Earlier this week we went camping at a nice little campground at the base of Laramie Peak. We were going to leave Monday afternoon and then come back on Wednesday but Brennen woke up for good at 5:30 Monday morning so we decided to just get up and go. It took about 2 hours to get out there and after we set up camp and ate lunch we headed out on quite the hike to to top of the peak. We went from about 7,200 ft. clear up to over 10, 000 ft. and the hike is about 1/2 mile vertical and just over 5.5 miles to the top so we hiked 11 miles in about 6 hours. It was really steep and rocky and I was about ready to die half way up. Matt carried Brennen in the front pack while I carried the much lighter backpack. We ended up going a little overboard on the water so we filled up from the creek and it was probably the best water I’ve ever tasted. The view was absolutely beautiful from the top and made the hike worth it. Pictures can never quite do it justice.
Half way up. Matt was such a trooper for carrying Brennen the whole way. And Brennen was happy as a clam as long as we kept giving him crackers. 
View from the top 
Walking down. When you get to the “falls” there are only 2 miles left to the bottom! 
Click here if you want to read a short wikipedia article about the area. But it is seriously so beautiful up there. We’d been up there before but what I really liked this time is that the pine beetles haven’t devastated the trees there quite yet. There are a few that are dead or dying but most of the pines are still green and full unlike the trees in the mountains closer to Laramie.
Brennen was a good little camper. He still can’t quite get the hang of walking so he was crawling everywhere when we weren’t holding him. He loved kicking up the dirt with his hands and had no problem eating dropped food from the ground before I could stop him. He was incredibly filthy. He slept really well once we got him to sleep and only woke up once and he was really hyper and attacked us (well, ME while Matt went back to sleep…) until I finally got him to fall back asleep cuddled next to me in my sleeping bag. Then in the morning he just wanted to play in the tent and was mad when we got him out. 
Tuesaday morning we drove further west into some hills and Matt fished Labonte creek and caught 20 fish in about an hour, brook and rainbow trout. I only casted twice (no license…don’t tell!) and caught a little rainbow on my second cast (I put it back). :) Brennen loves it when we catch fish. We thought about staying another night after we were done fishing but we could tell Brennen had had enough so we headed home but it was still such a fun and relaxing trip.
