We looked at areas close to home to limit time in the car. Also, since I wasn't really sure how the kids would handle hiking, I wanted a trail that didn't force any particular amount of miles to reach a feature (e.g. lake, river) to camp. Thus, the Lyons Creek trail fit the bill since it essentially parallels the creek and has nice large granite slabs scattered throughout for the kids to spread out and play on.
At the trailhead ready to go:
Sticks! Seriously, if I knew how much fun a kid could have with a stick, Christmas shopping would've been much cheaper last year:
"Eat my dust," is an understatement. These kids were literally running half the time:
The trail became RR tracks and these two hooligans were the trains clambering for the lead. "Choo choooo...all aboard":
After a mile or two we came to a perfect place for the kids to play:
"Fish!":
More sticks. This particular brute was the SS Minnow on its way to float down the waterfalls:
Easy does it:
They splashed around in the creek till sundown:
Camped back there in the trees a bit:
Home for the night. My son in the background building a "bear trap."
Rocks! Almost as cool as sticks:
"Dad, can we stay another night?!" Mission accomplished:
I'm really excited that he had such a blast because this is truly a game changer. I can already see long trips in the Sierra with him in the future. 