Summer 2002 Camping Trip
US Forest Service Campground
Detroit Ranger District
Breitenbush
Campground
July 29, 2002-August 3, 2002
-The Campground-
The above series represents
approaching our campsite, along the main road of the campground.
This series shows what was past
our campsite, along the main road.
And
this is what we got to see everytime we walked along the road through the
campground. This was taken from in front of our campsite, so everytime
we walked to the water faucet, the toilets the garbage or the waste water
dump, we got this for a view. You can keep the expensive RV parks
with all the hookups, this kind of seclusion and beauty is hard to find
elsewhere. Our camping may be primitive since we stay at US Forest
Service campgrounds, but the fringe benefits are wonderful.
-Pat's Campsite-
This series shows the site immediately
next to us. The first picture is before our friend arrived and set
up camp. The next 3 show the site after he set up camp. You
can see how private these sites are, by how little can be seen from the
road.
Here we are, walking up to the
campsite. To enter our site, you either had to walk between the tree
and our camper (look at the last photo) or enter from our friend's site
(and walk past one of our dogs) or walk in from the site on the other side
(past one of the other dogs) or come in from the river.
-The Main Campsite-
Well, here we have entered the
campsite. To the left is the firepit and behind that is the Supply
Tent, where all the food and coolers are kept until needed. To the
right of the firepit is the Dining Tent and along the side of the Dining
Tent is the Kitchen area. At the bottom of the 4th picture there
is an old stump. More about that stump later.
Now that we have entered the
campsite, we should take a look at how things are setup. Starting
with the first camper (the one you had to walk past to get in here), our
1979 Apache Royal. Next to it is our friends BJ & Candi's camper,
a 1974 Apache Hawk. Going down a slight hill to our son Dwayne's
tent, a greenish coleman tent, then to BJ's son JT's tent, BJ's old Blue
and Grey tent. Across from JT's tent is Jessica and Sandy's 2 room
tent. And lastly, behind the girls tent we put up the game room...
anyone know how to read the directions?
The Dining Tent. From
the front and from the back.
The Kitchen area. First
picture is taken from in front of the girl's tent. The other two
pictures prove you -CAN- get 17 year olds to wash dishes. We won't
mention what they thought about doing that chore! Actually, dish
washing was traded off between the 12 year old girls and the boys, as I
recall the girls may have done more washing since they needed the practise.
The adults didn't get out of chores though, the adults did the cooking!
To further illustrate the privacy,
this picture was taken by the girls tent looking toward our friend Pat's
site. You can just make out his car in this picture. Hows that
for seclusion?
-Swimming-
Did I mention we were along
a river? Well, this is how close the river is... All these pictures
are taken in our campsite. You may notice a rope in the water...
this was strung from a tree which had been cut down -to- the roots of a
tree that had fallen over. Both trees extended out into the water,
giving us the opportunity to put in a safety rope. We feel that safety
is as important as having fun.
-Fishing-
It is important to learn how
to cast!
Every camping experience needs
"lessons". Here is Pat "teaching" Flies_&_Tangled_Lines_101
That "class" time must have
paid off. Looks like the girls caught dinner. Of course they
did not like the cleaning part of the experience!
I should mention that the
highlight of this trip was the fish. We were enjoying a lazy day
when a large truck pulled up in front of our campsite and asked if they
could come through our site. It seems the water levels where the
hatchery normally releases the fish were too low, so they carried netfull
after netfull of fish through our site and released them into the river.
The girls were using old marshmellow bait on standard hooks to catch the
fish, they were even able to sit there and 'pet' the fish in the water.
I think they made some of the fishermen, who had expensive rigs, a bit
upset since the fishermen weren't doing well with all that fancy stuff!!
-Non-Human Campers-
Sammy, our American Staffordshire
Terrier. He was between our site and our friend Pat's site.
What's that in the shade there?
