brother backpacking trip.

Every fall my brothers and I make time for a brother backpacking trip, well for the last two years at least. Last year we hiked to the top of Maple Mountain, also known by locals as Spanish Fork Peak. We set our camp up next to the pond at the base of the peak—the only water source that creatures would use for miles. It turned out to be an eventful night. We heard some large creatures footsteps close to the tent and then it to proceeded to slosh around in the pond next to us. We were convinced it was a bear. My youngest brother there was only 14 at the time and I was thinking of how I would explain to my mother that Anthony (affectionately known as Bones) was violently attacked and killed by a bear. Needless to say, all of us were dead quiet and were pretty scared. About 2 hours into the scare, we heard a loud bugle from the hillside above us. Turns out our bear was an Elk and it was mating season. This quenched our fears a bit, but we were all still on edge and it proved to be a mostly sleepless night.

This time around we thought we would go where the most threatening predator is a squirrel looking to steal your trail mix, Coyote Gulch. All of the brothers were there, minus Aaron, who is serving as a missionary in João Pessoa, Brazil. In his place was my cousin, Tim. The trip went down almost as I predicted. The boys were bouncing off the walls the first half, competing the entire time to see who could throw the frisbee or football the farthest or in the coolest way. Anthony won the award for best slide catch into the mud. The second half was the complete opposite, everyone was tired and hardly a word was said. All in all it was a great time and we hope to make this an annual tradition.