For conditioning, I just chased my boys around for the weeks/months/years prior to going up. We did a few hikes in our area with some elevation gain.
To acclimate, we spent some time the days prior at higher elevation but the highest we slept before going up was at the W.P. Campground. I used how my son was feeling as a barometer of how high we could go, I kept him hydrated and eating never seemed to be a problem for any of us. He never complained, nor did my wife so we just kept on going to the top.
As for planning, I got all my best information from here. Without the tips and this website things would have been much harder.
Mom carried plenty and her knees were hurting she did great. While my pack was heavier than hers, hers was a higher percentage of body weight than mine, so she really pulled it together, she was the family sherpa going up and down...@ti2d where you one of the people we passed? Or possibly the host of the campgrounds? My son wants to take his little brother to the campground soon to teach him how to fish and camp. Little guy isn't even 2 yet, but I have a feeling we will be back before the summer is up.
The trout was great!!! my wife doesn't normally like trout, but she figured she would take a bite since she caught it, she ate quite a bit of it. We dredged it in flour, filled it with garlic butter and lemon, then cooked it slowly over the campfire.
If Doug's fries are the ones from the W.P. Store, then they are simply amazing. I remember seeing a huge mound of them on my plate with my burger. I didn't think there was any way I would eat all of them. But each of us, even my son managed to put away all those fries.
Once again thanks to this community of people here who had nothing but great information to offer. With out you guys I am not sure we would have made it.
