I think camping is a great way to spend quality time with the family. My husband and I have been taking our kids camping since they were two and five. Now that our kids are older (11 and 14) we finding that we don't have as much time to camp on the weekends, due to sports and such. Well about two months ago we got a chance to take them camping once again. This time we decided to let each of them bring a friend. Let me say we have camped many places both primitive and so called luxury, but our favorite is primitive. Primitive is what we consider hiking into a campsite that no one or very few people venture to go to. So this camping trip we decided to hike into our favorite spot, Dick's Creek, which is right above Cleveland,GA. At the end of the very long dirt path you park your car and hike in about 2 miles, across two creeks, and down in a deep ravine is our spot. We have done this with our kids many times so they know what to expect. But this time we brought their friends whom are also brother and sister. We have known these kids since they were babies, so they are really family. We got everything planned and packed then off we went. We packed a lot of equipment, more than usual because of the extra mouths to feed etc. So we drive to the end of the dirt road, park and get our gear together. The kids each had big backpacks (about 30 pounds each) and my husband and I had a 60-80lb backpack each. We also have a cooler (about 60 lbs) to hike in. This trail that we have been hiking for years is perfect. It is very soft ground and pretty flat, a relatively nice hike. Well about 1/10 mile in we started noticing big pieces of white gravel , basically just big rocks. This gravel looked like it had just been spread , and probably was put out after the bad storms to help with run off. Big Mistake!! The gravel only got thicker and worse as the hike went on. I was thinking the whole time, "What kind of idiot Park ranger approved this?" Well we made it to the campsite, all with very sore feet and ankles. My husband and I were so disappointed that our beautiful hiking trail had been ruined. The rest of our trip was great , but we will never go back, due to the destruction of our trail. So my advice to campers looking for a good spot at Dick's creek is to go up early Friday and camp off the driving path in designated spots.
No comments:
Post a Comment