Devil's Lake part deux

The bluff that we barely managed to climb up and get back down!

We decided to go for a short hike after breakfast on Thursday. Our plan was to be done in time for lunch, have a picnic lunch on the beach, hike again, then let Luciana swim. Mark looked at the map and selected a trail that promised to be scenic and was fairly short. There are many bluffs, mostly made of rock. We took the appropriate amount of water for our short hike and started up the trail. After just a short time, the trail changed from walking on flat ground in the woods to climbing up an enormous, rocky bluff with irregular "steps" carved from the large rocks that comprised the bluff. This was fairly treacherous in spots, not to mention the thigh burn after climbing up like this for well over an hour. We realized at this point that we were not even half way up, and had long since completed the short .5 mile distance the trail was supposed to be. It was at that point we realized that the trail's distance was "as the crow flies", not the actual distance that one would walk. Water was becoming quite precious at this point--even warm! We climbed up further, taking frequent small rests to stop and look at the gorgeous scenery below. We ran into a school group that was climbing a sheer facing about halfway up. These outlooks were not for the faint at heart, as there were no guard rails or protection from the edge. There were some beautiful views. Hours later, we had still not reached the top, so we knew that we weren't even at the half way point! L was whining at this point that she was tired and didn't want to climb anymore "steps". I was whining on the inside. We were all tired. Close to the top, we went through an area called "Devil's Doorway", which was very cool. We ran into a couple of guys who were climbing this large structure, with their two dogs waiting at the bottom. One of the guys yelled down that the dogs were friendly and not to worry about them, so of course we had to stop an visit with the pups--an exceptionally large husky and a black lab. We had a nice little visit with them, caught our breath, got a furry critter fix, and continued upward. I truly cannot believe that L. kept going! Seeing the dogs seemed to recharge her. I can't think of any other child who would endure such a difficult, long climb with such good spirits. We ran out of water shortly after we reached the top (FINALLY!) and started back down. While we hoped the climb down would be a lot easier than the climb up, it wasn't quite as easy as we thought. It was certainly less of a thigh burner, but it was very slippery and quite dangerous. We finally made it back to level ground, well past lunchtime. For all the bad stuff, though, it was a beautiful hike and we had a great time together. It would have been much better, though, had we known how long/far/difficult it would be, so we could have been properly prepared and equipped.

After that, we all agreed that we would not hike any more that day. We had a late lunch and then headed to the beach. It was in the low 70's and much, much too cool for us to swim. L was determined and didn't think it was too cold at all, so we headed to the lake. She had loads of fun swimming, catching minnows in her net (never removing them from the water of course, but thrilled to actually see them swimming around in her net), collecting shells, and building several structures out of sand and rock. We enjoyed sitting on the beach watching her play and reading a bit. Each time she caught minnows in her net, she called for us to come see them. One time she called me, and as I was getting up she yelled that she had a brown slug on her hand that she couldn't get off. Before I took off running toward her, M & I looked at each other, clearly with the same thought: oh god eeeewww, don't let it be what I think it is! Sure enough, it was a leech. Eeeww.

I tried to pull it off, flick it off, slide it off--no luck. I called Mark over, hoping he knew more about leeches and leech removal than I did. He didn't. I wasn't sure if part of it could stay in her and cause problems or not, and didn't know what to do. At this point, she screamed that it was biting her and it really hurt. Mark went running to get a subscription card from the magazine he had been reading, hoping to slide it under it and get the leech off. My baby yelled again in pain, and I picked up a flattened reed off the sand, slid it underneath, and was able to "break the seal" and flick it back into the water. She just had a small chunk missing from her hand where the little bugger was snacking. Now here is just one of the many things that is so cool about L. She looked at her wound, asked me a few questions about leeches (to which I gave my usual answer, "I don't know. We'll have to look it up.", and ran back into the same water she just saw me flick that leech into. She continued to play as if nothing had happened.

We stayed until dinner, when we returned to our campsite. We finished up with dinner just before it got dark. Then it was time for ghost stories by the campfire and cuddles again. After we got L asleep in the tent, we came back out to enjoy the campfire for a couple of hours. Our raccoon friends from the previous night returned to visit us. It was a cloudless night, so the stars were amazing! We had a perfectly adventurous camping trip as a whole!