Round Valley, NJ 5/17/14 , Very first overnight

**Chris183** · 05-18-2014, 18:26

Greetings all! We just had our first overnight camping experience at round valley, NJ! Let me get straight to the details. The park staff were very helpful, and friendly despite training some people behind the desk. (I'm sure pinballwizard will say otherwise) The trail to the campsite was a 3 mile hike from the south parking lot. It was a gorgeous day to hike. The trail was rocky, a bit muddy, and had alot of varying elevation, but we enjoyed it anyway. On the way there, we bumped into Pilsburythrowboy12, and Coder who were also hiking to the group campsite. The designated campsite (campsite #5) was very spacious, allowing ample room for setup, including 3 fire rings and an easy walk to drinking water and toilets. The views of the resevoir were gorgeous. The weather for the most part was sunny with temperatures hovering around low to mid 60s. Night time dipped down to 40.

What really made the trip memorable were the new friends we made. We were really spoiled with all the food that everyone brought and cooked. I never would have imagined that camping involved an 8 course dinner. There was sausages, made-on-the-spot guac, habanero cheese, salsa, dutch oven ribs, grilled striper, chicken burritos, and smacos. The next morning there was about 8 pounds of bacon, korean short ribs, and breakfast steak burritos! I think we gained weight this weekend despite hiking 6 miles of hard terrain. I want to thank everyone who we met for their friendship, generosity, and willingness to help a pair of newbs like my wife and I. We are for sure hooked! Here are some pictures i snapped.

A view of the resevoir :

A view of our campsite and all the hammocks setup :

My first overnight hang in my WBBB and superfly :

I was not able to snap a pic of all the food we had for dinner that night, but I did catch this one of njredneck's dutch oven ribs

Delicious striper

Here's what NJredneck and pilsbury were cooking this morning :

Looking forward to our next trip!!!

**pilsburythrowboy12** · 05-18-2014, 18:42

Chris,

You both were a pleasure to be at camp with all the way around for sure. I hope we can strike camp together sometime soon as well, it's always fun to be around folks who like to get dirty in the same sanbox ya know!

**aircoder** · 05-18-2014, 18:52

You two where fantastic company, look forward to hanging with you both again soon! Watch out for that pilsburythrowboy he likes to feed his buddies to bears...

**aircoder** · 05-18-2014, 18:53

hrm... Ok second thought maybe thats why he works so hard to make sure we are all well fed?.......

**pilsburythrowboy12** · 05-18-2014, 18:56

I was working hard to fatten everyone else up to make them tastier morsels for the bears ya rock head haha!

Originally Posted by aircoder

hrm... Ok second thought many thats why he works so hard to make sure we are all well fed?.......

**njredneck** · 05-18-2014, 18:59

I'm glad you had a good time. Thanks for coming out.

**aircoder** · 05-18-2014, 18:59

ahhh ha! I knew there had to be a strong motivation there the way you where working your fingers to the bone.

**Diana** · 05-18-2014, 19:15

LOL. We actually saw fresh bear scat on the way back. Holy moly - all those uphills on the hike back kicked our butts! Good thing we had enough to eat to give us some extra energy. Thanks for all the food and for doing all of the cooking, guys! I think it was a pretty successful first hang...there weren't too many bugs outs. My only complaint would be the bathroom situation..but I think I'll survive...(we'll figure something out).

**SilvrSurfr** · 05-18-2014, 20:00

Sounds like a good time - I tried to make it there but my son's rowing team experienced unexpected success and I missed out. Looking forward to hanging with you guys in the future!