My daughter and i are going to Ouachita mountains in November, so we thought we better do some practice runs beforehand. I haven't done any backpacking camps since 1975 (yes, i'm an old fart), and she'd never done one at all. So we packed up and headed down early Saturday morning. High's in 80s, lows in 60s. Part of the trail covers an old road that's now only used for lake access, but it's interesting to see how the asphalt resurfacing has eroded.
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The plan was to take the lakeside trail up to Mary's cove, have lunch there, and then continue north to the primitive campsite. Part of the trail covers an old road that's now only used for lake access, but it's interesting to see how the asphalt resurfacing has eroded. it's about 5.5 miles from the trailhead to Mary's Cove. We had Mountainhouse for lunch and got to use the new cook kit. I got a GSI Dualist earlier this year and though it's a bit bulky, it worked out great. Plenty of capacity to boil water for two people's lunch/dinner AND a cup of hot chocolate each.
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After lunch we headed toward the primitive campsite...but noone told us we'd be using the primitive trail. There were a couple of times that we had to spend a minute or two looking for the next trail marker. After about 3/4 mile we decided that we didn't really need to get to the primitive site after all, and opted to double-back to Mary's cove. After finding a nice place off of the trail to set up I coached her on how to set up the hammock, the tarp, etc, etc. Also got to teach her about vaseline covered cotton balls and fire strikers.I even got to use the Sawyer Mini for the first time.
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We were both using new packs, so we were curious how they would ride. They did well. Had plenty of room for all that we brought in. Also, she had never slept overnight in the Ridgerunner, so i was uhhhh, lets say "anxious" about how she would sleep. I slept lightly (i thought), waking up every time I heard her rustle around. But that told me that she was safe and learning about the hammock.
The next morning we were up dawn, fixed breakfast, broke camp, and headed back. On the way back she told me she was sleeping lightly too, and that every once in awhile a little snore would come from my hammock (me snore?), and that would tell her I was doing ok. All in all, it was a great trip. Spent time with the kiddo, tried out new gear, and generally took it easy.
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Originally Posted by Slowanderer
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