In the past our family has done a lot of camping. It started back in 1989 when I won the William Caudill Traveling Fellowship to go and study architecture. I chose Europe. First problem was I was married and had two kids. One child was 2 ½ years old and the other was just 4 months. Second problem was that there wasn’t much money to travel on. You can read about our Europe travels in our page. I am slowly loading up some of the adventures and sketches. Europe Journal
So, in order to make the money stretch we camped across Europe. 13 countries, 16 weeks….but enough about that…let’s talk about this trip.
My wife and I found a great place in western Virginia called Crabtree Falls. It is the tallest waterfalls in Virginia and has a wonderful hiking trail…or should I say climb? Running right beside the falls. There is a wonderful campground ½ mile from the bottom of the falls that a few years ago we camped next to the stream in our tent. This year we chose the cabin.
Camping Definitions:
I would say there are absolutely different levels of camping. Your comfort level or $ determines what you do. Let’s start off with the easiest level and work up:
Motel Camping: No this is not camping. Throwing your clothes in a bag and going to a maid manufactured bedroom and bath is not really anywhere close to camping…..cannot be considered but I thought for some of you I might need to clarify.
Level One Cabin Camping: There are cabins that provide everything. Not only is there a bed, but sheets and pillows are provided. Not only is there a stove, but all the dishes and cups and often even a small refrigerator. We found a few of these in Europe but they were not out in the woods. We called them caravans. They were basically travel trailers that were fixed in place. Electric was provided and sometimes water. Bathing facilities were provided in a large structure somewhere on the camp grounds.
Level Two Cabin Camping: Same as above but they don’t provide any dishes, sheets etc. These are more likely truly a cabin with a small porch and picnic table out front.
Car Camping: We often do this these days. We bring everything for true camping but it is packed up in the car. It doesn’t have to be placed in something that you will have to haul on your back to the camp site. We will often rent a spot at a campground and then be able to drive the car right up to the spot where we plan on pitching our tent. Things still need to be pretty well “bagged up” so you don’t have to have a gazillion things to unload. This also depends on how many people you have with you. When all the kids were there, we had more sleeping bags, more food, more tents etc. All the cooking is done on a Coleman grill or similar…even an open fire at times although that is hard to regulate when you have a small army to feed. (Sometimes we have sites that incorporate electric…that is cheating)
Hike Camping: Same as above but forget the car. Park it and become a pack mule! Pack light and be wise on what you bring. We have done this several times up on the Appalachian Trail….so much fun. We carry some water but have a filter system so if we find a stream we can purify it. Small packed up meals and a whisper-light camp stove. Everything else can be foil dinners or cold food. Our youngest son always dreamed that we would one day hike the entire trial this way.
Rambo Camping: Head out with just a knife! I had a friend in high school that always dreamed of doing this. Each time he went out camping he was going to leave one thing behind until eventually all he had was a knife. Years later I saw him and asked how has his wilderness adventures had gone. He reported that he had gotten married to a wonderful lady who gave him three wonderful girls…..camping now existed in a giant Winnebago to accommodate all the hair dryers and curling irons. My wilderness man image of him has been shattered.
This weekend my wife and I are Cabin Level Two Camping. We really just needed a quick get-a-way and didn’t want a lot of work to accomplish. Setting up was pretty easy the first night after we arrived. The nice part about cabin camping on the first night is after the long drive you don’t have to do much. There are many stories of me and the kids sitting up camp with the tent…in the dark…you can imagine the drama and those stories…..okay okay….I will write about those adventures too. Check back later for those stories.
The first evening at the campsite we ate dinner and fell asleep by 8PM. We cooked a steak on the grill and some peppers and onions and crashed. 12 hours later we awoke from our slumber. Much needed rest apparently. One of the things that I find difficult to shake is the need to schedule and plan everything…..and I mean everything. It is hard for me to let loose and just relax. I was about crazy in the 3 ½ hour drive here just sitting. Once here, no internet connection! And probably a good thing.
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| In the morning...we are making pancakes |
Such a peaceful morning with just the stream flowing in the background, (a favorite thing at this campsite…it drowns out the noise of any other campers). We woke up and made some coffee. Yes it was instant coffee and yes it was in a electric kettle….remember I said we were here for relaxing….not working. Still nice under the canopy of trees. Then for the best thing about camping….breakfast! It has to be the absolutely best meal there is. Grill up some Turkey Bacon….(I still need to make sure I don’t blow my diet) and a few pancakes. Yeah, I know….not on the diet. I plan on working those calories off on the hike today. While I was cooking breakfast, I went ahead and cooked up the chicken for our wraps we were going to take on the trail. We planned to make some bacon and chicken wraps to eat on the hike…..I cooked a few pieces for MAVRICK as well.....such a spoiled doggie.
Morning showers are always something of an adventure. How exposed you feel is dependent upon the campground facilities. This one is pretty open. Thankfully I was the only one in there at the time. Water is never really very hot, so you don't spend a whole lot of time bathing. After all, you are about to go back out into the wilderness….who are you trying to smell fresh for? The bugs?
The things you hear while camping: My wife heard a little boy ask his father while walking back from the bathrooms, “What about butterflies? Can you eat butterflies?” the father responded, “I don’t know son, maybe.”
Then the hike, we walked up about ½ mile to the beginning of the Crabtree Falls Trail. MAVRICK was a bit skittish when it came to passing people. He also struggled with the huge steps. We were all set to climbing the trail all the way but we can thank MAVRICK for giving us an easy out. He was panting and wobbling all over the trail. Poor guy made it about half way even with several water breaks along the way. A few pictures at various spots and then we turned back around to head home. Last stop was the river. MAVRICK decided he needed to cool down so he waded out in the middle of the stream and laid down in the water. What a silly doggie. He makes us laugh.Campfire in the evening and relaxing after the long hike...and long nap. Cooked up some steak and chicken fajitas for dinner and then sat next to the fire and enjoyed some music. About 9:30 I think MAVRICK was getting a bit anxious....he was ready for us to get to bed! Poor tired doggie.
Coffee in the morning by the campfire with some nice discussion about how wonderful things are and how blessed my wife and I are. We planned some new adventures together for the next few years. A huge breakfast of pancakes, turkey bacon and eggs and then we packed up the van a headed out to go home. Hitting traffic as we entered back into Hampton Roads just put an exclamation mark on why we needed to get away from it all this weekend.
I am ready to head back my friends!
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