My First Camping Trip - Part 2

The big excitement for Sunday morning was...coffee and donuts!!  Turns out the concession stand sells hot coffee and hot chocolate and donuts every Sunday morning, and we'd been looking forward to the coffee since Friday night.  In Wired's blog, she talks about how thru hikers look forward to trail towns and the hot meals they can get there, and when we were camping I got a tiny inkling of what that must be like.  We had cars and could have gone for some hot drinks whenever we wanted, but we still had Sunday morning's hot coffee on the brain the whole weekend.  The ironic thing was that Sunday morning wasn't actually too terribly cold, and since I'd bundled up so well the night before, I wasn't in as dire need of hot beverage as I'd been the day before.  It was still a nice treat, though.

After breakfast on Sunday, we packed lunch and some snacks, and headed off to a nearby park, Lake Loramie, to check out their hiking trails.  It was only half an hour away, and it was one of the parks we'd looked at before settling on St Marys.  Once we got there, I was glad it had been full and we had to camp elsewhere.  It's a lot bigger than St Marys, and you can see the road from the campgrounds.  The lake is fabulous and huge, and we drove around it for a bit looking for a park office.  We finally found one, and it was closed, but we were able to grab a map of the trails from the campground check in office.  We picked one, and headed off to find the trailhead.  On the way, we got a bit turned around, and in the process drove by a house with two alpacas in the backyard!  So cute!

When we got to the trailhead, there were a couple of people fishing on the lake who seemed annoyed by the noise we were making getting settled and figuring out where we were going.  Heh.  Oh, well.  After some looking, we found the bridge crossing that would take us to the Blackberry Nature Trail on an island in the lake.  I was looking forward to checking out the island, but sadly, the bridge was closed.  :(  After some picture taking, we headed back to the other trailhead, for the Lakeview Trail.  Once again, we were stymied when we followed the wrong sign and ended up at an almost immediate dead end.  We decided we weren't meant to jump across a giant gap onto a log in the lake, so we went back to the parking lot and found the actual trailhead - complete with giant signage and everything.

The trail started off in some woods, but very quickly opened up into a view of a farm - like it was reminding us that we were still in Ohio!  Most of the trail was right next to the water, but there were hardly any mosquitos unless we were in the more wooded sections.  We saw an eagle lookout that was built by an Eagle Scout troop, which was pretty cool, and come swampy areas covered in water lilies that made it look like we were in Florida!  The trail was very flat, which was nice, since it was 2 miles. It was hot in the sun, but not horrible.  The halfway point ended at the campgrounds, and then looped back to where we parked.  We were going to take the alternate route back, to complete the loop, but it appeared that section was a bit less traveled, b/c it was more enclosed and much buggier, so we turned around pretty quickly and just went back the way we came in.  There were several more branches off the trail than the map indicated, and I think A was worried about getting lost, but I figured one way or another we'd find our way back.  There was a moment of disagreement when we backtracked as to which one of the branches to take - ultimately, A was right and I was wrong.  With my family's famous directional sense, I should have expected as much, lol.

Once we got back, we made our way to a park for some lunch.  There was a beach on the lake with a lot of kids swimming.  I stuck my hand in after we ate, but with all of the signs around warning of the blue-green algae and its toxins (we had those at our lake, too), I'd have been too nervous to swim in it even if it wasn't too cold for swimming.  There were a lot of families out for the day enjoying the sunshine.  And we saw a confederate flag bikini, which I would not have expected that far north.  Just goes to show there are rednecks everywhere, I suppose.

When we got back to our camp, A had a headache and took a nap, and I took my chair out to the beach and read for awhile.  It was very peaceful until some kids came over and started playing in the sand.  Luckily, A came over soon after and we headed back to the tent to play some games.  We also headed up to the concession stand for a raffle - we'd bought tickets the day before from another volunteer driving around in a golf cart.  The campground had a lot of activities going on that weekend - a scavenger hunt, putt putt and bingo tournaments, etc - but the split the pot raffle was the only one we took part in.  Alas, neither of us won.  Even though it wasn't really an activity per se, it was kind of cool to be there while a lot of the campers gathered together for a few minutes.  We built a late fire that evening and used up the last of our firewood, and while we were cooking a late dinner, the nice lady who hauled our firewood for us the day before drove up and gave us a free chocolate cake!  I guess it was left over from the cake walk.  Wired talks about trail magic, which is when people will do nice things for hikers on the trail - give them a hitch into a nearby town, or have stashes of water and/or food on the trail, or sometimes have a set-up on the trail with food and drinks and chairs and the like.  You can read about a pretty cool example of some trail magic on the PCT here.  Anyhow, after scoring free chocolate cake, I remarked to A that we got some awesome camp magic!

