Camping Trip a.k.a. Eaten Alive

We went on our first campout of the summer season June 7th. Our plan was to drive into one of our favorite spots from a previous year -- Sheep Falls. To get there you take an moderately intense off-roading trail down to the Falls River.

 Eric's vehicle and his hand built trailer were up for the task. 

In fact, Eric LOVES this kind of stuff and 

gets very excited whenever he sees a big rock or a steep part in the trail.

 We saw these creepy caterpillar cocoon like things. 

They were huge and you could see the little caterpillars inside twitching and wiggling. 

Ewwwwww.

When we got to the brink of the Sheep Falls (it is a really cool waterfall), we got out of the car to scout for a camping spot. We were SWARMED by mosquitoes. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced. We applied bug repellent, but it didn't seem to help. They were so thick, it was surreal. We walked a bit and drove around a bit in the area seeing if it would be better farther from the water, nope. We decided it was too inhospitable so we hopped back in the car (letting in a dozen or more mosquitoes with us) to look for an entirely new area.

We drove around for nearly an hour. We stopped at numerous spots, but at each place the mosquitoes were always as thick as pea soup. I've never seen anything like it. It was starting to get late (after 8:00 pm) and we were committed to camping this weekend: all the prep work, the planning, the driving...so we picked a spot that seemed to be less mosquito ridden and started setting up camp.

We made a quick meal of sloppy Joe's -- you had to have someone constantly waving their hand over the pan to keep the mosquitoes from landing on it. Bug repellent seemed to do nothing...I wish we'd had a citronella candle or something, but who knew we were going to be experiencing this kind of nightmare? (Well the answer to that is -- everyone from around here. When I told a few people about our horrid experience, they replied, "Oh, you should never camp along the Falls River in June or early July...it is mosquito heaven!" Good to know!!)

When the sun finally went down and it got dark (about 10 pm) the mosquitoes finally left us alone. The sky was beautiful and the stars were so bright. The weather was perfect! I actually had a decent night's sleep (which is rare for me camping). When we woke up, however, the tent was already covered with mosquitoes buzzing all over the windows. I guess they could smell us from miles around. Creepy!!!! 

We sprayed everyone down and headed out. As long as you kept moving, it wasn't too bad. The kids enjoyed romping around and exploring the meadow we were in.

 Sadie found this great rock. She loved climbing and playing on it. 

Here she is being an animal...of some sort...of course.

Sadie kept finding little flowers or roots or something. 

She had a huge pile that she wanted "saved." Sadly, I don't think they made it home. Oops.

 Renae out with the hatchet chopping wood for our fire. 

Our fire chief (Mason) was not happy with their hatchet handling skills...

something about a blood circle...but luckily no one lost a limb.

 Colby was also doing a little wood chopping

 Here is our campsite. Complete with 8 man tent, privy (bathroom), 

camp trailer with pull-out kitchen (includes sink with running water, stove, and even hot water heater), and pop-up shade.

Eric likes to back country camp but I don't like to rough it...so this is how we compromise.

 

Note: See the girls and I reading in the background. 

We did a fair amount of that on this trip. It was nice to just sit back and relax.

 

During the day, we took a drive to Horseshoe Lake, a few minutes away, and Eric tried to fly fish. Unfortunately, the shoreline was too full of lily pads so it didn't go well. We had a family baseball game, using sticks for bats and cow pies and rocks for bases. We also went on a short hike in the forest around our campsite. But ultimately, the mosquitoes became too much to handle and we had to retreat to our tent and lock ourselves in for a few hours in the afternoon. I read aloud to the kids (again) and Eric took a nap.

Eric then gave an un-sanctioned drivers ed class to Mason. Of course, all the other kids wanted to try too. Since we were in the middle of nowhere on a flat dirt road, Eric let the other kids each have a chance behind the wheel as well. Colby and Sadie drove with Eric's assistance, but Renae was so proud to do it by herself. This was one of the camping highlights for the kids!

 What would camping be with out some good food and some soda? 

 Good quality family time with no technology to get in the way.

 Now that is a tired and dirty face...ready to go home.

We stayed two nights. We got up the next morning, broke down camp, and were on the road bright and early in the morning.

The kids rode on the trailer as we headed out of the campsite. The mosquitoes all came out to wish us farewell.  How sweet of them. Even using up two bottles of mosquito repellent, we all came home covered with bites. I won for the most bug bites, many of them in places that were covered by clothing. They were brutal. All in all, we still had a good time and the kids keep asking when we can go camping again, but we have learned our lesson about when and where to camp. We will ask the locals before we venture out again.