Come Camp With Me! Bear Creek Lake State Park
Summer is in full swing now, and I realized I still hadn't posted the blog about my trip this spring to Bear Creek Lake State Park! I wasn't originally planning to go there for that trip. I can only go camping when I'm in the "day walking" phase of my sleep cycle, so when an opportunity to go camping comes up, I either plan something right then and there or else I miss the chance and have to wait a couple weeks until I'm awake during the day again. On that particular weekend, the campgrounds I wanted to go to were already booked, so I chose Bear Creek Lake instead. What a great decision that ended up being!
Pulling into the parking lot I looked down at my phone and realized it hadn't been charging the entire drive and was down to 2%. Much like my phone, I was ready for a recharge. The campground itself was smaller than I expected, although there were several sites I hadn't noticed since the weekend crowd wouldn't arrive til the next day. Pulling into my site, I was pleasantly surprised to see how close it was to the water. I told multiple people that it felt like being in a 70s summer movie. A quiet, naturey campground on the lake, lots of happy families, and of course, my retro camping gear!
Unfortunately upon opening my storage tub that I keep all my gear in I realized a major mistake I had made from my last camping trip. It was drizzling when I was packing up last time, so when I got home I aired out the tent and tarp. However, it didn't occur to me that I should air out my wooden clothes pins as well. Many of them were covered with spots of dark mold. Several I had to just throw out right then, but luckily many in the bag were still untouched. We'll see how they fare after a couple more trips, at least it wasn't an expensive lesson!
I was VERY happy that I hadn't procrastinated on getting another extension cord, because even with the additional cord it barely reached the tent. I was set up in no time, and walked up to buy a bundle of firewood. The bundles were pre-corded, but something about them was off. I couldn't figure out at first why something looked odd. Then it clicked in my head: they weren't random fire wood logs, most were straight and angled like construction wood. "I hope this wood isn't treated" I thought to myself. I meant to ask the rangers the next day about it, but it slipped my mind.
On this trip I decided not to do a lot of cooking so I wouldn't have to worry about cleanup and washing, so most everything just needed to be heated. I'm almost always magically starving after I setup camp regardless of when I've last eaten, so I opened my cooler for a couple bratwursts and hot dog buns. I didn't feel like waiting to get a fire going (plus I didn't trust cooking the food over some Home Depot remnants) so I used my Coleman stove to heat it up. I brought a big bag of coconut granola snacks that was supposed to last the whole weekend (including if I made friends and wanted to share) but immediately ate half of the bag in one sitting. I must admit, it was really nice having almost no cooking mess or cleanup for the whole weekend, it made things so much more convenient!
After dinner I threw someone's old bathroom wall frames, I mean, a few logs into the fire pit. Having learned that I STILL don't know how to get a fire going, I pulled out my new fire starters and a bit of cardboard I saved from home to use as kindling. I'd probably place these in the same category as the premade, ready-to-eat food I brought; they made things SO much more convenient, but it did slightly take away the rustic joy of accomplishment from tending some sticks until you've earned a nice roaring fire. I texted my mom and told her how easy it was to get the fire going with the starters, and how it was nice to not have to tend the fire, only to then accidentally snuff out the fire like three different times and spend fifteen minutes getting it relit. At some point I was very surprised to look in the fire and see that the fire had gone through one of the logs instead of burning up around the sides:
And yes, now I use my rainbow packets every single time I go camping. They make me feel like a kid again!
Now what happens next I can only defend by saying that I had just been staring into a fire for the last couple hours, I'm a suburbanite with very little outdoors experience, and... well honestly, I was several drinks deep at this point. First I need to explain that the various RV/tent sites around the park are on several different levels. Some are down near water level, another loop is much higher up the hill mostly out of view, and the three sites where I was at were all individually level but staggered in height down the slope of the hill. As the fire died out and I adjusted to the darkness, I looked over and saw a light shining through the trees. "Is that a headlight on one of the campers? Did someone just leave an RV light or camping lantern on pointed right into the woods?" Then I realized with embarrassment that it was, indeed, the moon.
The picture was in night mode so it makes it look brighter than it actually was, but I was surprised by how bright it was. I was literally staring directly at the moon for about thirty seconds before I figured it out. "I think I need to get outdoors more" I say to myself.
Due to the aforementioned adult beverages, I slept restlessly and had a bit of an upset stomach the next morning, so I napped most of the early day and relaxed inside the tent. For breakfast, I was trying something new. Instead of cooking eggs in a pan, I made omelets at home before I left and wrapped them up in the bottom of the cooler under ice. I had recently bought some black cherry tomatoes at the store and used them with cheese as filling for the omelets. As it turns out, they look black because there's concentrated purple pigment, and that pigment will happily transfer over to cooked eggs if you leave it for awhile!
