Camping Out

Spent yesterday and part of today camping at Afton State Park, it was quite the experience. Neither Angie nor I had camped at the hike-in hike-out area within the park before, so it was a learning experience. We learned that the strenuous hike to the campground is almost straight uphill, and for that reason, it's best to pack light. As you can see from this photo, perhaps we brought a wee bit too many things. Ultimately, we could have done without our chairs and brought a smaller cooler, but we made it either way.
The campsite was partially wooded, and featured a picnic table and firepit. We had a short walk to the outhouse and firewood, which wasn't much trouble at all. Honestly, once we actually made it to the campsite, everything else was relatively easy. Our tent assembled in under ten minutes, and shortly after we cut some firewood and carried it back to camp, we had a nice fire going. For dinner we cooked hot dogs over the fire and ate salad I had made earlier in the day. Once the sun went down, we roasted marshmallows and ate s'mores before turning in.
The temps were in the low 40s, but we dressed accordingly and stayed warm and toasty all night long. I'm really happy with the tent and sleeping mats we bought this year, they really make a big difference for the overall comfort factor. After packing everything up and eating a light breakfast, we hauled everything out of the park and back to the car. We spent the next hour or so hiking around the trails and finding a couple geocaches. By the time we left the park around noon, the sun was starting to come out. We were both a little tired, but it was the good kind of tired.