Pleasant Valley Camping

Summer Camping Trip #3 has been completed. We headed back to the same area where Owen had camped the previous week, over Chinook Pass. I had my eye on one particular campsite that I'd remembered from last year at the Pleasant Valley campground. I couldn't remember the exact number of the site, but checked online and all the sites were open so we didn't bother with reservations. I figured if my prize site was taken, we'd just stay somewhere else.

I've been less than impressed with our "summer" weather so far and have been craving hot sunshine, and as soon as we hit the top of the pass we saw nothing but blue sky! We arrived at Pleasant Valley and guess what: our gem of a campsite was empty. So we snatched it.

It sits in its own loop with two other campsites, and those were unoccupied. So we had the entire loop to ourselves along with our own huge wildflower meadow. A one-minute walk along a trail through that meadow took us to the American River. Absolutely perfect.

Before I go any further, check out this fine example of brotherly love:

We didn't do much our first day. Just got set up and wandered along the river. We were all pretty tired and didn't bother with a campfire that night, and ended up going to bed early. Which was good, because both boys decided to wake up early (as in 5:30am early) the next morning. We had breakfast and walked back down to the river where we played for a few hours. The dogs loved splashing around, and Owen and Logan threw about 500 rocks into the water. Okay, we all threw about 500 rocks into the water. Why on earth is that so much fun to do?

The sun was getting pretty hot so we headed back to our trailer to re-apply sunscreen. We decided it would be fun to pack up our cooler and have lunch someplace else, so we hopped in the truck and drove east to the Little Naches River cut-off road. I seriously love that river and remember some great times camping there in the past. We ended up driving all the way to the end of the road before turning back around and having our picnic lunch at Kaner Flat. We finished eating and drove to Hells Crossing to play in the river some more.

We headed back to the trailer for dinner and the boys were about ready for bed at that point. But Owen asked for a campfire, so we went ahead and lit a small one.

The next morning was our usual "final day" type of day. Quick breakfast, then Chris took the boys on a hike while I broke our camp down. The drive home was great and my mountain was out in all her glory. We considered stopping by Sunrise because I'd heard the avalanche lilies were in bloom, but we were tired and continued on home.

So once again, we had a great time away. We continue to love our little trailer and we're putting some serious miles on it. Wonder where we'll head to next :)