Priest Lake 4th of July, 2026

 Our annual Priest Lake July 4th camping weekend was a success!

When we scheduled this weekend back in January, our regular site showed as not available, so we had to branch out to a new site.

And we now have a favorite camp site: #44. It is east facing, so it doesn't get the afternoon sun, has it's own long, sandy beach, is disconnected from other sites and people, and is in the shade by 11am.

Fajitas for dinner on day 1

Owen chops wood for the fire

All the hammocks for the kids- no tents except for Dad, Mom, Emily

Day 1: Emily is READY to get in the water! It was 65 degrees. 

Site 44

Kellen and Dad chop up wood for the fires

We found a deer on the island while we were boating around.

We've never seen large game on the island before.

Kai caught, cleaned, and cooked a fish for this Fishing Merit Badge

Fish tails taste like pork rinds- according to Kai

Owen caught a couple fish, too!

Emily, Mom, Dad around the campfire late late LATE at night: 10:30(ish). That's how late it has to be to get really dark

Marshmallows and colored flames, but not at the same time.

Can you see the evil face in the fire?

On a hike around the island- we found a whole and complete spider web, complete with spider.

Owen and Dad relaxing on the island hike while Emily, Kellen, and Kai look for the geocache

Kellen caught, cleaned, and cooked fish for his Fishing Merit Badge, also.

Emily can't get enough fishing.

Dad helps.

Kellen (solo), Emily, and Dad on the paddle boards

Catching frogs

The silly faces of camping

(Kellen and Emily)

On July 3rd, the Northern Lights were out for a show (east side Kalispell Island east facing)

Dad coming in from an early morning fishing expedition

Owen on the paddle board

boating fun on a new tube

Dad drives the boat- and does a marvelous job doing it

Owen and Emily go for it together on the tube.

Emily is getting more and more brave.

We brought the Zup board and Owen had a go on it

4th of July fireworks night- heading out at 9:30pm

The boys play games as we wait for the sun to go down.

The adventures of bunny continue...

Bunny enjoys the boat and a seat at the campfire.

She does ALL the fun things!

Family Backpacking Dworshak Reservoir, ID

 Dworshak Reservoir is about 2 hours away, south of Spokane, in Idaho.

Ryan did some looking around and found a hike that was just about our level: about 4 miles in with some climbs, but not too difficult and steep.

On our day in, we had breakfast in the morning but didn't have lunch.

That was a mistake.

Never skip a meal when backpacking- especially if it's at the beginning of the season.

But we made it through and oh, were we glad when the campsite came into view.

It was a first come, first serve campsite and there was noone in sight.

In fact, for the entirety of the trip we didn't see ANYONE on the trail we were on. And at night the lake was SUPER quiet. It was just lovely.

And not too many bugs. In fact, there were hardly any mosquitos! But it was pretty windy.

One afternoon the wind came up and when Emily stood up out of her chair, the chair just blew right over the cliff and into the lake. Along with Mom's phone. That was a sad day. It killed the phone right along with all the pictures of the hike so far. Boo.

But we overall had a fun time together as a family- the boys slept in their hammocks, we had enough to eat, the boys planned and made some family meals, homemade freeze dried food for the win!

Bunny, of course, came with us and had a prime seat right in the front watching everyone come up behind her.

Fishing was a success

Kellen caught some sun fish

Who needs shoes in the wild?

At the end of our hike- everyone is glad to see the finish of the trail.

It was a warm morning!