Solo Camping

Since having kids, I have never really had quality "me" time. Chris is forever telling me to take a break and go have some fun but I've always been reluctant. I don't really know why. I guess it's because I didn't become a mom to just throw my kids off on other people. Chris has even offered to send me to Utah (my favorite hiking destination) for a week. But I've always declined.

A few weeks ago I came across a volunteer opportunity that looked interesting. A group would be spending a day doing meadow restoration at Sunrise (planting wildflower seedlings). I emailed them to see if they could use one more person and they replied "of course!" Perfect. I love the mountain and I love gardening. And I love camping, so I combined all of those and created the perfect "me" time.

I arrived at my campsite at the White River campground, which is located inside the national park. I set up my tent and jumped back in the car and drove to Sunrise to do some late-afternoon hiking. I picked the Dege Peak trail which ended up being a good choice because I didn't run into a soul. The summit of Dege Peak was awesome although the view of the mountain was less than ideal because of the sunset. This would have been a better hike in the morning with the sun hitting the mountain rather than setting behind it. I rested for only a few minutes before heading back down because I wanted to be back to my campsite before dark.

When I was back at camp, I ate a quick dinner and decided to get settled in my tent for the night. It was only 8pm but I didn't take a lantern and didn't want to build a fire. A car approached and stopped near my car. I figured it was the person staying next to me, but a couple of minutes later a female got out and approached me. In a European accent, she explained that the campground was full and she had nowhere to stay. The ranger said it was okay to find another campsite to piggyback off of, as long as the camper at that site was okay with it. At first I was incredibly annoyed. This was supposed to be MY solo camping trip! I didn't want to share my site with anyone, whether I knew them or not. But there have been times where I'd scrambled to find a place to sleep (northern California and Lake Mead with Chris, and in Italy by myself, to name a few) and I said okay. I know what it's like to be in a strange place and not be settled in for the night. Besides, I would have felt incredibly awkward saying no.

But I started having regrets as soon as I agreed. Of course this would have to happen when I was alone. I've camped with Chris a million times and had never been in this situation. The girl's boyfriend approached me and thanked me profusely. He said they had beds in their van and didn't need to pitch a tent. I said "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I'm curious where you're from? Are you on a road trip?" Their names were Fabi and Susi, they're from Germany and at the beginning of a several-month road trip to visit as many national parks as they could. They bought the van and outfitted it with beds and curtains because it was cheaper than renting something.

As we chatted, my regrets disappeared and I was happy that I was able to help. Fabi asked if I wanted to have dinner with them. I declined and told him I was about to settle down for the night, but let him know they could set up whatever they needed to cook, start a fire, whatever. He insisted that I at least stay up and visit, so I thought "what the hell, I love Europeans" and we chatted for a couple hours. We talked about lots of things, mainly travel, and I told them about a few must-see hikes and other things to do in Washington. I also told them about my trips to some of the parks they were planning on visiting. They told me they'd spent a day in Seattle and were not impressed. I told them Seattle doesn't impress me either :)

Eventually I settled down in the tent to read. At some point I fell asleep but overall didn't sleep well at all. My summer sleeping bag was in the trailer so all I had was my cold-weather bag. I was too warm with it and too cold without it.

Early the next morning I said goodbye to Fabi and Susi and headed back up to Sunrise to meet the volunteer group. I'll write a separate post about that. After my work was complete, I drove back to the campground and took my tent down, and headed for home.

When I returned, my mom was at the house with the boys. Chris left early Saturday morning for a 90-mile hike so my mom kept an eye on the kids. Logan was already asleep for the night but Owen was happy to see me. Although when it was time for Mom to leave, Owen said to her "take my hand, Owen go to Nana's house please." It was precious! I talked him into staying home with me but promised he could spend the night at Nana's soon.

All in all it was a fantastic trip. Perfect "me" time for the outdoorsy person that I am. Thanks Mom and Chris for making it happen!