Hawn State Park

Back at the trailhead 

I gave Kristin her first backpacking-camping experience (she had been hiking and car camping, but never stayed out in the forest while backpacking) this weekend. Hawn State Park was the perfect place for it--not too far to drive, nice mix of mild to moderate terrain, and gorgeous scenery. We got a bit of a late start but made it nearly three miles in before we found a spot to stop. Set up camp at a leisurely pace and walked a bit more without packs before dark.

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The trip was great for a number of reasons. First, I just love the outdoors and everything that goes with it. Kristin especially liked the creeks. Corny as it sounds, we bonded on this trip, having time away from everything else to talk about little things, things about our histories, things about our personalities, about our futures. Night was cold, sort of--it got down right around freezing and her bag wasn't necessarily rated for those temps to our knowledge. But we persevered, and when we woke up (we slept late for camping-time) the inside of the fly was wet with dew instead of frost, so it couldn't have been too bad.

In my mind, there were two highlights to the trip. Both happened at night. The first, Kristin had designated herself "fire-girl" (don't tell the ranger that we had a small campfire) but had let the flame get too low. She was absolutely thrilled that I was able to re-ignite it by blowing. Yeah, it's not a big deal, but her reaction was just great. The other, after dinner I washed dishes in the creek, then came back up to the site and told her to come down to the creek with me. We stood in the clearing, Kristin clutching my arm, and looked at the stars. Crisp, cloudless night with water nearby and woods all around, not a person within two miles, and we could just be there. What an amazing two minutes.