Tuesday, July 2, 2024
Camping in the Forest
It's not often that Katie has 3 days off in a row. But with the 4th of July holiday, she had the 2 days preceding it off. Even though that was an awkward time for me to take off work since it was in the middle of the week - Tuesday through Thursday - we decided to go camping. Since our annual 4th of July hike is Montgomery Pass we chose to camp in State Forest State Park. We reserved a dispersed campsite which was nice because they have permanent fire pit areas which means that we're almost guaranteed to be allowed to build a fire, which is an important thing for camping.
We got to our campsite mid-afternoon and started setting up our stuff. Our campsite was in the middle of nowhere in the park off Bockman Road. The last 2 miles of the road to the campsite was an off-roading trail. It wasn't too technical and was something we were able to do in Katie's Crosstrek with little trouble. But because it was on an off-roading trail, it was relatively quiet. We didn't see anyone on the first day. On the second day, we just saw a couple of people driving around in Jeeps and ATVs. Being away from the people was a nice feature of this campsite.
Another bonus of the campsite being out in the middle of nowhere was that it had a large space allowing us to spread out. The campsite we picked, campsite 415, was off what looked like an old forest road, so we were able to drive into the campsite further than typical campsites that are right off the road.
The first day was just set up. We didn't hike other than going to collect firewood and wandering around for wildflowers. We got set up, built a fire, ate dinner, and then went to sleep. The campsite was at a low point in the surrounding area with a small stream running through it. Because of this, it got a little colder than we were anticipating which made for an uncomfortable night. But we made it through the night.
![Fungus on the Wood](/photos/2024/july/small040826IMG_0055.jpg)
![Budding Virginia Bluebells](/photos/2024/july/small040826IMG_0164.jpg)
![Campsite](/photos/2024/july/small040826IMG_0248.jpg)
![Firepit](/photos/2024/july/small040826IMG_0415.jpg)
![Camping](/photos/2024/july/small040826IMG_0505.jpg)
![Burning](/photos/2024/july/small040826IMG_0672.jpg)
![Dancing Flames](/photos/2024/july/small040826IMG_0725.jpg)
![Flying Embers](/photos/2024/july/small040826IMG_0794.jpg)
![Roasted Marshmallow](/photos/2024/july/small040826IMG_0844.jpg)