Our family is getting very excited about our dream trip to Yellowstone National Park this summer. We have begun planning out the details. In calculating the costs, we decided it would be less expensive (and probably more fun) to camp our way there and back. The days of sleeping on the cold, hard ground are over for Ben's poor spine, so we stalked Craigslist until we found this neat little pop-up trailer.
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| Here it is set up on our street at home for the first time. |
As small as it looks on the outside, it's actually surprisingly roomy inside. It has a little 3-burner propane stove, a tiny refrigerator, a miniature sink, a table and two bench seats with storage under them. It has two beds, each big enough that Ben and I fit on it together very comfortably; plus the table and benches fold down to make a third bed.
It looks fine and dandy set up in the street (I'm sure our neighbors were thrilled), but we needed to take her out for a true test. I took Friday off work this week, we ditched the kids at their aunt and uncle's house, we packed the essentials, and hit the road to Cougar, Washington.
We arrived at the Lone Fir Resort (the word "resort" being used liberally) and had everything set up and unpacked before dark on Thursday evening. Not bad, considering I didn't leave my office until 5 p.m., didn't pack until I got home from work, and had to stop by the store on the way out of town. We sat at the little table and ate our Fred Meyer deli wraps and sushi, then connected the tablet to the wi-fi and started up Netflix. Yep, we really know how to rough it.
Despite a forecast of rain, we enjoyed a very dry evening the first night. The RV park staff had mentioned to Ben that they had been experiencing temperatures just below freezing earlier in the week, so we came prepared with a little heater. As darkness fell, so did the mercury. Ben plugged in our little heater and it worked marvelously, quickly, and thoroughly, filling the little room with delicious warmth...for about an hour. At about 10 p.m. it shut itself off unceremoniously and couldn't be coaxed back to life. We huddled together in our sleeping bag and tried to refrain from beating ourselves for forgetting to pack extra blankets.
I was actually quite comfy snuggled down in the sleeping bag, and as long as my head was under the covers, my nose didn't go numb. But Ben was worried to excess that I wouldn't be warm enough if the temperature continued to drop, so he finally threw on his shoes and made the hour drive to the Wal-Mart in Battle Ground in the middle of the night to buy a new heater. I was asleep (and plenty warm) when he returned satisfied in his gallant quest.
With the new heater quietly breathing life back into the icy tent, we laid there listening to nothing. Absolutely nothing. No crickets, no frogs, and certainly no screaming neighbors or endless Mill Plain Boulevard traffic. And we didn't pack pillows. This was a good test, we decided. And we promptly started a list of supplies we shouldn't forget next time. We tossed and turned and got what felt like an hour of sleep each.
We took our time rising in the morning, hoping that lying still would have the same effect as sleep. Ben made us a breakfast of bacon and eggs, which I supplemented with a bagel and Twizzlers. Then we cleaned up the tent, loaded the day pack into the Jeep and took off for an adventurous day.
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| The Jeep in its natural habitat |
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| Mount Saint Helens |
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| On our way to wherever the road takes us |
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| In the trailhead parking lot. For some reason I found this immensely amusing. One large tree missing and a sign on the stump that indicates a firewood cutting area. |
Lava Canyon has two trails. One is 2 miles one way, and the other is a little loop around the falls. Ben was very excited about the 2-mile hike because the sign promised it would be challenging and for "experienced hikers." He was extremely disappointed when we got to the fork which split into the two options and discovered the more difficult trail was closed.
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| "It doesn't look that bad. Please can we go?" |
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| He relinquished his urge to cross the chain when I absolutely refused to go with him. |
It was not a disappointing destination, however. The loop trail offered stunning views of which my camera captured a tunnel-visioned segment to share with you.
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| This suspension bridge over the Muddy River was made frightfully more exciting by the dozen or so signs along the path that warned of "several fatalities" caused by leaving the trail. |
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| The Muddy River falls down the canyon. |
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| I liked this view near Lava Canyon |
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| I have to admit, this is one of my favorite images in the world, and its likeness can be found innumerable places close to home. I love the Pacific Northwest! |
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| One of very few places the Jeep decided to play it safe by letting us walk the rest of the way in. |
On one forest road, we traveled through this tunnel-like path, having no idea where we were going. Suddenly, the view opened up on our left to a jaw-dropping scene of a valley leading toward the mountain. My pictures don't do it justice. Ben used a fun app that allows you to take panoramic photos, which gives a better idea, but I have no clue how to post it to the blog. It was absolutely beautiful, though.
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| I wish I could have backed up far enough for you to see how tall this tree was. |
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| Creating a panoramic photo |
Here is another little slam-on-the-brakes, jump-out-and-explore adventure we took. An enormous fallen cedar.
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| The road is near the top of the photo behind the tree line. |
We walked down the beam to the end where the last portion of the tree fell off the edge of a cliff. I should have taken a picture at the end, but I didn't.
In our adventuring we hoped we'd run into Bigfoot on some isolated back road...or at least a decent black bear or elk. One road which allowed the Jeep to show off its skills--there's no way my Durango would get through--led to a chained off clearcut and we got out and quietly sat at the edge for quite a while, watching for an unwitting animal to meander through. Although we heard twigs snapping from time to time and saw plenty of elk sign, we weren't patient enough to wait around all day for the skittish beasts to appear.
Ben decided to walk up to the top and hoped to scare out some elk. No such luck. Can you see him?
How about now?
However, on our way back to the Jeep, we found what looked to be cougar tracks. That was pretty exciting!
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| Getting dark enough that my photos aren't turning out exactly like I want, but still pretty. |
The irony of our large animal "hunt" for the day was that we were heading back to camp and less than a mile from the hub of Cougar's tourist trap when we saw a whole herd of elk cross the road.
Alas, that's how it goes.
We pulled up next to the trailer just as it started to sprinkle. We walked across the park to the Lone Fir Cafe, or whatever they called themselves, and ordered dinner. It was very good! Ben had a burger with jalapenos that had some cutesy volcano title and I ordered a more tame version with an equally cute tag. We narrowly escaped purchasing the bottled sasquatch hair in the gift shop, then we lugged our sluggish tummies through the dusk to our little home-away-from-home just as the rain began to dump on the resort.
Ben was ready to set up another evening of Netflix, but I was completely zonked. I curled up in the sleeping bag and let the comforting drone of the pounding rain lull me to sleep as Ben walked around the trailer looking for leaks. Much like any other tent, anything that touched the sides got wet during the night, including the foot of the sleeping bag and an edge of the mattress. However, I didn't notice it until morning. We are happy to report there were no leaks.
It was still raining, though not nearly as hard, when we collapsed the tent and packed up for home at 8:00 this morning. Terry Pratchett entertained us all the way home by way of an audio book. After we walked in the door and plopped down our gear, Ben wasted no time falling asleep on the couch to the hum of our beloved neighborhood traffic, while I soaked in an overheated bathtub and tried to convince my muscles to release the tension caused by two pillow-less nights.
Overall, we decided the test was a pretty good one.
The next test will be for capacity: the kids will be invited.
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