It was supposed to rain that night, so we stashed our stuff in either the tent or our cars.  Sadly, we didn't think about bringing the coolers into the tent - they're waterproof, after all! - so when we woke up to rain the next morning, we had no breakfast.  :(  Luckily it subsided to a drizzle for long enough for me to emerge and grab some food.  We munched on chocolate cake, bananas, and soy yogurt in the tent on Monday morning and played some more games, waiting out the rain.  It finally stopped, in just enough time to take down the tent.  I grabbed my first shower of the weekend in the shower facilities - you're supposed to be stinky whilst camping, right? - which were pretty nice.  I'd forgotten my towel, though, so I used A's trick of using clothes to dry off with.  Not quite as effective, especially on my hair, but good enough.  Check out was at 1, and we squeaked in just under the wire.  It was a little eerie how empty the campground was by that time.  And sad, too.  A fabulous weekend come to an end.  :(

On my way home, I stopped by the Armstrong Air and Space Museum, which was only a few miles from our campgrounds.  Neil Armstrong grew up in Wapakoneta, hence the museum's location.  There must be something in the water up there, b/c apparently there are an awful lot of astronauts who are from Ohio.  Perhaps it has to do with Wright Pat being close by, who knows.

All in all, a fabulous weekend, and I can't wait to do it again!  (Cold and all, lol.)  I learned a lot of things for next time:

1. Get a sleeping bag that fits.  I've read that they're less effective when they're too big and when they're too small, and I think maybe part of my cold toes problem was due to the fact that my feet were right up against the bottom of my sleeping bag.  Even though the thing's supposed to be good for people up to 6'2", it isn't.  It's not really that big a deal for a casual camper like me, but it's something I wish I'd known before I bought my sleeping bag.
2. Bring something to heat water for hot drinks in the morning.  I know there are coffee pots you can plug into the cigarette lighter in your car, or even a tiny camp stove would work, I suppose.  Something that doesn't involve lighting a campfire just to warm up water.  (Which we did not do - hence the excitement over Sunday morning coffee.)
3. In a similar vein, cooking over a campfire was a fun experience and all, but in the future I think I'd prefer to bring a camp grill, and save the campfire for sitting around in the evening.  Food that can be stuck on sticks and held over the fire would be fine, but for regular food it's a bit of a pain, especially if you have food that requires heating for both lunch and dinner.
4. When obtaining firewood, make sure to get enough medium sized logs to balance out the bigger pieces.  The campgrounds only sold the bigger pieces, and we had to go hunting for more.  I know you're not supposed to transport wood, so I'll have to investigate how far you have to travel before that restriction takes effect.  Hunting around for other wood like we did is only so successful, especially if every other camper is doing the same.
5. Go RV or camper camping someday.  Some of the campers had some pretty sweet setups - and I'll bet they didn't wake up with numb toes!
6. Also, WOOL SOCKS for sleeping in.  I bought some the very day I got home, even though my next camping trip isn't planned for a few months.
7. Bring shoes for the showers.  Maybe not a necessity, and my feet seemed to have weathered the public showering just fine, but it was in the back of my mind the entire time I was in there.  Next time I'll have them, just to make me feel better.
8. BUG SPRAY.  We had no troubles with bugs at our campsite at all, but every mosquito in the park swarmed me when we were hiking.
9. Tablecloths are not frivolous, they're a necessity.  I didn't see a single picnic table not covered in bird poop.
10. Bring one of those canopy shelter things that's basically a tarp on poles to put over your picnic table.  We see picnic tables covered in tablecloths and coolers and food as part of a nice camping adventure.  Birds see them as signs that read "RESTROOMS HERE".
11. Since this was my first time camping, I obviously have nothing to compare it to, but I have to say that I very much enjoyed not having to crawl into our tent every time I had to go in and out.  If I ever buy a tent of my own, I'm definitely getting one I can stand up in.
12. And last, but certainly not least: always bring a towel.

(I'll add pictures here once I've figured out how to get them off of my camera.  I seem to have misplaced the transfer cord...)

My First Camping Trip - Part 1

About a month ago, for reasons I no longer remember, I was seized with the sudden urge to go camping.  It's something I think about doing every so often, but never seriously enough to get my shit together and actually go do it.  But this time I texted my best friend A (incidentally, the only person I know who goes camping...and therefore has the gear with which to do so...heh) and said "we need to go camping."  And thus, my very first camping trip was born.

A lives near Detroit, and I'm in Cincinnati, so we decided that somewhere roughly halfway between would be good.  We had issues finding a campground that was both available (apparently I waited a bit too long to have my camping urge, since we chose Memorial Day weekend) and had showers (a must for A), but we ended up settling on Grand Lake St Marys State Park, which is just a few miles outside of Wapakoneta (where Neil Armstrong grew up, for the uneducated among you).

