Tread Lightly (and be thankful for the soles on your shoes)

Jarrett and I knew we were a bit insane when we decided to go ahead with the camping trip we had planned for this weekend with the weather forecast that was in store (60% chance of storms Friday through Sunday), but we had been looking forward to it for some time. Growing up as a child, Jarrett and his family took many a camping trip together -- he remembers car camping being one of their main forms of family vacation, and he has fond memories of the great outdoors... and of his dad's well-prepared camping supply box and many a glorious meal cooked on their big three-burner Coleman stove. I also have some pretty good memories car camping with my family, and much desire Elsa to have the opportunity to discover the outdoors herself. So, as fairly avid backpackers (at least in years past), we decided this might be a fabulous way for us to get out as a family ourselves, and we decided to expand our camping gear to include items more suitable for car camping. Jarrett, as he does so well, set out and did much research on the best gear at the most reasonable price, and we ended up with some great stuff to get us through quite the soggy weekend, including, of course, a three-burner Coleman stove and a big camping supply box of our own.

Despite the weather, however, we really did have a fun time, and actually were extremely lucky in most cases. We did, though, also have our fair share of adventure. We left Friday afternoon, bound for Vogel State Park in North Georgia. The campground was rated really well in an awesome book I came across, written by Johnny Molloy, The Best in Tent Camping: Georgia: A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos. We were most excited about the walk-in campsites they had to offer, which we have experienced at Lake Russell as being a respite from the ordinary line-'em-up sites you find at many car-camping-type campgrounds. Mr. Molloy got it right for the most part -- lovely wooded campsites, spaced a good distance apart, some providing a great amount of solitude if willing to lug your stuff up a hill a ways. We chose a site quite close to our car, considering the rain that was falling on us during the drive, the fact that we were toting along a one-year-old crawler, and because we were presented with this lovely flier upon checking in with the campground staff:
Let me take a moment here to explain where I stand when it comes to the outdoors and the animals that lurk in our great expanses of wilderness. Yes, I car-camped as a child -- but as a naive child -- and I discovered my love of backpacking in college when Jarrett and I tagged along with my father-in-law and his boy scout troop -- also completely naive as to any animals I might come into contact with. Well then I went on a backpacking trip in college somewhere in the Smokies, and all the literature I read preparing me for that trip in the particular area I was headed told me that I was going to see a bear. They had the tallest poles I had ever seen from which you were to hang your bags to keep them away from these critters. I crawled in my sleeping bag that night with my Gerber knife at the ready, fully prepared for my encounter with Mr. Bear, and not quite sure what I was going to do once I met him face to face. Thankfully, in the end, I never had to worry about it, but ever since then I have been somewhat spooked at the thought of all of the bears, mountain lions, etc., that could make their attack at any moment. So, all that to say, if there was a bear roaming around the campground, I wanted to be sure we had a quick exit strategy in case said bear found us. We made all the necessary precautions, but I have even been warned about the smell of food on your breath when you are in your tent, so I can work myself up into some sort of paranoia. I even made Jarrett verbalize our bear evacuation plan just to be sure we were on the same page. Perhaps I just need to encounter a bear and get over myself.

There was a break in the rain when we chose our campsite (and the sun even broke through the overcast skies, even if just for a few moments!), so we did not waste any time in getting the tent set up. This was our first stroke of luck, as the rain started in soon after we got the rain fly on, and I was able to set Elsa inside with her toys and books while Jarrett worked on hanging his brilliant tarp canopy over the picnic table area and I hauled in more gear from the car and organized our tent home. By the time everything was set up and ready to go, it was about time to feed Elsa her dinner and read her some books before bedtime. She went down very easily and soundly, and Jarrett and I were able to cook our Italian sausage, pepper, and onion hoagies and side of peas and carrots, topped off with a nice, warm cup of hot cocoa. I washed the dishes while Jarrett picked up around camp, and then we settled in for a nice chat around the lantern-lit picnic table before heading to bed. Neither of us slept very well, tossing and turning a lot, but Elsa did quite well. She did wake up on the early side -- probably around 5:30-5:45 a.m. -- but I was pleased she made it that long.


