Painted Rocks

Our last camping trip this year was the first weekend in October. We went to Painted Rocks, a Montana State Park, near Darby. It took us two hours to get there from Salmon. We'd never been there before, but had driven by the road sign dozens of times and had always wanted to! The place was different than what we expected. We thought Painted Rocks was a lake, but it was actually a reservoir. And because we went camping there in October, the water level was very low.
The campground was by the shallow end of the reservoir, so in the fall, the area is just dirt and mud rather than a body of water. Apparently, lots of locals take their 4-wheelers and motorcycles and dune buggies there in the fall to drive around in the mud. The boys got a kick out of watching all the ATV's!
There were only a few other campers in the campground, so we mostly had the place to ourselves. We had such a wonderful time! The weather was beautiful, the atmosphere was peaceful, and we enjoyed every minute of our short trip!! Josh and Ammon and I read a lot, and the three younger boys explored and rode their bikes and ran around a lot.
That afternoon, we went on a family walk across the dry area of the reservoir to the other side. We had to cross several tributary streams that forged across the ground. One stream was rather wide, and Kanyon was scared to cross it. The boys were ahead of me, and it was the sweetest thing to see as Jonah turned around from half-way across the stream, come back, and grab Kanyon by the hand and slowly lead him across.
When we reached the other side, Josh and the twins climbed up to an old cottage and walked around the abandoned home, while Ammon and Kanyon and I played in the water.
On our way back to the campground, we discovered a little tributary stream that was full of pond frogs, and we all tried to catch some.
I'd never seen frogs so small! They were adorable! We ended up catching 10, but one escaped. So, we took 9 back to the campground with us in a plastic cup.
In addition to collecting frogs, the boys also collected and arranged pinecones, and gathered sticks and pine needles to put in the evening fire.
For dinner, Josh grilled us some delicious steaks! It was lovely to not have to worry about making the meal. Instead, I just sat and watched him, in his cute apron, making the fantastic feast!
As we were waiting for the steaks to get done, the boys all started acting dorky. I laughed so hard watching them be silly. They pulled their pants up too high, they started making faces, and using funny voices! They were so hysterical!!! I truly enjoyed the show they put on just for me!
Before going to bed, we roasted marshmallows over the fire. This was the first time that Jonah and Micah both made perfectly roasted marshmallows, rather than lighting them on fire and burning them! I was SO proud of them!!!
The next morning, we took a drive to the deeper side of the reservoir, where the water was glassy and full. It was then that we started to see the true beauty of Painted Rocks. We drove to the dam, and hiked down a steep trail to the bottom of it, and back up again. It was a hot day, Josh was wearing a long-sleeve black shirt, and he carried Kanyon up most of the steep trail. I was in awe watching him, especially since his airway is only 25% the size of a normal person's. I just love my husband!

After that, we were pretty tuckered out (especially since Kanyon hadn't slept good during the night), so we packed up and headed home. It was a glorious camping trip! I'm grateful that we were able to go--we'd re-scheduled the trip 3 times due to conflicts that came up! I'm sad that was our last camping excursion for the year...I'm already looking forward to going again next April!!