Wapakoneta's about 2 hours up 75 from here, and it's an easy enough drive (I even got to see Hug Me Jesus - sadly, I remain unsaved).  The park isn't far off the interstate, but when you start seeing signs for tractor pulls, you know you're in the boonies.  The park entrance was easy to find, and I checked in at the office, turned the corner, and was immediately blown away by just how many PEOPLE were there.  Seriously!  People everywhere!  I'm not exactly sure what I expected, but this was most certainly not it.  The campsites were very close together (to me, although I'm a camping virgin, so what do I know), and virtually every single one was already occupied.  I found our site and parked, but A wasn't due for another three hours yet.  I didn't want to just sit there like a moron with no tent to pitch and have everyone around me staring at me wondering why the new dumbass was sitting around not pitching her tent yet even though it was 7pm and the sun would be setting soonish (b/c the world really is all about me, you see), so I decided to go for a walk.  I discovered later that the park itself is in disconnected little sections surrounding Grand Lake (which is huge, by the way), but the camping section is fairly small.  Just the campgrounds, a "trail" that doesn't really even deserve the name, a tiny camp store, a playground area, a nature center that wasn't much more than a shed (I never did go inside).  They did have an outdoor movie screen set up and a little bitty concession stand.  I checked the schedule, and Saturday night was For the Love of Benji, and Sunday was Benji: Off the Leash! - hardly riveting stuff, so we opted not to take part.  The place wasn't big, so my walk didn't last too terribly long, so ultimately I just bit the bullet, pulled out my camp chair and my Kindle, and settled in to wait.

Our campsite was largely in the shade, which would have been fabulous had it been about 20 degrees warmer.  As it was, it was in the 60s and low 70s all weekend, so after the sun set, it got pretty chilly.  A got there close to ten, at which point I was bundled up with only a tiny part of my face showing!  Setting up a tent at 10 o'clock at night in the dark with tiny lanterns was interesting, to say the least, especially for my first tent experience!  A couldn't find her stake mallet, so we borrowed our neighbor's - and then they were nice and brought over their nice big bright lantern for us to use while we finished pitching the tent.  Sadly, we never did ask their names.

I had gotten a sleeping bag just that day, and vacillated b/t the 10-30 degree big and tall option, and the 30-50 degree tall option.  I ended up with the warmer weather one, b/c 1) I didn't think I'd do much camping in below freezing weather, 2) it was $12 cheaper, and 3) it was a prettier color (I have my priorities, after all).  When I woke up shivering at 3:30 that first night, I was thinking perhaps I should have invested in the roomier, warmer option.  :/  First, I put my fleece jacket on over my hooded sweatshirt.  That didn't help.  So I dug out my knitted (by me) wool scarf, which I'd almost left at home, and wrapped it around my head like a turban.  That helped, but not much.  Then I put two more pairs of socks on, and that finally stopped the shivering.  I checked the weather on my phone - 45 degrees.  Cold, but not enough that I would have expected to be quite so uncomfortable.  When I woke up the next morning, I couldn't feel either of my big toes, and my nose was an ice cube - that, combined with the dire need to pee, got me up and going at 7:30 on my vacation!

We lazed around most of the day.  Being so cold the night before, I just could not warm up.  It didn't help that our campsite turned out to be in the shade most of the day.  I kept looking at everyone walking around in T-shirts and shorts and thinking how crazy they were - I was still wearing my fleece on top of my sweats!  Close to lunch time, we decided to walk up to the camp store to see if they had any coffee or hot chocolate (we were cold!).  As soon as we got out into the sun, it warmed up by several degrees - no wonder everyone else was wearing less clothing than us!  The store did not have hot drinks (alas), but we did score some ice for the coolers and a couple bundles of firewood.  And as we were leaving, a very pleasant older woman driving a golf cart drove by and offered to drive our stuff to our site for us.  Score!  We saw a lot of volunteers - we assumed - driving around in golf carts over the weekend checking on people and helping out, which was pretty cool.

Lunch was our first attempt at a campfire.  We attempted to warm a pot of refried beans on the built in grill over the fire - a semi-successful endeavor.  Lukewarm counts, right?  The fire didn't really stay lit for very long, but we learned some helpful tips and did much better at dinner.  (Our afternoon hunt for medium sized wood helped - for lunch all we had were tiny sticks and big logs).  After eating, we took our chairs and a game to the beach and hung out there for awhile.  A group of guys passed by us and commented on our game - if I'd been the outgoing type, we may have hunted them down later on to see if they wanted to join us in some games, but I'm not the approaching strangers type.  Ah, well.  Evening brought a more successful campfire, and hot dogs (of the vegetarian variety) and roasted veggies made over the fire.  Wilderness skills!  The veggie dogs weren't bad...especially with mustard and cheese, hehe.  We sat around the fire for awhile, and turned in earlyish.  This time, I bundled up - including wearing both pairs of sweat pants I brought - from the beginning.  That, combined with a warmer nighttime temperature (51 degrees) kept me warmer that night, although I still had to wake up my big toes the next morning.

This has turned out to be a long post, so part 2 to follow...