Once it was light enough to see and move around, we got up and cooked a nice, hot pancake and bacon breakfast, complete with percolated coffee. It was delicious -- and Elsa liked the pancakes too. Though we weren't sure it was going to last, we did have a break in the rain that morning and decided to make the most of it (especially because Elsa was cranky from waking up so early and we needed to do something besides sit around the tent all day) and set out on a hike. We were all ready to hike the Bear Hair Gap Trail, which is well described in a North Georgia hiking book I own; however, we found that the trail itself is not as clearly blazed or signed as the book states. I really tried to immerse myself into the outdoor world and to enjoy the beauty surrounding me, but it was proving to be quite difficult with a cranky baby strapped to my chest (she started out asleep on my back, and even slept some while out front, but it did not last long), the worry of being lost at points, the fear of a possible bear encounter (because of another flier we saw on the trail warning of one spotted at a nearby shelter), and the fact that this happened to Jarrett's boots halfway through our approximately five-mile hike:


Yes, the sole of his boot came detached from the boot itself. Crazy, right? It started with the one boot, and he dragged that around for awhile, and then the other boot followed suit. Soon the sole completely came off the one boot, so Jarrett decided to help the other one along and was then walking on sole-less boots. As you can see from the photos below, he was still walking on something, but after crossing a couple of waterways, it became clear they were no longer waterproof. Toward the end of our hike, he described what he was feeling as wearing moccasins that had clumps of mud stuck to the bottom of them.


I was lucky enough to have purchased brand spankin' new Kayland boots prior to the trip, as my old Scarpas, although they are fabulously well-made boots and held very highly in the hiking world, gave me horrendous blisters every time I wore them. (I still have them if anyone wears a size 7 and is interested -- maybe they would work better on your feet!) This girl was blister-free -- these boots are definite keepers!

So despite the craziness on the trail, we did make it back to camp, and overall I am very happy we were able to make it out on the trail at all -- and with no rain to speak of! In fact, we did not experience much rain at all on Saturday except for a few scattered, more spitting kind of showers. After making some sandwiches for lunch, we drove around the camp, looking at some of the other sites around the campground and stopped by the little store on the grounds to pick up some more ice for the cooler, as well as a bundle of firewood.


We got Elsa to bed again Saturday evening with no problem, and then enjoyed beef stroganoff and a Caesar salad for dinner (again with a lovely cup of hot cocoa). Jarrett built a campfire, and he and I were able to sit and enjoy it, out under the open sky, for a decent while, and then decided to take a last trek down to the bath house and head to bed. I kid you not -- not more than seconds after zipping up the tent and crawling into our bags, it started pouring rain. And it did not let up except for once that I noticed, and that was when our incredibly noisy, rather large group of new camping neighbors (who were obviously very underprepared for the chance of rain) started hollering and carrying on after the initial downpour, flashing their cameras as they took photos, and constantly getting into and out of their cars. This was midnight. Jarrett got out of the tent around that time for a moment, not long after I had about decided to go out and tell our fellow campers to shut themselves up, but thankfully they quieted down on their own. Not long after Jarrett got into the tent, I heard something that sounded like a grunt -- a bear grunt. After stiffening up and breaking out into an initial cold sweat, I calmed myself by telling myself that Jarrett was just outside and didn't see anything, and all of the other crazies were out there and they are not screaming in terror. And then I heard them open and close a sliding van door and realized the sound I must have heard was the sound the door made when it opened. I settled on that and tried to go to sleep, despite the fact that the rain was pounding so hard and so loud at times that it sounded like a jet engine overtaking our camp. Needless to say, we got little sleep. In fact, I found out the next morning that Jarrett heard the same grunting sound and had grabbed the car keys in his hand, trying to figure out what to do if the bear outside decided to make an attack.

It was still pouring rain come daylight the next morning. Elsa seemed to think the constant, loud white noise was fabulous, as she slept about an hour later than the previous morning. We hung out in the tent for awhile, all hailing it's fabulous waterproofness. Neither Jarrett nor I have experienced such rain while camping -- we have definitely been in pretty bad rains and have even experienced snow, but this was crazy. Thankfully, our tent stayed nearly completely dry. There were a couple of small areas of water that found their way in, but it really could have been so much worse. It came to the point, though, that it was clear the rain was not going to let up, so we tried to get everything together as best as we could inside the tent, and then Jarrett took most of it out to the car. When it came to the point that we needed to break down the tent and tarp, I ran Elsa out to the car, put her in her seat with some toys, and started playing her CD. She sat their completely happy while Jarrett and I scrambled around in the downpour, madly tearing down the tent and folding it up the best we could, not even bothering with stuff sacks or storage bags. We got so wet, it became comical -- almost fun. It wasn't really that dreadful until we got home this afternoon and had to deal with all of the aftermath on this end.

All in all, I am so glad we went. We can definitely label Elsa's first camping trip as quite the adventure. And I can't wait to go again.