To Camp…or Not to Camp

My husband and I like to take short, little adventures with our dog, Jack. Camping an hour away from our house might not really be considered a true adventure, but if you know us, things tend to turn adventurous whether we plan on it or not. Even so, I can always see God’s hand in our outings in one way or another.

It was summertime…school was out….we hadn’t gone anywhere in a while. You want to go camping for a couple of days? Sure…let’s go! We got online and found a park with a great campground and lots of hiking trails. We made a reservation for one of the park’s tent campsites. Now to start making a list and gathering what we would need…or think we might need for the quick trip.

We had never tent camped before, but how hard could it be, right? Have tent, will camp! We got going the morning of the trip and packed the truck. Tent, flashlight and sleeping bags…check. Snacks and food to put on the grill…check. Shorts, t-shirts and hiking shoes…check. Dog…double check!

We drove the short hour to the park and found our camping spot. It was a pretty location with the lake just feet away. There weren’t many people set up close by, so we felt like we had the place all to ourselves. Now remember, this was a tent campsite, so there weren’t many amenities waiting for us. We had a somewhat cleared off, somewhat flat space for the tent to sit. There was a charcoal grill available, but we brought our small propane tailgate grill to use instead. The fire ring had seen better days, but considering this was the last day of June, we didn’t plan on lighting any fires. Oh…I can’t not mention the tall pole with a hook at the top for us to hang our trash, so the nighttime animals couldn’t reach it while we slept! Now I know I haven’t mentioned anything about a bathroom. There was one…across the campground in a brick building. The showers were in there, too. Whew!

It didn’t take long to get our campsite all set up, so we were looking forward to exploring a couple of the trails around the lake. We had researched the trails and their distances before we left home and while we comfortably sat on the soft couch in our air-conditioned house, we decided we would go for the longer trail that encircled the whole lake once we got there. We grabbed a backpack, a hiking stick, and Jack the dog and headed out along the trail. The sun was high in the sky, but the trail wound through the tall pine trees, so we were in the shade for the first while. Again, there was NOBODY around to be seen! The trail and scenery were really beautiful and so quiet. It was definitely peaceful. Jack would run ahead of us and then stop and turn around as if to say, “What’s taking yall so long?” We would catch up and he would run ahead again and repeat the same look toward us. He had so much energy and was loving life!

I mentioned that we had chosen the longer trail, but I failed to brag on the fact that the trail was 6.9 miles all the way around the lake. The trail had been tough in spots, but completely doable and in the cover of the trees. What we didn’t expect was the long open area along the dam. The walkway was more level and wider, but without the shade of the treetops, our bodies began to scorch from the concrete below our feet to the fireball on top of our heads! We went from less than bright, damp in places, closed in by the tall trees, pine needles and leaves everywhere right to the surface of the sun! We were less than halfway along our trail, and we, Jack included, had a decision to make. Do we keep going or turn around and head back? Didn’t matter…it would be the same distance either way, so we pushed onward!

The never-ending concrete path finally did come to an end, and we walked back into the tree cover. We noticed that Jack wasn’t running ahead as quickly and his backward glances were now saying, “Seriously? How much farther?” I was feeling the same way and to add to my discomfort, I now REALLY had to go to the bathroom! The fact that we hadn’t seen another human for a few hours had worked out in my favor because…well…you know. When you gotta go, you gotta go! All I could pray for myself was please hurry…please don’t let anyone push through the brush toward me…please don’t let that be poison ivy. Enough of that, let’s move on down the path.

As much fun as we were having together, after a couple more miles, we were all looking for that proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel” to show up around the next curve in the path! After a snake in our walkway, a few sticks that we thought were snakes, a few stops to rest and drink water, we finally saw the light. We made it!

My goodness it was hot! I guess it made sense why there were no people walking the trails with us. It’s the end of June in Texas! We had it made now though. Once we sat down and recovered a bit, our hunger set in. The tailgate grill worked wonderfully. We filled our plates with hamburgers, sausage and chips and turned our chairs toward the lake to watch the sun set behind the trees. The water was so pretty rippling with the turtles swimming and fish jumping. Wow…that is a long ripple coming toward us. It sure is a long ripple…coming right toward us! Yeah…that’s an alligator! Granted it was a small guy, but regardless, we kept an eye on him! He ended up swimming past us along the shore and disappeared under a small pier. OK…not only do we have to think about using the tall trash pole to keep ground critters from making a mess, but we also have to think about the water creatures that might like to join us in our tent!

Did I mention that it was so hot…so VERY hot and humid? It was about 9:00 at night and we were ready to take showers and retire to our tent for the night. The showers were just across the campground, so we wanted to go across together. One of us would go in and take a shower while the other took care of Jack outside and then we’d switch. After gathering what we needed, we had a lightbulb moment…let’s just drive to the showers and keep the air conditioner on for the one waiting! Genius! So here we go, the two of us and Jack climbed into the truck for the one-minute drive to the showers. We took turns going in and the other sat in the truck with it running and the air conditioner on high. I went in first and had the ingenious idea to shower, but not dry off completely, in hopes of being able to use the damp sleeping clothes as a coolant once I sat in the cold truck. He did the same. It was a pretty good idea and it worked…until we stepped out of the truck back at the tent site. Clothes were dry as a bone and we were resweating within minutes! Let’s just go to sleep.

Sleep? Yeah…not gonna happen! Our tent was the perfect size for the two of us and Jack. And by perfect, I mean there was no room for anything else, including circulating air. Having Jack with us was a blessing, don’t get me wrong, but his hot breath on my skin felt like a hair dryer. We had to keep the tent zipped in order to keep Jack in and the other critters out. We had our two sleeping bags laid out, but there was absolutely no way we were going to crawl inside them, so we used them as padding on top of the terribly placed rocks underneath the tent. Sleep was replaced by counting my numb spots and listening to the critters scuttle about inches away outside…probably trying to climb that tall pole. Longest. Night. Ever.

Morning finally came and as soon as there was enough light to see our hands in front of our faces, we started moving around. Our original plan was to take the morning slow with some breakfast and coffee and maybe another quick walk around the campground, but…new plan. We were so sweaty and hot and sore that we looked at each other and made the decision to pack up and head home. It didn’t take long to get everything cleaned up and packed. Jack had already jumped into the truck and was watching us, so we knew he was ready to head out, too. We loaded up and left our sweet, little primitive campsite just as bare as it was when we arrived less than 24 hours ago. Fast forward 55 minutes and we were pulling into our driveway at home. Memories made for sure!

So back to my question. To camp…or not to camp? Definitely camp.

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The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Isaiah 58:11