There's been a lot of expectations around my first camping trip. Friends were curious how I like it. So was I. To ease into it, we decided to do one overnight camping followed by hiking in Mt. St. Helen.
Lenka and Chris suggested a camp ground, Iron Creek, about 1hr northeast of St. Helen.
The camp ground was full by the time we got there around 5:30pm on a Friday. Not wanting to go home empty handed, we drove around to see if there were other camp grounds nearby with availability. Luckily we found a private one by Tower Rock, just 15min down the road from Iron Creek. It's run by an elderly couple on a few acres of open land with small fish ponds. There were flush toilets and fishing equipment rental. We were sold immediately.
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| our camp spot with a picnic table and a fire ring |
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| a small pond behind our camp spot |
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| fish pond in camp ground |
First off, setting up tents. It's pass 7pm now, time for dinner. Chris bought a brand new two burner stove that runs on propane. We have chicken wrap and shrimp/veggie saute on the menu. I had everything pre-washed, cut and seasoned. It's just a matter of warming up everything and assembling together. It took about 45 min for dinner to be ready. Food was excellent, even more so when you ate under the darkening cloudy starless evening sky.
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| chicken wrap |
By the time plates were empty, it was too dark to do dishes. We packed up the dirty dishes and got ready to set up a camp fire. 8 bucks got us a wheel barrel full of fire wood, more than what we could use. I just sat and watched Chris and Jose building a fire, and snapped some really cool photos of the crackling flame. The night fall also brought frog songs, the classic sound of the country side.
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| building a fire |
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| the crackling fire would send sparks into the air like fireworks |
Not sure how many hours had passed before we decided to call it a night and went to our tents. It's so dark out here without any lights. Part of the appeal I guess. The frogs' singing was still going strong. I had never been inside a tent before. It's roomier than it looks on the outside. I had borrowed Jose's old fleece sleeping bag, hoping it would be warm enough for the night.
It wasn't.
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| take a peek inside the tent |
Next morning I woke up with frozen toes at 5:30am. It was still quiet outside with occasional bird chipping in the trees. The rain fly over the tent kept us and our shoes dry. After a quick freshening up, we started preparing breakfast. Chris was the chef this time, while Lenka pulled out a banana bread she made ahead of time. We cook water for tea and cocoa to take the chill out of our body.
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| breakfast sausage, potato wedges and eggs |
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| Lenka's yummy banana bread |
After breakfast and dish washing, we planned out what we would go to hike, packed up our stuff, paid the camp owner and drove off to Mt. St. Helen.
I can see myself doing this again. I was skeptical before, but I think I can handle this, as long as there are flush toilets. =)
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