My Little Hiker

A young hiker on the Kautz Creek Trail, Mount

Rainier National Park.

Backpacking with your kids can be so rewarding, especially if they are truly enjoying the experience.  This image of my son was taken on his second backpack, a trip up to Indian Henry's Hunting Ground in Mount Rainier National Park.

We approached Indian Henry's via the Kautz Creek Trail, which admittedly was much longer than I remembered (I've always snuck in via the Tahoma Creek route).  It was a tiresome day for him, but he never got down - what a trooper!

Camp at Devil's Dream was a welcome reward for him, and allowed him to rest up for our evening adventure - a photography excursion back up to Indian Henry's.  Oh, did I say photography excursion?  Well, maybe for one of us.  But for the other it was learning that frogs exist in those tarns and could be fun to try and catch!  He was never actually successful, but that didn't matter.

My son is 12 now, and has outgrown these hiking boots many times over.  But the memories of the earlier years still put a smile on my face.

This image was recently licensed to appear as a full page layout in a book being published in Spain.  Fun to be able to share the memory with so many others!