Why its another dog! This is one of the Black Lab/Am Staff. mixes
we have. Her name is Sabrina, and she was on the other side of the
campsite (behind the boy's tents).
And nothing could sneak up on
the girls at night! This is Sandy's pet, Dusty. Actually, I
think he thinks she is -his- pet!
All of the dogs were on tie-outs
or leashes. Dusty would sometimes roam around free, but we often
scolded Sandy for letting him loose. Dusty was chained to the girl's
tent, and would sleep inside the tent at night. During the day he
was often on leash, with somebody.
-TROLLS!-
Remember the stump I mentioned
at the beginning of this page? Well, I like making dioramas and my
daughter like playing with trolls... so this is what the end result of
that is.
-Other Information-
Like last year, we used these
vehicles:
A 1961 GMC 3/4 ton Flatbed, a
1991 Ford Aerostar Van and a 1976 Honda CB-750 Motorcycle. The truck
hauled all the tents, food, equipment, dogs and miscellaneous supplies
as well as pulling our newest trailer, a 1974 Apache Hawk. The van
pulled the 1979 Apache Royal trailer and hauled some bedding and personnel.
The motorcycle was the transportation for other personnel.
There was one more vehicle, a
2000 Nissan. It was driven by a friend, Pat, who joined us once again
for this years invasion.
This years arrangements were
slightly different than past years, with the addition of another camp trailer
we were able to give the boys thier own large tents. So, we had 2
adults in the Apache Hawk, 2 adults in the Apache Royal and one adult in
his Nissan. Each of the boys had thier own tent, down near the water.
Across from the boys was the 2 room tent for the 2 girls. Along with
those 3 tents we also had a 10x10 screen room by the river for the kid's
games, the 11x11 dining room and 5x10 kitchen area, the canvas supply tent
and over in the other campsite with our friend was his old Boy Scout tent
(for storage). We also took along 3 dogs, Sammy (American Staffordshire
Terrier), Sabrina (Black Lab/ Am. Staf. mix) and Dusty ( poodle).
-Campsite Map-
The
Campsite map. This illustrates the arrangement of the campsites we
chose and the relationship of those sites to the facilities and the river.
All the tents, vehicles and where the dogs were staked out is shown on
the map, once again though the map is not to scale. Just a sketch
of where we were.
-Photographic Equipment-
Pictures were taken with 2 different
cameras.
1) Minolta SRT101 35mm
w/ 1:14 f=58mm lens (stock lens)
1:3.9 f=80-200mm (Craig Optics "zoom" lens)
1:2.8 f=28mm (Beston wide angle lens)
2) HP Photosmart 612
w/ 128 meg memory card
2x optical zoom
2x digital zoom
-Menu-
Our Menu for the trip went something
like this:
Monday
After Setup, Lunch was Ham or Bologna Sandwiches.
Dinner was Hamburgers, Hotdogs & Macaroni Salad
Tuesday
Breakfast:
Coffee, Hot Chocolate, Milk, Juice, Bacon & Pancakes
Lunch: Sandwiches
Dinner: Chili, Tortillas,
Cheese, Onions and Pears
Snack: Toasted Marshmellows
& Smores
Wednesday
Breakfast:
Coffee, Juice, Hot Chocolate,
Sausage Patties, Eggs & Hash Browns
Lunch: Sandwiches
Dinner: Chicken,
Mashed Potatoes, Gravy & Green Beans
Thursday
Breakfast:
Pancakes, Coffee, Bacon, Juice
Lunch: Sandwiches
(I think, I slept through lunch... :)
Dinner: Fresh Trout, Chiken
Burritos
Friday
Breakfast:
Ham, Eggs, Coffee, Juice, Hot Chocolate
Lunch: Sandwiches
Dinner: Hobo Stew -Beef
or Chicken-, Hamburgers, Hot Dogs
Saturday
Breakfast:
Cereal, Juice, Milk, Coffee
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