I went camping this past weekend with Gene, Kaitlin, and Kevin. The last time I went camping was right after high school so I’m thankful we took an easier route and camped 100 feet from the car. It meant camping wasn’t too intense and we could bring more items.
We camped near Gross Reservoir, a little over an hour away from Kaitlin and Kevin’s house. The scenery was full of wildflowers and hills. It was beautiful.
When we got to the camping area, however, all the camping spots were taken so we ended up having to camp in an illegal spot (although at the time we did not know it was illegal). We also later found out that we couldn’t actually swim in the lake we thought we’d be able to, so a 2 night trip turned into a 1 night one.
The time we spent there was still fun though. We played a few games, went walking, and had a campfire where we cooked hot dogs and roasted marshmallows.
Before we left on Saturday we went on a hike to the lake. On the way there I fell and scraped my knee. I haven’t had an injury like this in a while and was quite surprised I hadn’t been able to compensate and rectify my balance. It wasn’t too bad, my knee just bled a lot. It’s a bit stiff now but give it a couple more days and I’m sure it’ll be back to normal.
Along the hike I saw many awesome mushrooms. I even saw the quintessential mushroom, the Amanita muscaria, which made my day. Looking for mushrooms and wild strawberries makes hiking more interesting and helps me notice nature more.
Camping this past weekend has made me slightly more interested in doing it more often. I’m going to have to look up camping sites once I get back from my next vacation (England and France!).
Just Lauren 