Camptastrophe '11

A couple months ago, we decided to go camping with some of our friends. The trip was organized around a Redskins bye-week (Chris's requirement) without realizing that it would fall on a holiday weekend. After much planning on Maggie's husband's part, we picked a location, a hike, the food, and the trip came together! We decided to all try to head out Friday evening after work so we could camp for two nights (some of us did not get Monday off, so Sunday night wasn't in the cards). Not realizing it was a holiday weekend until about a week and a half before, we hadn't reserved a campsite and planned to go with one of their first-come-first-serve sites. I think the next picture will let you know how that turned out:

(Yes, I know it's spelled wrong - this sign was made at a brisk-neck pace.)

Trying to contact each other in the dark via cell phone in a mountainous area with limited service was the first adventure of our evening (after paying $15 to get onto Skyline Drive only to realize every campsite in the entirety of Shenandoah National Forest was full). We headed to Jennie's parent's house to regroup and get a new plan together. By about 11pm, we had found a campsite, but decided it was too late to head out that evening so we booked for Saturday night and camped on the floor in the living room. Here's Chris, recovering from his night in the wilderness:

The next day dawned and we started out on our real wilderness adventure. We arrived at our location (Heavenly Acres), set up our campsite, and headed out to find a new hike (yes, Camptastrophe struck again causing us to change our original hiking plans).

And here is where our luck really turned around. We found a place to hike about 15 miles away from our campsite at Graves Mill Trail. About a half mile down the trail, fellow hikers told us to take the route up to Bear Church Rock and about 3 hours later, we finally made it up there! It was gorgeous.

A total of 5 hours later, we had completed the 8 mile hike and were back at the parking lot, ready to head back to our campsite and eat. The boys built a campfire, dinner was prepared (steak, potatoes, and asparagus), and we got down to the business of real camping.

Sunday morning was relaxing. I busted out our camping hammock, we made sausage, egg, bacon, and cheese bagels for breakfast, Jennie concocted a way to brew our coffee in the campfire, and we eventually packed up camp and headed home.

It was a wonderful weekend, and despite our early set-backs, everyone seemed to have an awesome time. A HUGE thanks to Dave for all his planning and for being the chef all weekend (without him, I would have eaten chips and hot dogs, most likely)!