Camping June 2015

June 21, 2015

Camping June 2015

Lake Swartswood State Park, Newton NJ

Feeling proud after figuring out how to load the kayak onto the car!

Mike and I went on a one night camping trip to Lake Swartswood State Park, starting early on a Friday. I took off from work and he had just finished 8th grade the day before. We shopped for food, packed, loaded the kayak for the first time, and were off by 10:30 in the morning. We got to our campsite by about noon or so, and proceeded to set up camp. Once the tent was up and the car was unpacked, we made a quick lunch of PB&J sandwiches, had some chips and dip (a tradition with us on camping trips) and then proceeded to carry the kayak down to the lakefront for its maiden voyage. We paddled about on the lake for maybe half an hour before we got tired and decided to head back to camp. It had been a mistake to carry the 75 pound kayak from our campsite to the lakefront - we had used up precious energy carrying it, when we should have used the car. We did use the car to get it back to the campsite. For dinner we cooked Grands Biscuits in a dutch oven over an open fire, and drank ice teas....perhaps not the healthiest of meals, but a lot of fun.

Setting up camp.

After dinner, we walked back down to the lakeshore and watched the sunset, while I took many picures of the lake and sky. Later in the evening, we hit the potato chips and dip again. Finally, after dark, we headed to the lakeshore one last time for the day to do a little star gazing. While Venus, Jupiter, the moon, and the Big Dipper were all easily visible, much of the sky was obscured by enough haze to block out the dimmer stars on what should have been a spectacular opportunity. Oh well. Back to camp, where we played with the various lanterns we had, and chatted by the campfire until bedtime. We slept surprisingly well in our tent that night, and I was awakened at 5:25 am by the loud chirping of many birds. Mike managed to sleep until about 7:00. By that time, I had a roaring blaze going in the fire pit, and had begun baking more biscuits as well as some real bacon. After a satisfying breakfast of bacon and biscuits, we started to break camp. By 10pm the camp was packed and we drove the now very full car back to the lakeshore, where we fished for half an hour or so, then headed for home. It was a very satisfying trip.