A sign I've completely lost my mind?

For years Mr. Ranch has enjoyed overnight backpacking.  He has traveled, among other places, along the Appalachian Trail, The White Mountains, The Olympic Peninsula, and many other places around Colorado.  He has also attempted for years to convince me to come along.  There are rumors though, that in the next few years a backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon and to Manchu Picchu could be in the works.  That, along with watching "The Way" (starring Martin Sheen backpacking through part of Europe) convinced me I should give it a try. 
This was also the first trip for The Boy and The Girl, so we picked a relatively easy trail, about 4.5 miles each way.  Here's my photo log of the trip...

 The Boy, ready to start.  We were initially a bit concerned about the number of cars parked at the trail head.  Our impression was that this trail wasn't super busy so we were surprised to see so many cars!  As we traveled the trail, we did see more people than we expected, but not so many that it was crowded.

 The picture above could be my favorite from the trip with the one below being a close second favorite

 So the building below was employee housing for the ill-fated company that tried to dam up "Lost Creek" by injecting concrete into it.  The project never worked, but left some cool reminders.

 We're not sure what the deal is with these rock formations...but they are very cool.

 Cooking dinner in the light rain was followed by playing cards and reading in the tents.  Breakfast the next morning was pancakes (yum).

 Packing up camp....

 And heading home!

 Yay!  We made it!

 My phone, however, seemed to be time traveling--very entertaining, as there were not many cell phones in 1980...

Final thoughts on overnight backpacking, as reported to Mr. Ranch...I thought the actual hiking with the pack would be much harder than it was.  The up hills were challenging ,but not impossible.  The hardest part was using the bathroom outside.  I think I'm in for some of the future trips...maybe....