Taidnapam Camping Trip - Day 3 & 4

The next day I wanted to get out and move a bit. The last time we were here we hiked up to Cathedral Falls and I thought it would be nice to do that again. Michael and Robin were up for anything so they tagged along again. Thankfully the drive to the trail head is all on a one lane gravel road so I wasn't so worried about seatbelts since we were traveling about 8 mph. 

Right at the beginning of the trail there is this great overlook. It's so beautiful! 

Last year when we hiked this it was over 100 degrees out so this water felt amazingly refreshing. This time around it wasn't nearly that hot. 

Ella, Michael and Michael! 

It was even a bit chilly at times as you can see with Zeke wearing his pullover. 

Here's Cathedral Falls. You can't even see it. It was just a trickle. You can barely see Michael standing on the rock outcropping. That's where the falls hits. You can see that the rocks below are wet because it was like I said trickling down, but it wasn't enough to be able to really see it at all unless you were in just the right location with the light. 

Walking behind the where the falls is. 

Resting on their thrones. 

Last year this is where we stopped, but we decided to see where else the trail took us. 

We saw some more little water falls. 

And we could see and hear some bigger ones down below. 

We really were wanting to get down to the main river so we were keeping a lookout for a way down. 

Michael hiked down a bit to an area and saw that we could make it down. 

We ended up being able to get into the middle of the river and take a rest. I absolutely love this picture of everyone. Cousin Michael was the only one that didn't actually come over to the rock island, but he's still in the picture. It's just a cool shot! 

Behind where that picture was taken was this awesome fallen tree. I told Owen he should climb it. 

He was up there a ways! 

After climbing back up to the trail it was time to head back. I hadn't realized how far we'd come, but it end up being about 5.3 miles. It was a nice hike. 

 

By the time we got back we were hungry so we ate lunch. Around 4pm Michael wanted to head back over to the same creek we found last summer. Cousin Michael, Robin and Owen decided to hang back at the campsite. 

Michael packed along his Seahawks chair so I would have a nice place to sit and read in the river. The rock island I sat on last time had become a little overgrown by this bush that's on the left side of this picture. 

The water was much lower than it was last year. I think because last year it was so hot the snow melt was more. Last year Michael's legs were completely under water when he sat in that same location. 

The kids were jumping from rock to rock all down the river. 

I love letting them explore and have fun in nature. 

Michael was trying to convince each of the kids to get all the way wet. That water was cold!!! 

I was fine just sitting there reading my book. 

This cute girl was trying to get her body use to the cold! 

Zeke finally did it...he dunked his head! 

Michael found an even nicer location to sit on than his throne. Right behind him is little waterfall that spills over onto his back. He said it felt like a massage from jets...it was all bubbly. 

Mother nature all to ourselves! 

After a while Michael and Zeke decided to go all the way to the end of the river where it spills out into the reservoir. We knew it wasn't that far down. When they came back up it was time to pack up and head back to camp to make dinner. 

That night was more of the same...playing games, sitting around the fire and enjoying time with family. 

The next day the weather wasn't very nice it was definitely on the cooler side. I did want to go on a nice walk around the campground though. So Zeke, Michael and I set out to circumnavigate the grounds. 

We came over to fishing bridge to check it out. 

Here is the map that shows how the river flows into the different reservoirs. This is all part of the Tacoma Power Parks. Taidnapam is on the far right end of Riffe Lake and Mossy Rock is over the far left side of the lake. 

That last night it actually started to rain so we turned in earlier than usual. In the night I got woken up by something, but I couldn't tell what it was I just knew something was wrong. I was looking around in the trailer, but couldn't see anything. The whole time we'd been camping at Taidnapam I had left the window by my head a little bit unzipped. I was trying to look outside to see if I could see anything and then I heard a whisper....mama.....mama. It was Jackson and he freaked me out. They didn't tie the rainfly correctly and he woke up with his sleeping bag all wet. In the middle of the night Michael had to get up and lay the dining table down into a bed so Jack could sleep inside. Lesson learned...tie the rainfly down correctly next time. ;) 

Of course the next morning it was still damp out so we had to pack everything up and it was all wet. Per my MO I didn't take any pictures on the last day of camp. When we got home we had to unpack and then reset up everything so it could properly dry. Our front yard looked hilarious! 

