.
Dh does not yell at the kids in a serious way often, but when he does? Oh it has impact! The lecture he gave her was epic. Since she's taking Outdoor Ed at school, he also related it to that, and I do hope the god damn fucking inhaler is in the pack next time. I must add that I used to have a spare in the hiking backpack, but she took it for gym one day and never replaced it. But it wasn't just not bringing the inhaler, it was hauling ass up the trail solo, not listening to us telling her to stop.
Anyhow. That, however, was that.
Considering where we were on the trail, we decided to go on up to the lake. We'd already done the hard part, AC at full speed, so hey, may as well.
It ended up being a nice hike. Yeah, there were the three families with a bunch of kids who were completely rude and who tossed trash everywhere (I filled my pockets...), but overall, it ended up being a very nice hike, and a fun one.
We also saw some grey jays. They are so funny, they show up as soon as you do, in small groups, and sorta fly in closer and closer to see what they can nab!
My only regret is that I should have initially said we were going to Ollalie Lake, not Talapus. We could have made it there, it's in our range, but having said Talapus was our destination, there is no way, no how the kids would agree to anything further!
Anyhow, some photos.
The "We Were Here!" shot.
Talapus Lake from the outflow area.
Linnea by the water.
Reflections...
As always, all the photos are in the set on Flickr.
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Date: 9 Nov 2011 02:06 (UTC)