Camping in St. Charles Canyon

We had a great time camping in St. Charles canyon from July 21-23rd.  It was fun to explore a new place we have never been to.   St. Charles canyon is just to the East of St. Charles, Idaho, which is located on the North East side of Bear Lake.  

We went with some friends in our ward, the Fowles family.  We were glad our kids had such a great time together!   

One memorable event was the first morning when we went to the Minnetonka cave.  This is at the end of the canyon, about 10 miles in.   It was a really neat place!    We enjoyed seeing all kinds of formations in the cave.   There were over 800 steps to go up or down during the tour, which was a lot for Heidi, but Aaron helped her along.  Jared got to ride with me.  

The kids waiting to go into the cave.  

Standing in front of the "seven dwarfs" stalamites.   So cool! 

Later that evening, we went down to Bear Lake and found a spot on the beach.  It was a beautiful day- not a cloud in the sky.   The water was so high at the lake that there is a lot less beach.  The advantage was that we didn't have to walk very far to get down to the water, and the beach was nice and sandy, not full of weeds.  But, it was quite crowded.

Heidi making a castle.  Can you tell she enjoyed the licorice?

Jared enjoyed playing in the sand, a new discovery of late.  

Erika and Emilyanne building.  

It was with mixed emotions that we decided this would probably be the last trip with the tent trailer.  This trailer is one I slept in growing up and it has been great for our family.  We have used it for over 5 years, now.  It is very roomy and in good shape.  The only problem is that the chain broke on one side just after we got it and so we have had to "jimmy-rig" it and put boards on the side to hold it up.  Then, on our last  campout we realized that the chain on the working side is starting to go and we were worried it may not go up this time.  Fortunately, it did go up.  It has been a great trailer- good memories!!  

The kids just chillin'

I guess Jared decided not to start walking until AFTER camping season- just my luck.  
He likes crawling in the dirt way too much!

Some of my favorite memories from the trip were:   Sitting around the campfire with the adults after the kids had gone to bed,  playing games with the kids,  having the kids do a "show" for the adults, which turned out being a husband-wife gameshow,  the kids having scooter races around the loop,  doing a treasure hunt with the kids.