Family Hike Night - Camel's Back Park

This weeks family hike night was at Camel's Back Park in Downtown Boise. The weather was a little overcast and chilly, but Chris was on call every evening except one, so it was a take it or you can't do it kind of situation. It was probably nicer to not have that hot, blazing Idaho sun on us. We've heard lots about Camel's Back. It is supposed to be great for mountain biking too. When we pulled up there were TONS of cars in the parking lot. Hmmmmm - not exactly our kind of scene, but we were there for family hike night, so let's do it! Once we got out we realized tons of the cars were just bikers meeting up for group rides - road bikers and mountain bikers. There is a area with a beach volleyball set up. It was being used when we got there and when we left - which is nice to see. There were also tennis courts, a huge grassy area, and a playground. I had been told there were tons of pregnancy friendly trails behind the park - but I had no idea which was the front and which was the back. So we started with this....

This must be the camel's "back" - a very steep, sandy climb up.  At first we were looking for a trail that broke off of it, but I was feeling good so I decided to go for it.

A serious climb.  I figured there were some, ummm, exceptionally large people doing it so I could manage.  Took lots of breaks and eventually held onto the rope on the side for stability - it is a bit slippery towards the top.

View from the top of the other side.  So thooooooooose are the pregnancy friendly trails I was told about......

Ready to explore!

A quick look down before we headed off on a trail.

Lots of trails - all right in the middle of the city.

Mika always loves our hikes.

From this angle you can see why Boise - a generally dry area - got the name "City of Trees".

Beautiful wildflowers up there.

Papa and Little Lady posing among the flowers.

These were long and blowing in the wind - very pretty.

Mika always finds something good to smell....

Where did they go?

She actually sits and waits for me to catch up to her.

Happy doggy!

We ended the hike with some playtime at the park for little lady.  There were a number of teens "playing" there - school is already out here - but they were all being respectful and no foul language was being used.  One teen strolling by himself walked up to one group and asked "Do you guys want to go to church tonight?" - one of the teens responded "No, we're good, thanks for the offer though" - the guy responded "Okay, we're having a free cookout tonight so I figured I would ask".  It seemed like a totally normal exchange and the group didn't seem to think oddly of him for the offer.  Just not something you would see in Maryland - and when you think about it, that is unfortunate. 

Overall, this hike was not as exhausting as the Oregon Trail one, but we also didn't go for as long.  There were lots of different trails we could have taken but Little Lady had already seen that playground and wanted to get to it!  The next day I realized doing the steep climb was too much and I need to take it a bit easier.  The last sonogram showed the placenta previa had cleared up and was just low lying now, but it was a reminder to still take it easy.  Thinking maybe we'll try the Greenbelt next week.  Although - that is where the cougar was the other week, so maybe Chris will put that concealed carry permit to use.  In other fun news - a moose was also caught in Boise this week!  The excitement of the Boise life!!