Ahtanum State Forest is only 80 minutes from Sunnyside. How have we never heard of this place before? Jeff did a little research and discovered it. We left a little after 5pm on Friday evening. We listened to HP7 on audiobook and picked up pizza to eat in the car on our way out of Sunnyside. When we arrived at the forest, the first two camping areas we circled were FULL. Jeff and I started to have doubts. I did NOT want to turn around and drive home--what a lame start to summer that would have been! So we drove six miles down a gravel road (A2000--what is with forest service roads and boring names?) and checked the last campground: Tree Phones Campground (we found no explanation about the odd name). Success! We claimed the second to last available campsite and immediately began setting up camp.
Our six man tent is simply getting too small for the five of us, especially with three sprawling children, so we brought along our two man tent as well. Jeff and I had about as much (or as little) space in our tiny tent as we would have had in the big tent with the kids, but we did not have to deal with squirming, sprawling, or brawling children. It was worthwhile to bring two tents (says the girl who didn't put up the tents...Jeff is so efficient at tent-pitching, I left him to it after helping with the long poles and big rain fly, and went to make the "fire" instead).
We toasted marshmallows on my hastily constructed pile of charcoals (we never remember to wait long enough for the charcoal to get hot enough--it tricks us every time). Then we went on a family walk. The temperature was dropping right along with the sun. The wind picked up. We were chilly! We walked around admiring the evergreens and aspens for a little while and then returned to brush teeth and enter the tents. Jeff and I lounged with the kids in the big tent for a while, hanging out and being pummeled by Amber. Then we retired to our skinny two man tent.
The campsites at Tree Phones were all pure gravel, with a fire pit and a picnic table at each site. That gravel was painful! Thankfully Jeff and I slept on our beloved Thermarest pads, but the kids slept with only the tent and their sleeping bags between their backs and the rocks. I think it may be about time to invest in some camping mats for the kids, haha.
The true test of our endurance wasn't the gravel, though. It was the mosquitoes. MOSQUITOES SWARMED US from the minute we stepped out of the van. It was horrific. Thankfully I had a 5 year old bottle of eucalyptus lemon bug spray which helped, but this campout did not involve the leisurely fireside lounging of my dreams. If we were outside, we were moving with purpose. Otherwise, we hid in the van or the tent.
We did not sleep well. To be fair, I rarely sleep well on the first night of a camping trip, but this time sleeping seemed harder than usual. Also, I made the mistake of taking a big drink of water right before bed. I laid awake for almost an hour at 3am fighting my bursting bladder before accepting defeat and climbing over Jeff in the tight tent space, and walking over to the vault toilet in the cold (40 degree) predawn air. I dozed once or twice after that bathroom trip, but not much. The birds sang beautifully as the sun rose.
Around 6am we gave up on sleep and got up. Jeff immediately began putting tents away in a race to finish before the mosquitoes returned. We ate breakfast (juice boxes, banana muffins, and granola) Jay and Rose took turns running (I ran with Rose) because it's summer now and if they want daily screen time, they have to run a mile. I was impressed that they remembered. After Rose finished her mile with me, I went on my own run up Gray Rock Trail. It was beautiful and dry and scenic. Our campsite was at 4500 feet elevation, and I climbed another 1200 feet on my run. I limited myself to running 3.1 miles out before turning back, and felt virtuously responsible for not abandoning my family for much more than 80 minutes.
When I arrived back at the campsite after my run, Jeff and the kids were in the van hiding from mosquitoes. All of the gear was loaded into the van. Jeff told me his ankles were too sore for him to run on trails, so after I caught my breath (and several mosquitoes), I joined my family in the van and we drove home. We arrived home at 10:58am. All of our gear was put away and I had showered all by noon. It was such a whirlwind of a camping trip! We were only away from home for 18 hours! We were TIRED all weekend and I wondered if camping really was the best way to start the summer after all...but that fresh mountain air, the gorgeous evergreens, quality family time, and the discovery of another nearby set of trails made the outing 100% worthwhile.
Sun-drenched daughters in the forest.
Rewind: prepping for a camping trip is a whole lot of work, but I made it happen. I didn't even have to fold down any of the back seats in the van.
Tree Phone Campground.
Jay and I wore hoods mostly to protect our necks and ears from the high-pitched whine of mosquitoes. Thankfully our bug spray worked wonders and we hardly got any actual bites, even if the pests did manage to drive us all a little wild.
S'mores: a must.
Family camping selfie: another must. I wisely took our family picture Friday evening, before we all had a bad night sleep and got wild tent-hair. I love those pictures too, but this one is a miracle: everyone looked AND smiled.
Amber took walking on the wild side literally, as usual.
Camera on a rock: works [almost] every time. We were losing photo-friendly light fast during our walk on Friday night, even though the sky stayed bright long after the sun slid behind the mountains.
Quality tent time.
Reading, reading, reading.
Saturday morning was perfection. I couldn't get enough of those sun-drenched pines.
Jay-on-the-run
Rose and I warmed ourselves in the sunshine and it made a DIFFERENCE.
Amber enjoyed jumping from rock to rock along the row of small boulders lining the campsite.
Running with Rosie.
Pictures from my run on Grey Rock Trail:
That twisted log seemed exceptionally graceful.
Up closer to the top of the mountain, the trees thinned out.
This random brushy field seemed so out of place amidst the evergreen forest.
Grainy cell phone-zoomed picture of Mt. Adams peeking over the ridge.
The trail had several sweet sections of scenery.
My family, awaiting my return.
1 comment:
You GO, momma! I remember many super fun family car camping trips when I was young, but I never appreciated all the work that goes into planning and executing these memories. I DO remember how mosquito hordes can ruin all joy-in-nature vibes so I am impressed (again) by your collection of beauteous trail photos.
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