"I convinced my wife and four daughters to go on a backpacking, camping adventure. Their first backpacking experience was when we hiked to Williams Lake, in the Wheeler Peak wilderness, 2 years ago. That trip was a lot of work for me. We left the house at 5:45 AM, Saturday August 7, 2010, and headed through the town of Truchas to Santa Barbara Campground in Northern New Mexico. We started hiking from the campground at 9:30 at an elevation of about 8,800’. It was a cool, crisp, clear morning. My wife and daughters carried an average of about 20 pounds each. I was the pack horse caring about 50 pounds; 2 three man tents, all of our group gear and most of our food. Our hiking goal was the West Fork of the Santa Barbara river meadows, a five mile hike. I picked this hike for them because it was a very gradual elevation change, only about 1100 feet in five miles, and one of the prettiest places you could ever camp! I was a little worried about hiking problems, but they all did very well! They did much better than our first hike. We arrived at the meadows at 1:00 PM, 3 and half hours, including our lunch. The meadows are about a mile long; filled with wild flowers, a beautiful stream runs..." — Phil-Robinson • Aug 8, 2010