At first I was upset and grossed out, as I thought it was some kind of turbo fungus that might make me see colors in my fire even without the color packets (the moldy clothes pins were probably still in my mind somewhere). Once I realized it was just the tomatoes, I had myself a nice easy premade breakfast. I've since made a mental note to use these tomatoes if I ever need some natural food coloring for a themed dish.
Once I was feeling better, I walked around the park for a bit. The park itself has almost no trails as it basically just encompasses the campground itself, but it does directly connect to larger trail systems in nearby parks. I didn't take any of the long trails, but I did walk the fifteen to twenty minutes along the one main road to get to the developed park area that has the "beach", picnic areas, bathrooms, etc. I was VERY excited to wear my new shirt that I got specifically for camping. It has dogs on it! Also got to try out my new corduroy hat!
I sat near the water's edge at one of the picnic tables. There were several families with children either splashing in the lake or eating under the pavilions. It was one of those nostalgic moments where I felt like I could've been in the 70s/80s and not even known. Surprisingly almost no one was on their phones, people were fishing, or laughing with each other. It was a very "present" moment. Watching all the happy families definitely stoked a wistfulness to have a family of my own. I thought about how fulfilling it would be to build a life with someone and be a dad. I thought about how if life had gone differently then I could've been one of those dads splashing his kids in the lake or telling them ghost stories around the campfire. I felt a sense of loss for something that I don't think I'll ever get to experience.
Getting back to my campsite, I was surprised to see how many weevils were covering my tent. There were thousands and thousands of these things in the park! At any given moment there was probably a hundred or so on my tent. It totally freaked me out the first time that I saw one because it looks extremely similar to a tick.
Fortunately they're not dangerous and mostly just amble around. Not pleasant the first time you look down and see one crawling on you though! Another unpleasant surprise was seeing how much pollen was everywhere. It was already like that back home so luckily I was already on my allergy meds, but I did have to wipe down my table almost every time I wanted to eat. While the windows were rolled open with the net screens up, this was still how much was getting inside the tent after just a couple hours:
The second evening was lovely. The two campsites staggered below me also had white Christmas lights around their tents, and they were laughing as they setup their fires and ate. It was such a cute scene with the lights and fires that I really wanted to take a picture, but I thought they might think it was weird. I played my strumstick before it got too dark, and afterwards when the fire was going again I took out my new tobacco pipe and smoked for a bit. I have to say, it's such a calming and pleasant experience to slowly puff on a pipe outdoors at nighttime.
The sky was clear and the stars were beautiful. I sat there for a long time just smoking, looking at the night sky, and thinking about the day. My mood had lifted an enormous amount by that afternoon, and I was able to stop thinking about a lot of my worries. By the time night fell I felt I had healed and let go of a lot of stress. After another high-end dinner of Aldi supplied brat dogs, I tucked into bed and slept wonderfully.
I was caught off guard to hear the dulcet tones of Michael Buble around 7am. A large family several hundred feet away were playing easy jazz over their speakers. While it was admittedly a perfect playlist for a slow morning, it was loud and early enough that I thought to myself that they might be getting some looks from the neighbors that morning.
At that point I still hadn't gone swimming in the lake yet. I've been wanting to go swimming in a natural swimming hole for several years now, so I absolutely didn't want to miss my chance. It hadn't warmed up much, and I knew the water would be cold, but that wasn't going to stop me. I do actually enjoy the occasional cold swim! I also hoped that no one else was planning on swimming in cold water at 9am so I could have some quiet.
To my utter delight, not only was I the only one swimming, I was the only person on the whole entire "beach"! The water was definitely nipple-sharpening, but I adjusted fairly soon, and the sense of absolute serenity and peace was incredible! I did feel a little freaked out swimming all alone in dark water though. At some point I found a spot where I could sit on the bottom and be covered up to my neck, and I just sat there for a while taking in the energy and meditating. Time was running short though, so I knew it was time to head back and start packing up. Usually I like to get everything packed and ready to go right after breakfast, but I just didn't want to leave this park! I showered and changed, and slowly got everything packed. I was taking as long as I possibly could. I played my strumstick and sang for awhile while looking out over the lake. Finally as the clocked ticked down with minutes until checkout time, I put together a quick roadtrip playlist and climbed into the car.
"I'll be back, my friend" I said to the land.