It was so much fun camping with Michael & Robin that we are going with them again later in September. 

Taidnapam Camping Trip - Day 1 & 2

Just day and a half after getting home from Spokane we were back on the road. This time to Taidnapam to go camping with Michael's cousins...Michael and Robin. 

Our trip to the campground took about twice as long as it should have. Not because of traffic, but because we had so many stops along the way. Our first stop was at CFA to eat lunch, then we went to Ga-Ga & Pa's to pick up the inflatable paddleboard I had ordered online and accidentally had shipped to their house. After that we made a stop at Bill & Christina's house to pick up their two kayaks to take on the trip. There was a mix up involved with that so it took a bit longer than we though. In the end it was A-Okay and we got to the campground just a little bit after we were hoping too! 

Setting up camp this time went SO much better than it has been in the past. It's so nice that the kids can be so helpful and it's even better when they don't argue! Jack and Owen are setting up their tent. 

Ella's helping put together the side table that Daddy uses next to his Blackstone. 

Daddy and Zeke are working on putting together my upper shelves in the kitchen. 

Michael cooking up some yummy BBQ chicken. Since we had that small issue of undercooked meat at Oasis this time he used his thermometer to make sure each piece was done. 

Setting the table! 

Time to relax!! Yes please!!! 

Michael and Robin's site was right next to our. These sites are more woodsy than Copalis, but there was a nice little trail between the sites. We had a nice time playing Five Crowns after dinner. 

The next day we packed up a picnic lunch and the truck with all our floating devises. Owen had already aired up the paddleboard....he loves paddleboards. I had bought a small two person inflatable boat back in 2019 thinking we might use it on our camping trip, but we never did. We brought that along as well. 

Michael and Robin's tent is actually attached to their truck so it's hard to go anywhere ones they set up camp. We decided to head over to Mossy Rock State Park because the access to the water is way better. There honestly is no easy way to get into Riffe Lake from Taidnapam since the water level in the reservoir is so low. 

The state park was about a 39 minute drive away. At first Michael and Robin were going to ride in the back of the truck, but we didn't feel good about that. Besides the back was filled with so much already it would have been difficult for them to sit back there. So we squeezed 8 people into our 6 passenger truck. Owen, Jack, Michael and Robin were in the back. Michael, Ella, Zeke and I were in the front. On our way there we ended up having to stop twice to fix the straps. Once because the boats shifted and then another time because one of the straps just came off. Once we finally got that all straightened out we were on the road again. 

We were just talking and driving down HWY 12 doing 55 mph when my seatbelt locked up and started to dig into my throat. It was not comfortable because I was twisted in my seat to accommodate Zeke....he was sharing the seatbelt with me. The only way to unlock the seatbelt is to take it off, retract it in and then pull it out again. I unclicked the seatbelt and had it halfway retracted when I heard Michael say, "Oh deer" and then I saw movement on the driver side of the truck. It all happened so fast! Since I wasn't buckled I grabbed the top of the truck with my right hand while using my left hand as a seatbelt for Zeke. All the while I squeezed my eyes shut and screamed. I was just sure a deer was going to come through the windshield and that the airbags were going to go off. Michael immediately slammed on his breaks. But the deer hit us or we hit her. Michael was able to pull over to the side of the HWY so we could get out and inspect the damage to the vehicle and each other. 

 

The vehicle was bad, but honestly it could have been worse. Thankfully the deer didn't go through the windshield. She actually hit the truck, spun around and banged into the bummer before landing on the side of the road. 

Michael was taking pictures of the truck and then he went and checked on the deer. He didn't want her to suffer, but she was already dead.

 I was dealing with the kids. Zeke was shook up, but Ella was the worst. She saw the whole thing happen since she was sitting right next to Michael. She had so much adrenaline pulsing through her veins she was shaking like crazy...so was I. She also was super emotional about the deer. I held her and let her cry a bit.

