S wanted to get back into hiking and camping and doing outdoorsy type stuff. We'd gone on a couple of hikes on our own, but I had the brilliant idea of joining a hiking group (or 10). We joined one that was doing a hike with a car camp...and it wasn't far from us! HORAY! Except, we had to drive south on 95...during rush hour...on a Friday. *sigh* Prince William Forest Park here we come!Yes, traffic was hideous. Of course it always is on 95 south. It really should have only taken us about 45 minutes to get there, but well....
K1, one of the event planners, came to introduce herself and invited us over to their campfire, which was nice since we didn't have any wood to start one on our own. H also stopped by an introduced herself. Everyone was SO nice! I was doing a *happy dance* in my head.
Once the tent was finally finished, we wandered over to the "party" to meet some other members of the group. First impressions are always fun:
K1 (event planner #1) - a bit on the quirky side, but very nice!
K2 (event planner #2) - quiet, but also very sweet
H - cute. Very well traveled for what appears to be such a young age. Smart kid too!
L - Hiliarious! He had us all laughing pretty hard!
The fire was nice and tasty. My feet were freezing!! We practically had our feet in the fire, though, which is not a good thing. L didn't light the best fire for night 1. I was starting to doubt whether we'd survive the weekend. My feet just WOULD NOT get warm.
We excused ourselves to cook dinner. We had jalapeno sausages and chips for dinner. It didn't take long to cook or eat. I was starving, but still freezing. *sigh* Then we rejoined the party for more laughs. I was so tired and so cold. I think it was around 9 that we hit the sack, or at least tried to.
Lesson 1 - Now I know what they mean when they say you need to keep dry to sleep warm. My feet were freezing because they were moist. I had worn my hiking shoes to work and...well...yes moisture did occur. And it didn't occur to me to remedy this before it became too late. I FROZE!
Lesson 2 - Air mattresses and cold weather camping DO NOT go together. These are things a novice camper just doesn't think about... Well, I DO NOW! NO air mattresses for cold weather camping.
I shivered, I shook, I tossed, I turned. You name it, I did it. There was no sleep to be had for me, and well consequently for either of us. I finally gave up after about an hour plus, crawled out of the blankets and sleeping bag, grabbed by bag, and put on not one but TWO pairs of socks. Magick solution #1! YES! FINALLY! *hears trumpets blaring* SLEEP! Which was short lived.
Around 5, the mattress (and my bladder) decided to wake me up. The air in the mattress was too cold and was simply sucking the body heat out of me. We both took a trip to the heated bathroom. Can I just say...thank jebus for heated bathrooms! *rewind* A WHILE ago, we received new emergency packs at work and had to turn in the old ones. I...let's just say...refrained from handing in certain items from the old pack. A mylar blanket being one of them. Well, before I left work, I tossed that puppy into my bag. Boy am I glad I did!! We opened that sucker up and put it on top of the mattress, but under the blanket that was on the mattress. This reflected our own body heat back to us and not allowing it to get sucked into the air core of the mattress. YES! Two more hours of sleep!!
We are coffee drinkers. So, the first thing we did when we got up was put some water on to boil for some coffee. Well, this drew a crowd. The party was at our campsite that morning. K1, H and L all stopped by for a chat, some cocoa, coffee, or mocha. H brought over her Jetboil and made some oatmeal while we cooked up our breakfast scramble. After we ate, we joined the rest of the group at K1s campsite where the rest of the members were congregating.
We piled into cars and headed over to the trail head. Initially I was towards the front of the pack, which was a bit too fast paced for me. I needed to head to the back. However, it was like pulling teeth to get people to go in front of me when we stopped! *sigh* I am glad we had the trekking poles with us though. That saved me more ways than one. I lasted longer on my feet with those things, then if I didn't have them. And it helped my knees on the descents. This really was an up and down trail.
However, the trail wasn't all that scenic... The fall color was pretty much gone. This is pretty much what it looked like most of the time. It does wind around the stream at points and that was pretty. I didn't even see many fungi either. Cause...I'm obessesed with photographing fungi. You'll find out later.
We stopped at a nice part by the stream and ate lunch. Everyone was snacking on tuna and crackers. We had kaiser bun sammies. And I wonder why I'm still a heffer?? *snort* So as you can see, there are SOME scenie parts of the trail, but...yeah, it was pretty brown most of the way.
The trailhead started at the Turkey Run Education Center. and followed High Meadows Trail (A trail that begins on the ridgetop and descends to the South Fork of Quantico Creek, including a wide variety of habitats. 2.1 miles (3.4 km)). Then we picked up the South Valley Trail ("The longest single trail found in the park, includes abundant beaver and other creekside wildlife habitat, with excellent opportunities for wildlife viewing. 9.7 miles (15.6 km)"). Then finally the home stretch on the Turkey Run Ridge Trail ("A moderately difficult trail between the Turkey Run Environmental Center and the South Fork of Quantico Creek. 1.4 miles (2.3 km)").
That last leg on the Turkey Run Ridge Trail was killer!! My feet were kill me! My knees were sore and my hip was really sore. BUT, I trudged on like a trooper. I was afraid to stop because I wasn't sure I would be able to get up again. *snort*
Saturkey night camp cire was just as hilarious and fun as Friday night. There were considerable more people to enjoy! There was about 16 of us camping that night, but the campfire Satuday night could accomodate us all. It was excellent!
There was a smorgasboard of food! We brought our token marshmallows and hot cocoa. There wasn't anyone starving, that's for sure! We excused ourselves to cook our burgers. I was FAMISHED! Then went back for more fun. I was toasty warm and tired. Everyone kept thinking I was asleep, but I wasn't. I was just enjoying the fire, the company, and the occasionaly haldful of chocolate covered toffee.
Sleeping was MUCH easier!! K1 brought some extra sleepign bags and S used one Saturday night. I bundled up in 1 pairs of socks, three shirts, and two pants in our sleeping bag. I was toasty for a long time, but then some cold air snick in in the wee hours and I had to shift lower into the sleeping bag. Problem solved.
Strangely enough, I slept past 7! GO FIGURE! I honestly thought I was programmed to wake up with the sun. Who knew? We packed up and said our goodbyes. We headed home to pick up Missy...then do 7 loads of laundry.
So, what did I learn?
Lower temperature sleeping bags are essential, but expensive. :(
Air matresses SUCK the body heat out of you. DO NOT use in cold weather.
It's okay to wear many layers to bed when it's cold...and yes I WILL sleep in them.
Rubber shoes will melt when close to the fire.
A teepee shape is a MUST for building a good campefire
Jumbo marshmallows are not better for smores.
You can dehydrate beef stroganoff....
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