Hawkes Family Reunion

Thursday, July 22nd

We went to Tear Drop Lake to meet up with some of Andrew's extended family to go have fun in the water for the day. We brought a few tubes, canoes, and even some large water storage jugs to make a raft. We had a blast and I wish I had taken my camera to show a few pictures but I didn't. I kept hearing all of the uncles and cousins say how excited they were for the hike the following day up to survey peak. I had previously planned on not going since Andrew has told me many times his experiences on the "Uncle's Hike" and I was thinking that was not for me but I thought back on all my own experiences of hiking with my mom Aunt Elizabeth and cousins and thought it would be worth doing just for the adventure.

And an adventure it was!!!

Friday, July 23rd

Fortunately the caravan came right past our house to go up to the trail head. It was around 7:30 am and we had already arranged for Andrew's mom to watch the girls. We drove East on the Reclamation road for several miles and then turned off to find our trail head. We found it and at around 9 am, at least 20 of us came filing out of our vans, pickups and cars. It was going to be a big group and I was excited since we could chat on our way up the mountain. We doused ourselves with insect repellent, made sure we had enough water and then headed out.

We laughed and chatted with the cousins and uncles. I was one of three married women on the hike and the only one who had given birth to children, so when things got tough I used that as my excuse. :) Actually the beginning of the trail was perfect, a little hilly but not too bad and the scenery was gorgeous!

We even crossed a few creeks, this one happened to be the largest of them all and a few of us decided to just take our shoes and socks off and wade through the frigid water. Others decided to precariously walk across on unstable rocks. I think it was Uncle Doug and Uncle Grant that fell in. 

Soon after this we started going up the switchbacks because the terrain got steeper. Uncle Grant had informed us all that the hike was around 12 miles 6 in 6 back so I could tell that we were getting around 6 miles in and thought that our destination was at the top of the switchbacks......

but we got to the top and looked around and it was beautiful for sure but NOT our destination. So a little reluctantly I kept going. By the way, I informed Andrew earlier that he was not to leave me behind so thanks to him I kept going....

We stopped to rest awhile at a most likely leech infested pond high on the mountain top. Not very deep but I was not about to wade in that mess. Uncle Kelly, Ethan and Jason decided they couldn't resist it so they jumped in.

Then it was time to hike the last leg of the hike. By far the worst!

It really was beautiful but I kept looking up at what we had to climb. We had ditched the trail by now and were just headed through the brush.

Uncle Grant and Uncle Jim probably making plans for next years hike. The 30 miler! jk

This is looking down. It reminded me of snowboarding at Brighton or Targhee but of  course this was the middle of summer and we were going up instead of down!

A view to the side. I probably took a break every five steps or so. I wish I had a picture of Uncle Grant and Uncle Jim pulling on their pants, trying to use their arms to pick up their legs to go up the hill. Kind of funny.

But despite the strenuous 45 degree uphill climb WE MADE IT!!!

The Survey Peak plaque, kind of anti-climactic but the view was amazing!

After we rested for a bit, it was time to find the time capsule the family had left up there 15 years ago. Now if you think about 15 years, that's a lot of time and when you are all trying to remember EXACTLY where that time capsule was buried, it's bound to be hard to find.

This is what I kept hearing, "No it was 16 steps towards that big peak in the distance!" or "No, I could have sworn it was 18 steps to the south of the plaque towards the Grand Teton" or "Somebody moved the dang plaque!" or "Why didn't anyone bring a shovel? Gosh darn it!"

We searched and searched and dug (with rocks and sticks) and dug. We even had a prayer..... but NO time capsule. Darn it!!

I'm not sure why but we decided to leave another time capsule for the next hike up to Survey Peak. This time we wrote down the GPS coordinates, took pictures, wrote it down, and even video documented where it was buried. Grant told us to remember, "It is 14 size 13 shoe steps away from this here pole."  or was is 13 size 14s? Whatever!

This is Andrew and some of his cousins that are around his age.

Andrew, Tyler Hawkes, Bryant Hawkes, Josh Hawkes, Robert Hawkes, and Jared Hawkes.

(I didn't realize they all had the last name Hawkes until I had typed them all)

We started down and the sun was leaving us. It made for a beautiful hike down the mountain and of course I felt much better but my toes were getting crammed into the front of my shoes, going down that mountain face.

The last mile I just decided to take off running. It was dusk and I didnt' want to be walking in the dark so I decided to just run for it. Had I been thinking at all before doing that I would have stayed put but as soon as I found myself in the middle of the woods by myself at dusk my mind started wandering. It reminded me of Rabbit in Winnie the Pooh when he is out in the woods by himself and everything turns scary, every noise, every dark spot. I could have sworn I was going to get chased by a bear! But knowing there was a group already at the car I just decided to keep running. I probably ran a mile and it was good to see the group already at the car. They cheered me on as if I had just run a marathon, which is exactly what it felt like. So you might be wondering how long the hike actually was, because I was! So get this, we hiked a total of 18 miles that day!!!! CRAZY but totally worth it! I will go on another hike with those guys in a heartbeat!

Saturday, July 24th.

We did the Ceremonial attending of the 24th of July Parade in St. Anthony.

Got lots of candy, saw a lot of floats. And I recovered from the hike the day before. We also went to G and G's house for a fun BBQ with everyone, we went to the park and played softball and even played Karnaxis until 1 in the morning. It was an awesome reunion. Thanks Hawkes family for such a fun time! We love you guys!