Everyone in the back was fine even though only Owen had his seatbelt on. I didn't know that prior to the accident! I thought they were sharing seatbelts likes we were up front. Although Zeke and I didn't have ours on at the time of impact. So in all out of 8 people only 3 were belted in during the crash. Thank you Jesus for keeping us safe! 

Zeke just wanted to turn around and go back to the campground, but I was adamant that we continue on. We needed to make good memories and not just have this horrible thing ruin our whole day. 

Thankfully the truck was drivable and it didn't like there was any wrong mechanical all at it was just cosmetic.

So off to Mossy Rock we went. We got there without any more incidents. We did found out that we didn't have to pay to get into the park since we were staying at Taidnapam so that was cool. 

At first we parked up by the trees, but then we saw this handicap parking below and we asked if we could just unload down there so we didn't have to haul everything so far. They said that was just fine. So Michael pulled down there we unloaded and started packing it down to the beach. 

What looks like sand from afar and even in this picture isn't actually sand. It's just hard dirt. It use to be under the water when the reservoir was full. It's also the kind of dirt that is extremely slippery when it gets wet so getting down to the shoreline is challenging. 

 

So much so Michael was warning the kids about it while he walked down there and one minute he was standing and the next he was in the water. 

Us adults set up our chairs and basked in the sun while the kids had a blast on the water. 

Jack and Zeke had so much fun in the youth kayaks that we borrowed from the Kuch's. Owen of course was on the paddleboard the entire day. I did get in one of the youth kayaks at one point, but they really are make for youth. I was barely floating and I was sure I was going to tip over. 

Ella and I went out in the dingy and it was terribly difficult to steer. The paddles were not cooperating with me. 

Being out on the water meant I got some cute pictures of these kids. I love seeing them having so much fun. 

Jack crusin' out in the water!

Eventually Ella left me and got onto the paddleboard with Owen. Thankfully I finally was able to get back to shore. We found out later when Michael tried to go in the dingy that Jackson hadn't put in the rubber gaskets that hold the paddles in place. I knew that something was wrong! I'm not that horrible of a paddler. 

 

Owen also took me out on the paddleboard for a bit. It was so fun, but the water was a bit on the chilly side! 

After being there for hours we decided we needed to head out. It was going to take us a bit to get everything packed up, hauled up, put in the truck and then the almost 40 minute drive back to camp. Michael asked me to go get the truck and pull it down to the loading zone. I got to the truck opened it up, put the key in and it wouldn't start. The screen said there was a Start Fault Error or something like that. I turned off the radio and AC thinking it might me the battery, but that didn't work. Then I walked down to break the news. Michael and I walked back up to try to figure it out while Michael and Robin stayed with the kids. We were trying to look up online what exactly that error meant, but we had zero service.

I walked down to tell everyone we needed to haul everything up to the truck and come up with a game plan. One we got everything to the truck I decided to try walking closer to the ranger station to see if I could get any kind of service to call our insurance company. It was most likely going to take hours for a tow truck to get out there and the nearest friends that could help were at least 1.5 hours away. I finally was able to get on the phone with someone, but then I saw Michael flagging me down. Praise the Lord he got the truck started. How you might ask...he took the battery out of the fob and it worked. Not sure how that mattered, but the only thing we can think of is it had something to do with his dip in the water back when we fell in. Who knows, who cares...the truck started! 

On the way back we were on the lookout for the deer. We ended up finding it, but not in the last location we had seen it. Someone had come along and harvested the appendages so they had pulled it down the road a bit. I didn't really know that you could harvest road kill, but I guess it makes me feel good knowing she didn't die for nothing...she was able to feed a family. 

Back at the site we had dinner and then pulled out Michael's Pegs & Jokers boards and played that. 

Here's our campsite! When we were at Taidnapam last year we decided to walk around and see which site we liked the best. This site was awesome. It's so huge I'm almost surprised it not an ADA site. It's also super private with all that greenery on the left it blocks so much of the site. 

This is that area behind the greenery. So big and so nice and level. Definitely the site we are going to reserve every time we come here. 

It was a crazy exciting day and we are ever so grateful that no one was seriously injured and I'm so glad that we made good memories to help get pass the traumatic ones!