How many miles can a family of three put on a brand new minivan in the first week you say? Well it seems the answer is at least 700.
The back and forth of day to day helps, but you really rack on the miles when the toddler sees all the outdoor gear in the closet points and says "camp?". So, load up the minivan. Were going camping. It doesn't take much to get this team excited about the forest. The minivan was fun, I literally loaded all the stuff I never bring because it's waaaaaaayyyyy too much stuff, but I guess, why not(?) since we had the room.
We went to the Sherwood OR on Saturday and spent the day strolling around, they have apparently been having the Robin Hood fair here for a few decades by now, it was a fun little fair. We ate some popcorn, corn on the cob, sweets and some tasty burgers, for charity, of course. Saw the tail end of sword fight, and the beginning of a comedy show. Atreyu and Fawn did some arts and crafts. On our way out of the fair we came across a community yard sale on the tail end of not as busy day as they had hoped for. The sale was being advertised as "anything that fits in a garbage bag for $5" sale by the time we got there, we had to stop. Filling a bag wasn't too hard, so we filled a giant moving box as well (minivan).
After the fair we headed for Mt Hood. An overnight was in the works. Packed and ready to go, we search for Timothy Lake, out route 26 past Government camp and a quick right onto the "Oregon Skyline Road", which doesn't really have near the amount of skyline you might guess from the name. Our trip out here took us past a forest fire in the distance and a guy sitting next to a truck wrecked in a ditch. Seeing as it was Saturday and we weren't really exactly sure where the campsites we were looking for were, we didn't find it that night. We popped up the tent in a 'throw it up quick for the night, cause I'm hungry and tired of driving around looking for a good spot' spot. It will do. Our site was clean and had obviously been cared for by previous users, there was evidence of a second fire pit that had been recently removed and there was very little litter in the area. We did our usual, check around and clean up anything we can. A pay campsite cost $20, a free one is worth a half hour of your weekend. Our spot was a little sketchy as it was pretty near the road and had that "I hear banjos" feel. We didn't find the lake on Saturday despite driving around for an extra hour looking for the spots in our camping reference book that clearly state there are some prime spots to be found right on the lake front, what we did find was evidence of a lake though. About a billion mosquitos and helicopters collecting water from the lake flying overhead. Our spot was just about a half mile east of the entrance to the "little crater lake" campground. We were able to draw clear cold delicious water at the well here and there are pit toilets at the campground if you're too squeamish to dig a cat hole.
The day use area in the campground is where we started our hike on Sunday morning. Little Crater lake is amazing, a geologic feature like none I have ever seen, only about 100 feet across and 45 feet deep, and you can see clear down to the bottom, water so blue its almost like looking into a painting of a lake. We troop it out about 2.5 miles down the trail where we find Timothy Lake!!! And all the camping spots we were looking for the night before!! No sweat, Fawn didn't want to take a chance driving a 6 day old car down the trail road, which (in all fairness looked mostly ok, but had some sketchy spots) led down to the lake from the main forest road. All the spots down here were taken anyway. We hiked on, another half mile hike in we found what I can only describe as one of the most ideal tent camping areas I have ever come across. Too hard to reach for some, but those who make the trek would be greatly rewarded, with a scenic outcrop looking out over the whole of the lake and a small sandy spot to wade and dip into the (not too) cold lake. A couple of fire rings not too close to one another make this an ok spot for a few camps. It would have been amazing to find this the night before. Oh well, next time. We did spend some time here on the little beachy area before heading back, Atreyu did his thing. Yes!! Throwing rocks in the water!!
On our walk out we carried out some garbage left at this site. It baffles me how a case of PBR is light enough to carry the half mile walk in when it's full but is too heavy to carry out when it's empty. We ran into some people parked along the trail that allowed us to leave the bags with them to load in their pickup so we didn't have to carry them the rest of our hike. (Thank You). On our way home we decided it would be cool to stop for lunch, we toughed the van up the trek to the Timberline lodge to take in the scenery and then we hit "Ratskeller" in Government Camp for lunch, and like the reviews online say, food was good, service was meh. After that Fawn and I shared a chocolate bar like ninjas in the front seat so not to have to share with the 'all mighty and crazy on sugar one' in the back seat on the way home. Comfy cozy, showered and in bed.
I have been asked a few times in my travels what is the one piece of equipment I recommend people get for newby campers. The answer is easy, cook wear. Most first time campers are going out when it's warm and dry in the summer, there isn't a real need for an ultra light tent, or sub zero thermal sleeping bag. But you can do real damage to the pots and pans from your kitchen by cooking with them over a fire or even with most camp stoves (which burn way hotter than a conventional stove at home), but for a small amount of money you can get a pots and pans set that will travel with you for years, it will be light weight and durable enough to handle being placed right into hot coals on an open fire.*Pro-tip, by learning the subtle art of controlling the way the coals burn you can make almost anything on the fire you can at home. I have baked cookies and biscuits, pancakes are one of my favorite campfire foods, ever.* I have a personal size mess kit for backpacking but for car camping I carry a 4 quart pot w/ lid and 16" skillet. Between those two I have yet run into an issue with being able to make coffee and breakfast at the same time. Even the most cranky of camping reluctant teenager can be soothed by a warm cup of cocoa if it gets chilly out. Nothing tastes better than when it comes out just right and right off the open fire under the big trees.
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