On Friday, March 15th we planned to camp out at Ross Prairie State Forest, but wait you say, that's not what the title of this post says. Well let me share with you how the weekend went and you can decide if our first camping trip of the year was a success or a failure. Heads up the vote in our family was split in half.
So we arrived at Ross Prairie a little later than intended on Friday, but still with plenty of time to set up and do a little hiking as planned. We stopped by the ranger station for some information, where we learned two important things that we didn't know. When the trail guide said the campsite was located right off of the trail we intended to hike, it didn't mean near the parking lot. Secondly, we learned that anytime a campsite is listed as a backcountry campsite that doesn't mean spaced out and isolated campsites, but a campsite that you have to hike to reach. This one was a one mile hike down the trail. We started out optimistic, but the giant tent we have to use for a family our size and a cooler full of food and cast iron for cooking quickly became unwieldy. But we trudged on, only to discover that we were on the wrong trail after going about .3 of a mile. As we got back a kind lady told us of a secondary primitive campsite, that we could park near. So we headed over there, only to be told it was on Ross Prairie State PARK land and that we couldn't camp there, because we hadn't paid them. Later we were told that we couldn't use the campground at all because it was only for Boy Scouts. Now a hot, sweaty mess and an hour later we looked at the razor thin trail that we had missed branching off the first failed attempt and decided, nope, this camping trip isn't happening.
The kids of course were devastated, so Gary and I set out to search surrounding camp grounds to find somewhere that we could camp for a night as promised. There was nothing available on Friday. there was nothing available for Saturday (even though that would have been tough to get ready for Church and there on time), then we checked for Sunday night. After searching through 7 or 8 campgrounds we found on spot open for Sunday night, and snatched it up at Hogs Island Campground. They were relieved to find out we could still camp over the weekend. So we started home only to be rear ended pulling out of the gas station. Thankfully, there was no damage to the car, but our little trailer/carrier was totaled. We lashed it together as well as we could and it got the ice chest back home. As we got back underway, I looked at the forecast and saw rain was expected Monday morning, but Gary said we'd be out before it arrived. No problem right (and that boys and girls is how you write foreshadowing).
Sunday afternoon we headed home after Church and loaded up the food (everything else was still in the car). Ross Prairie may have been three strikes and we were out, but Hogs Island would have to go smoother. We ran into our first problem right away, one of the polls on the tent is broken, and has to be duck taped in place, it didn't matter how much tape we put where it just wouldn't hold. After fighting with the tent for an hour, we got it up; however, all night it slowly slid down till the girls half of the tent was just shy of touching their faces when we woke them. Strike one. After getting our camp site situated, two of the girls had asked me if we could paint in nature, so we grabbed the paints and canvases and headed down by the river. Where the mosquitos ate us alive. But all in all we had a good time. I painted part of a mountain scene with a river, Ruth painted a cityscape, and Kate painted a starry night sky. Meanwhile Gary fished a bit, and Britt and Rebecca explored even seeing a few deer. Just shy of dark we all headed back to the campsite to grill sausage dogs for supper. It was a little chilly, but not too bad, everyone enjoyed supper and then roasting and eating marshmallows, before we headed to bed.
And that's where the trouble began again. Now I'm not much of a camper, I love to be out in nature, but when it's time for bed I want a real bed. So one of the things we've always done, is that Gary has always brought and blown up air mattresses with a air compressor that we have that hooks up to a car jack. When we first set up the tent we blew up a full/queen mattress for us and another for Ruth and Rebecca. Then two twins one for Kate and one for Britt. At bedtime everyone got situated and fairly quickly went to sleep, only to wake up about 2 hours later to discover that Gary and I had an air mattress with a hole in it. We were nearly on the ground. By 2 am Gary gave up and went to sleep in the car in the drivers seat, and I tried to salvage the air mattress. By 6:30 we both gave up sleeping and got up. Bad air mattress strike 2.
We did all the morning things like stirring back up the fire, so we'd be able to cook. Then around 7:30, we walked the loop together around the campground, checking out rigs and other tent set ups. There was one man in a tent packing up but the rest of the campsites were just starting to stir. As we got back we heard distant thunder. Gary still wanted to feed the kids first and started on breakfast, I woke them and we packed up the air mattresses, bedding, pillows, clothes, and then started on the tent. We had it about half way down and the rain fly off when a huge clap of thunder sounded almost over head and then the rain just burst, we sent the girls to the van with their breakfast. It was a torrential down pour, enough to rival the beginning of the movie, Open Range. We were trying to get the tent down but pretty soon it had more than an inch of water flowing through it. After a second massive clap of thunder nearly over head Gary, Britt, and I ran for the van too. Meanwhile the pan with mine and Gary's eggs was full of water and the last of the bacon to fry was floating around the skillet. After sitting close to half an hour Gary asked if he should drive us the thirty minutes home and then come back for the tent. But just then it slacked off to almost nothing and quit. So he and Britt finished packing up the tent and strapped it to the back. Strike three thunderstorm.
We made it back to the house sopping wet and Gary headed to get a shower and a nap before work since he didn't get much the night before. Me and the kids did all the laundry and set the tent up in the garage to dry. We unpacked all the food and got the house mostly back in order. Then when Gary woke up he fixed the tent that wouldn't stay up, and started checking kids for ticks. Kate was the winner with 18 ticks. At least most were very tiny, some hadn't latched on yet, but for those of you keeping count that was a bonus strike in my book.
We loved the campground itself it's really well maintained most of the sites are very private from one another, there are good facilities and the little creek/river is pretty and good for fishing. But this trip was definitely a wash out in my book. If you'd like to make a trip, definitely bring bug spray. The address to Hogs Island Campground is 9274 County Road 635, Bushnell, Florida. The fishing and common area is open all the time, but the campground is only open after 6 by a code that you receive when booking your campsite.
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