Christmas Tree Hunting

About 3 weeks ago, we went out to find a Christmas tree up Eagle Creek in Jardine. We drove all the way up to the gate, which is as far as you can go in the winter. There were already a few cars up there and we learned later that some of them were hunters and others were getting a tree too! Bennett was at a friends house, so it was just Dad, Preston, Fiona and I who hiked and Mom stayed in the car with a sleeping Tilly. It was almost like we were in a movie...the snow was falling beautifully and it was just us and a lot of trees. We had 4 different opinions on what type we should get and as Preston put it "there's too many rules." According to our $5 Forest Service permit, "the tree had to be 100 feet away from the road, at least 8 ft and no more than 12 feet."  After an hour of hiking and no tree, we headed back to the car and stopped for hot chocolate before heading out again. It was starting to get dark out, so we tried to hurry. We found the perfect one uphill about 100 yards away from the car and it was 8 ft! We each took a turn cutting it down after the other person got tired. Preston tied it up with rope and dragged it back down to the car. We tied it up to the the roof and drove off in the foot of snow that had piled up while we were hiking. Mom had already made soup in the crock pot, which was nice to come back to...we were tired!

It doesn't look like much in this picture, but it's prettier with lights on it. :)

Off to the car...

Mom was still pregnant when we got it!

Dad and I by the tree. :)

We saw this ram on the way back down.