This weekend I went camping with some friends from work. We went to Hanging Rock State Park--left Friday after work and got home Sunday afternoon.
This was the first time I've ever really been camping and actually slept in a tent. I absolutely loved it!! I'm hoping that we'll go back more now that we all sorta have the stuff that we need.
It was definitely COLD! (Upper 30s in the morning/middle of the night and 40-50 during the day). But not too bad if you dressed in mad layers and stayed close to the fire at night and in the morning! The temperature was actually perfect on Saturday for hiking! Friday night it rained some and Saturday night it was CRAZY windy.
We hiked up to the top of Hanging Rock and stayed up at the top for about an hour looking around and taking pictures (2.6 miles round trip). Then we hiked to Lower Cascades Falls after lunch (0.8 miles round trip). And, finally, we hiked to Window Falls (1.2 miles round trip).
The distances weren't too long, but we definitely had some crazy elevation changes throughout the day! I had the best time crawling all over the rocks and going off the paths to see the different views. Completely gorgeous!! I was soooo glad that I bought hiking shoes!
We also had the best food that was cooked over the open fire:
Dinner Friday - Precooked ground turkey, rice, veggies, and cheese cooked in foil packets.
Breakfast Saturday - Bacon, eggs, and Bisquick mixed with water, coated with cinnamon sugar and panfried in the bacon grease (completely NutriSystem approved!)
Dinner Friday - Precooked ground turkey, taco seasoning, lettuce, tomatoes, and Fritos
Dessert Friday - S'mores! (Except I had a banana, graham crackers, Hershey's bar, and marshmallows cooked inside a foil packet [SO good!])
The tent that I was sleeping in was like the Taj Mahal! It was HUGE and even had a little vestibule in the front to leave your shoes! So nice to keep the tent floor clean. The park had bathrooms and showers, though I didn't dare to attempt a shower--too damn cold for wet hair! :-) Everything was really nice and clean for as cheap as the campsite was!
I'm now definitely a huge fan of hiking and camping (esp. when going with people who know what they're doing)!!
