a first campout report
My wife, son, daughter and i ventured off to
Sunset Falls Campground about 30min northeast of Battle Ground Washington. This area has a couple of nice rivers that are known for gold flakes so we enjoy the time there.
We had just about everything just short of the kitchen sink with us so the campsite was maxed out for camping for four adults. Unfortunately, and i'm still laughing over this one, the batteries in my camera went dead by the time i decided i should take some shots of the camp, but here is run down on equipment:
A three room tent including a screenroom for the kids to hang out in. A 10x10ft canopy, 5x5 shower/changing room tent, several tarps for creating floors/shelters (as needed), aluminum table, aluminum kitchen counter/work area, portable BBQ, camp chairs for six (we had other family visit for a day), blue-ice/cooler, three food storage boxes, 2 camp cots, water for four people for four days, firewood for four days, prospecting gear, and all the personal items for each of us. Let me tell you there was not a whole lot of room left for anything in the rig, but it was none the worse for the gear being back there, as such the kids took a second car and followed us to the camp. My wife and i both commented on how well the TACO handled with the added weight back there. We then took the TACO off road to a nearby
GPAA gold claim and enjoyed a day panning on a nice creek.
I plan to set up camp in our backyard again testing out some ideas and will attempt to get some pix up here soon.
One thing i am going to incorporate in the camp is some sort of fence such as a bear fence or similar to keep the kritters out of camp, or at least detour them. I found myself taking all the food boxes and packing them back in the truck at night so the racoons wouldn't rumage through them as they had done in the neighboring camp. I am rethinking the food handling/storage and learning as much as possible on keeping the camp "clean" so as not to encourage any snoopy wildlife.
Cheers,
Thom