Yurt Trip

So it's been a while since I've posted, so expect a few back-timed posts over the next little bit. In the meantime, here's a little post on our most recent adventure!

We decided several months back that we wanted to go on a trip and stay in a yurt.  For those unfamiliar with the word (as I was shortly before we decided to go...), a yurt is a Mongolian style domed tent/cabin.  This yurt was furnished with cooking utensils/pans/dishes, a wood stove (and wood/axe) for heat, propane cook stove/lamps, and foam mattresses, but we'd need to bring everything else.  We were told that the snow would suffice for drinking/wash water.

We planned our 3-day trip either before we new about the new little one were are expecting, or shortly after we found out.  At that time, if we knew about the pregnancy, we didn't fully consider the implications of camping/hiking when pregnant, and with a toddler.  We booked our trip for the end of March, knowing full well that there would likely be snow, and that we may have to pull a sled in or use snow-shoes.  We also knew in advance that the short trail in was 1.4 miles, and the longer one an additional mile.  We would have to pack in our personal belongings (including bedding), food, propane, and toddler on our backs. In the days proceeding, we discovered that there wasn't much snow (not enough to pull a sled on, and possibly not enough to melt for drinking/washing). This meant we would also need to pack in water. Yikes!

We pulled into the parking lot at the base of the trail, and Kai was having a ball splashing in the run-off from the melting snow. He promptly fell into the ice-cold water, so we stripped him down think we'd need to change all his clothes. Luckily, he wasn't that wet, and it dried pretty quickly.

As inexperienced yurt-ers, and inexperienced campers-with-a-toddler, we definitely could have made some adjustments with how we packed, but we unfortunately did not discover this until we were about half-way up the mountain!  It took us about 3 hours from parking lot to yurt.  I started with a light pack (pillows, sleeping bags, small odds/ends) considering I was 31 weeks along, and the last thing we wanted was to have me go in to labor early in the middle of the woods!  Tyler took the one with Kai and other heavier items. We left about 1/3 of our stuff in the car, and planned to make a second trip for it. Tyler spent much of this time shuttling back and forth picking up items we had dumped on the side of the trails (making more than double the amount of hiking to get our stuff up), while I spent much of the time trying to entertain Kai, who unfortunately did NOT like riding in the backpack as much we had hoped.

However, once we arrived, Kai had fun exploring the cupboard.  He quickly discovered where the knives were stored.










Once those were moved the higher shelf, he moved on to the rest of the silverware and small bowl.










 We packed in a couple yogurts, so we could eat "Yellow Yoplait yogurt in our yurt".

Kai loved looking over the railing of the deck and playing with the tongs.












However, he did NOT love sleeping.  He cried inconsolably for much of both nights we were there.  We did manage to get him to take one nap the second day.  It was probably the most glorious part of our whole trip ;)

We drew/wrote about our experience in the log book so others could laugh at our misfortunes. Tyler drew the yurt and me, and I drew him and Kai, and all our stuff :)

We woke up our last day, April 1, to find SNOW.  Well played, Mother Nature, well played.  The only good thing about it was that it froze the snow patches left on the trail from before more solidly so that we didn't sink in as much. It did make them a bit slicker though. I only wiped our once, haha.

After moping for a short while about the cruel April Fool's joke we were experiencing, we packed up and headed back down.  We arrived at the base only 45 minutes after leaving the yurt--a much improved time from our hike up the mountain. Here we are with all our stuff, minus the food and water. We managed to get in all down in one trip. It helped that Kai was exhausted and more than happy to ride the whole way.

Kai loved being home, and we may make a hiker out of him yet! However, he'll need to grow into his Camelback first :)