'Favorite' Campground

[Northwoods]

Couldn't get 'out' this weekend, so we're doing the very next best thing. We live on 3 acres, near the MO river with sinkholes, owls, fox and deer and we have a large "fire-ring" out front. We are camping tonight! The fire is roaring now and it's a cool, starry night. No riffle to gurgle near by, but we can hear a train in the distance and a very rare, occasional barge on the Missouri. No place to go tomorrow, so we can just sleep in. Happy camping everyone. Northwoods, Olga and Ken

[Catawbalea]

YES! safe travel, too. Have a great vacation at a reliable campground. I remember camping on the river and it sounds just like your sounds. We will picnic at home, but didn't think of your great idea.

[B_and_D]

Sometimes, "there's no place like home". We camped at Seacliff State Beach (10 minutes from the house) this weekend, and enjoyed the sounds and sights of the ocean, but really missed the peace and quiet of our country home. Living here has made us become so unused to noise that it's hard to go camping where there's a lot of people.

There was always a generator running, sometimes way after hours; one night a family camped next to us with a heater that needed bearings and it went on every 10 minutes all night long (I pretended that it was a cricket chirping, but DH couldn't), people like to walk on the walkway that is literally right next to your head when you're sleeping (and some of them like to talk, sometimes loudly, at 6 AM).

Camping was fun, it was great to spend some time at the beach, but it's nice to be home :).

[PopBeavers]

I spent the weekend avoiding the crowds. DS (23) and DD (25) went backpacking with me. DW stayed home, bad knees.

3 days, 19 miles with a 40 pound pack. Tenaya Lake to Clouds Rest, Half Dome and then down the Mist Trail past Nevada and Vernal falls.

Early dinner of steak and Rice-A-Roni at the base of Half Dome before climbing up to watch the sunset from the top of Half Dome. We timed it so we could get down the cables and the steep granite steps before dark and then walked another mile and a half in the forest with flashlights back to camp.

On the way down the mist trail, just below the top of Nevada Falls, there was a bobcat chasing a squirrel not more than 10 feet off the side of the trail. That was an unusual sight.

This was not a TM weekend.