This year has been a year of numerous camping adventures and I have learned something new from each one of them. I love what all camping has to offer; nature, relaxation, getting cozy around the fire, the sounds of nightfall, birds chirping, being "almost" attacked by a deer...more on that later, packing minimally, trail hikes, and enjoying time away from the city. Our recent camping weekend was spent at Clinton State Park and we had two nights of campfire cooking, dominoes, card games, and perfect weather.
I have found there are certain items you can not live without while camping...ok, maybe you can live without them, but they make camping more fun! First off, someone who can build a fire. I probably could figure it out but the last time I tried that I used gasoline and sent an entire hay field up in flames...lesson learned there. No but really, I enjoy chopping down and finding firewood out in nature and of course I am the one who is in charge of that perfect stick for roasting marshmallows.
Which leads me to the next item...s'mores. You can not go camping without graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. Seriously, a staple. Get creative with the food you cook too! This time we went "fancy" and cooked pork steak, roasted zucchini and squash, trout, chicken, brauts, tomatoes and breakfast sausage. Eventually, when we aren't "car" camping as much, our food items won't be quite as extensive so we also like to throw in a few freeze dried foods that we can just add boiling water too. Mountain House and Alpine Aire are a couple we have tried, all of which are actually quite tasty. They are great for hiking!
Make sure and have a good sleeping bag, back pack, hiking boots, and a tent that can be easily put up. We have sleeping bags by Outdoor Vitals, these are 30 degree bags that can be zipped up together if you want to get cozy. Danner hiking boots which are super comfortable and stylish too, because shoes are important. A good pack is a must, mine is an Osprey 65, it's the perfect size and has plenty of room for everything from supplies to clothing and has a lot of pockets! It also holds my sleeping bag and my Kelty sleeping pad which makes the ground not so rough to sleep on. The tent we have is by Alps Brand, it's actually a 4-person tent, so we could go smaller when hiking in to camp but it goes up in about 3 minutes! Plus, it's good when you have a dog and leaves plenty of room for the packs too.
The small items matter too! Have camping cookware, water proof matches, small bottles of oil, dish soap and food seasoning, fire starters, an ax for firewood which I also use to cut vegetables, a knife, head lamp's which keep your hands free and they aren't geeky at all but rather very useful, coffee, hot tea, a collapsible container to hold water, travel games like domino's and cards, portable blue-tooth speaker because we like the sound of music too, a lighter, table-top butane/propane stove and lantern which is good for a quick boil of water and can also be used for light at night, ours is by Jetboil, emergency survival wraps, flashlight, and a portable phone charger because let's be real it's a good idea to keep your phone charged just in case and if you are like me as I use mine to capture the memories too...these are just a few important things we always have when we camp! Oh ya, don't forget extra socks...after hiking you don't want to wear the same ones while sleeping!
Lastly...the story on the deer. We decided to take the trail around the lake back to our campsite Saturday morning. We took Lola off the leash to let her roam around and for the most part she listens...until she saw the deer and took off up the hill and was gone. James went after her and I decided to keep going on the trail as we decided we would meet up back at camp. Instead, Lola came back and they quickly caught back up with me. As we were rounding a corner, a deer was coming towards us...I was in the lead and you know that saying "deer in the headlights" look...ya, that happened. The look on the deer's face, me jumping and covering my face like she was going to attack me...besides it scared the hell out of James and Lola too. That deer came back for revenge after being chased...at least that's our story! Then I hear James say, "I thought that was a cougar and we were goners!" ...Me, "Next time you are leading!"
Location: Clinton Lake State Park
Shona
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