My last campout was last fall, when a group of guys from my church went to Cedar Hill State Park for a night. We had fun, but it left me yearning to strap a pack on my back and step out into the wilderness…as opposed to driving up into the parking space of a camping spot and plugging in the air compressor for the inflatable air mattress. [yikes!]
So I planned a weekend-long camping trip for the last weekend in February, and alerted the guys in my church group (and sent out the word to a fellow outdoor enthusiast and close friend) to “gear up”, because this ain’t gonna be no “jellybean” trip.
The plan (up until the day we left!) was to drive up to Beavers Bend State Park in southeast Oklahoma. Unfortunately, the weather forecast showed large hail, damaging winds, and possible tornadoes for that area of the country.
We were considering canceling the trip, when the GENIUS of Steve came through and got us to simply change the location. So, at 11:30am on Friday, February 23, 2007, only three hours before we were planning on leaving, we set out to find a new place to go. Preferably one that would be out of the weather event that was “poo-pooing” on our plans.
Tom found a quaint little spot near Moody, TX, “Mother Neff State Park.” It wasn’t Yellowstone, but it offered hike-in primitive camping and a decent array of “attractions” that piqued our sense of adventure, and was out of the effected area, mostly. [Moody was only forecasting a 30% chance of isolated thunderstorms.]
Off we went, Lance and myself from Lakepointe, and Tom and Steve from Bent Tree. I drove, and we made it there in a little over two hours. That included stopping to eat at Tom’s FAVORITE restaurant, Subway.
The park is laid out in an interesting way. As seen in the topo map below, the park is a long rectangle, and is bordered by FM236 on the east side, and a park road on the west. There is a hiking trail that starts at the Ranger Station, but you can drive to a number of parking spots to pick up the trail where you wish. You can even drive right back to the primitive camping area, and simply “hike-in” a short 100-200yds (depending on where you camp.)
As it was already getting on in the day (and we were expecting rain, if not thunderstorms), we opted for driving back to the northern-most parking lot and “hiking-in” to a campsite. I know, I know, we wussed out. But the original plan was to car-camp the first night, and hike in the second day. So in a way, we actually “upped” the intensity of the trip by hiking in the first night!? Right?
The arrangements were as follows: I was in my North Face Rock 22 tent (pre-tested in Colorado- “good to go”), Lance and Steve were in Lance’s brand new for the trip Ozark Trail tent (a steal at only $25 from Wal-Mart!), and Tom was trying out his brand new Henessey Hammock. It is a tent that is strung between two trees. It even has a rain fly attached overhead. I had never seen the hammock setup, and Tom had only practiced setting it up in is backyard. This would be its maiden voyage.
The hiking trail through ¾ of the park is very nice, making its way through woods of various types of trees and changing elevation.
Like this:
However, the primitive campground is out in the “prairie” part of the park. This is pretty much what we had to work with.
While this was fine for us “tent campers”, Tom was having difficulty finding the right scrub brush to setup his hammock! We finally found a grove of [real] trees near the “group camp” area, which came furnished with picnic benches and a fire pit. [Ugh!]
Camp was setup, and dinner was eaten on the way in (Subway, remember?), so that left us little to do but making hot chocolate! We decided to test out Tom’s new little device which he found plans for online. It is a denatured alcohol stove, made of two aluminum cans!
Basically, something like
THIS.
It worked pretty well, and boiled us up about 2.5 cups of water pretty effectively. Since there were four of us, we had to go through the process of filling and lighting it twice, but it was novel and most interesting.
We slept well, and were only lightly sprinkled on the next morning. By 9:00am, the grass was dry and so were our tents. We decided to explore the rest of the primitive camping area, including the “scenic overlook” and pond that were noted on our little map, and decide if there was a better place to camp for that night.
We found the pond and ventured up to the scenic overlook marked on the map. [pictures had to be removed due to the 5 image limit.]
And then we hiked back the other way towards the woods. We found another grove of trees, with the ruins of a stone fixture (water fountain?) in what amounted to its “courtyard.” Here we had plenty of good spots to pitch our two tents and for Tom to string up his hammock. We decided to move camps, and did just that. After lunch (I prepared creamy garlic noodles and tuna fish) we donned our daypacks and hiked the long trail back to the Ranger Station (we hadn’t yet paid for our nights out.)
Along the way, we stopped at the Wash Pond:
[picture removed per the 5 image limit]
And then later hiked up to the Cave, which is really just a rock ledge, but it WAS pretty cool to see.
We settled up our debt, and hiked back to our campground, this time taking the Bluff Loop Trail which winds up on top of the rocky outcropping over the dry creekbed. It was a fun hike that had a little elevation, nice trails, and was a lot different than hiking through an open field (ala the “prarie.”)
We also took the short jaunt that leads to a water tower built in the 30’s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, which was one of many “New Deal” organizations meant to keep Americans working through the depression. It was a neat little stone structure that had a spiral staircase leading up to its roof. As opposed to so many other neat structures today, there was no sign or barricade keeping you from climbing up to the top and looking around. It was refreshing. While nothing to plan a trip around, the water tower was a nice feature to Mother Neff State Park.
I had a picture of the water tower, but I am limited to only 5 images per post, so I had to cut it out. [sad]
The remainder of Saturday was spent lounging about, and reading the books that SOME of us thought of bringing with them. The winds were high, and Tom was worried about his hammock, but in the end it wasn’t the wind but the coolness of the night that got to him. About 1:30am that night, I woke up quite cold. I simply pulled the drawstring of my Slumberjack mummy bag and went back to sleep. Tom, however, would lie awake most of the night, freezing, as the cold air circulating around his hammock robbed him of any insulation he might otherwise have. It was a hard lesson to learn, but hammocks are for fair weather camping ONLY. He finally warmed up… at 9:00am.
Sunday morning we got up, made breakfast, and packed up camp. We weren’t in a hurry, but Tom really needed to get back as he was flying out in the morning for Cleveland.
We had a great time, and I look forward to my next “Outdoor Adventure!”