Four Part Harmony

Thought I’d make a quick post with some pictures from Milo’s first hike last weekend, out along the Clackamas River.

We hiked a short section of the Clackamas River Trail.

The weather was beautiful, and neither Nicki or I had ever been on the trail (not that we could recall anyway, though we’ve both spent quite a bit of time out around there). Several kinds of berries were ripe so we pretty much snacked the whole walk. The blackcap raspberries were the tastiest, but the thimbleberries (my personal favorite) were also good. There were also dewberries, trailing blackberry, salmonberry, and red huckleberry. I feel like I might be forgetting some too. There were a lot of berries, and all native too!

Anna of course had fun. She especially liked the wild raspberries and the salmonberries. She rode in the pack most of the way, but got out and walked here and there. Our pace slowed considerably when she was walking, but we had nowhere in particular to be. Milo was pretty calm and quiet the whole hike. He slept pretty much the whole time we were walking, then woke up when we stopped for lunch. I have to think that being snugged up in a sling with the sounds of a forest and a river all around you would be pretty comforting at that age. He seemed pretty content.

We ended up hiking out about 2 miles or so, and stopping for a lunch/snack on the side of the river (where we took that first family photo). I took a brief dip in the icy cold river, and then Anna and I kept our eyes out for boats coming by. There were a handful of people coming down in rafts and kayaks, which fascinated Anna to no end. It would have been a great day for a boat ride. Anna’s pretty excited about boats and kayaks and canoes, so we’re all looking forward to when we can get her into a lifejacket and out into a canoe somewhere.

Since we really didn’t get many pictures on the hike where you could actually see Milo’s face, here’s one Nicki took this morning. He’s growing and changing daily, I had forgotten how fast this happens.