Shealor Lake Pack Trip 2006

The kids paddling around on Shealor Lake.

We just returned from our backpacking trip with the kids to Shealor Lake in the El Dorado National Forest. We finished getting our packs together Thursday night and were able to leave Friday morning at 8:30. We reached the trailhead around 1:30pm and after having a snack we loaded on our packs. The kids were so excited to be wearing their new water packs. I had shopped around at REI for something small with a hip strap and the only packs they had were ones with water reservoirs. I've never dealt with these before (they're hell to clean) but the kids think they are the coolest thing. They sipped all the way up the trail.

K and C with their new sippy packs.

While the kids carried their clothes, water and a small snack, Kevin and I carried the rest. In addition to our usual stuff we had the kids sleeping bags and pads, as well as their life jackets strapped to our packs. In our youthful backpacking days, we used to load up our two dogs with 15 to 25 lbs each. They would carry ropes, tarps, dog food, trash... anything we didn't care about getting wet. And we would only have to carry 30 lbs or so, each. The dogs are no longer with us, and we can't load the kids up like that (yet), but they had a good 8 lbs each. Our packs were more in the 40+ lb range. It wasn't too bad though since we only hiked in 1.5 miles. And our loads always get lighter after we eat the food and burn the stove fuel.

Kevin with a full load. By the way, the lake was completely fished out. We never saw any jumping.

The kids were troopers. They marched in and out with no complaint. In fact, K was a total chatterbox whenever she hit a downhill. She would make up names for certain things: "Hook hanger tree" where they hung their hats on a break. "Slip-jump" when you start slipping on a rock and jump to save yourself. "Alligator rock". Kevin hiked ahead to get us a nice campsite at the lake. He set down his pack at a really nice one and then came back up the trail to make sure we were doing okay.

K and I hiking in.

The lake was beautiful, and we had it all to ourselves for the rest of Friday and Saturday morning until around 9am when a Boy Scout troop marched in. It was incredibly peaceful, and the water was cool and refreshing. The granite sloped right into the lake and made a nice clean place to sit in the sun or wade into the water. A generous hiker had carried in an inflatable kayak (with paddles!) earlier in the summer and left it at the lake for anyone to use. We made good use of it and paddled all over the lake.

Padding the kayak around the lake the first day. What a treat!

The night-time stars were amazing. The kids stayed up to see the big dipper and Polaris. Saturday night we saw the most amazing shooting star. It left a long trail across the night sky. After that the kids didn't want to go to bed, hoping they would see another. But going to bed was pretty easy after a day of hiking and playing on the granite. The kids were asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows, literally.

Sipping morning hot chocolate lakeside.

I love backpacking for many reasons. Everything you need is on your back and you can go anywhere your feet can take you. It's clean camping because most backpacking destinations are not so highly traveled and the campsites are neater. The food always tastes good. The scenery is outstanding. We could look out our tent window and see this incredible lake, set in a granite bowl. Plus sweeping vistas from the ridgetops as we hiked in and out. And the kids were hugely entertained by the setting we were in, and rarely even played with the one toy each they packed in.

Our tent nestled in the granite, in the evening. You can see our food hanging in the tree to the right. That speck above the food bags is a pie plate we learned to tie on to keep the rodents from snacking.

We ate pretty good on this trip. Our first dinner was fusilli noodles boiled with broccoli, and added fried proscuitto bits, grated parmesan, and sun dried tomatoes. Our second dinner was shallots, canned chicken, and couscous. The kids each had their own plastic bowl to eat from and Kevin and I shared the rest from the pot. We brought cookies and made popcorn for dessert. Breakfast was oatmeal one morning and mashed potatoes with bacon the next. We snacked on nuts, dried fruit, goldfish crackers and other stuff all day long. We finished up just about everything, so my pack was much lighter for the hike out. I was saving weight in my pack and only packed one pot for all of our cooking, and I was happy to see that was all we needed.

Kevin rehanging our food rope after C thought it would be interesting to yank it down.

Each night after dinner we hung our food off a limb of a large tree about 100 yards from the tent. We probably didn't need to do this, but to be on the safe side we did. We've dealt with bears while backpacking in Yosemite and it's a drag chasing off a bear that has torn into your food and slimed everything with bear spit. Usually we carry a bear barrel (a special plastic container that bears cannot open) but I needed to spare the 3 lbs, plus food for 4 wouldn't all fit in it. Hanging works well if there is a large tree with a good limb nearby, and you can get everything up before dark. We didn't see any bears during this trip, however, something LARGE was cracking tree limbs in the forested area to the right of our campsite.

Loaded and ready (but not willing) for the hike back to civilization.

K and I hiking up the ridge on the way out.

After we finished our hike out, we put some clean clothes on that we had stashed in the car and went over to nearby Kit Carson Lodge at Silver Lake for ice cream and cold Cokes before heading back down from the mountains. Silver Lake looks like a nice destination too, where there is boating and camping. The lodge also has cabins you can rent, although they appeared to be showing their age some. After our nice campsite at Shealor Lake, everything else pales by comparison. (Well, except maybe the Ahwahnee Hotel at Yosemite.) Needless to say, I'm going to enjoy my bed tonight!