A Snapshot and The Scoop: Kitten's First Beach

I went to the beach! While spending a weekend on the Gulf Coast of Texas there was no way I could pass up camping on a beach. Callie has been to the beach with me a few times, but this was Hoodoo's first trip . . . and it didn't really go well. My cat has no problem with water, but he really doesn't like the wind, and guess what happens on the beach. When he wasn't distracted by blowing feathers and flying bugs, Hoodoo made it pretty clear he had no desire to hang out in the wind. He was fine in the tent and behind something blocking the wind, but if he was exposed he meowed his displeasure. The only exception to that was just before sunrise, when I went for a walk with him and Callie before the world woke up. Hoodoo was thrilled to chase the bubbles in the surf, even braving a small wave that wet his paws. He pounced at the washed up sea grass and pawed at shells and took more than a few swipes at Callie when she shook the saltwater out of her fur after taking a dip. All in all, though, I probably won't be taking my cat back to the beach unless I can stop the wind, but I suppose there has to be some places that Hoodoo just isn't a fan of.

Leave me a comment below and tell me if your pet has a place that they don't seem to like. Where is it?

National Backpackers Day

Commemorative. You know, my hobby sure has a lot of days to celebrate. There's National Trails Day, National Parks Week, The National Park System Birthday, National Public Lands Day, and National Backpacker's Day. Am I missing any? Probably. Why should we celebrate days that are dedicated to the outdoors? If you're reading this blog you already know my answer, but to refresh your memory we should celebrate the outdoors because being outside is healthy; it is good for our mental and physical wellbeing; the outdoors provide so many opportunites for recreation including hiking, biking, boating, paddling, hunting, and fishing; and the outdoors brings everybody together in ways that an office party can't, nevermind the cultural and historical significance preserved in the outdoors and the fact that we need resources from outside to survive. Today we are celebrating something a little more exclusive, something relatively few people compared to the general population have ever wet their toes in. Today, we celebrate backpacking, and the kickass people who do it.

Why would anybody want to strap their entire life to their back and walk a bunch of miles? Every single person has a different reason for backpacking, and I can't speak for them, but I can tell you my reasons for backpacking with the hope that maybe you'll find a reason to backpack at least once and try it out yourself. I backpack because the world isn't contained along the sides of a highway, and to really see I need to get out on a trail and explore. I backpack to find solitude or companionship, depending on if I take someone with me or fly solo. I backpack to test myself, to push past my limits that end up being mostly mental though I have found a few physical limits as well. I backpack to relax and get away from life and stress and my problems that shrink to nothing when I'm on the trail and the only thing I need to do is focus on packing well, putting one foot in front of the other, and make sure I'm at a good campsite before the storm hits. Trail life is simple, but presents challenges in ways that make you grow as a person. You learn to double check your packing list before you leave home, because if you forget your fuel canister you either eat cold food or go hungry. You learn to pitch your tent on a slight incline to keep water from pooling under you when it rains. You learn the value of something when you have to decide if you want to carry it with you, if it is really worth the weight. You learn that the best heat source on a cold night is a dog crammed into your sleeping bag with you, because damn they are warm. So many lessons on the trail that you would never learn if you stay at home.

To celebrate National Backpackers Day I've made a list of my favorite backcountry campsites, all requiring you to strap on what you need to stay in the wilderness for a night or more and hoof it into the middle of nowhere. No cell service, no electricity, no cars, and very few other people, if any. In no particular order, enjoy!

Copper Breaks State Park, Texas

If you're looking for solitude this tiny state park near the Texas/Oklahoma state line delivers like a ton of bricks. They only have a handfull of established campsites and offer just a couple of backpacking permits per night, ensuring you will pretty much have the park to yourself. The trail to the backcountry area isn't long, only about a mile and a half, but you feel like you've walk twenty miles into the middle of nowhere with the lack of noise around you. Fall asleep on a ledge above a small gully listening to the coyotes yip around you as the stars bloom in the deep sky above. Bonus points: you can bring your dog.

Little Medano Campsite, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Presesrve, Colorado

The hike to this backcountry site is not easy, requiring five miles of walking on loose sand, even if you walk on the somewhat packed-down primitive road, but the hike plus how the national park spaces out their backcountry sites all but guarantees you'll have a prime site for watching the sun set over the sand ramp and a good shot at seeing wildlife. There are numerous bears in the preserve portion of the park, so using a hang bag or a bear canister is required. We didn't see one while we were out there, but it wasn't for a lack of trying.

South Llano River State Park, Texas

This pretty little backcountry area has five "established" sites to choose from, once you make the two mile hike to get here. One of the few backcountry sites to provide picnic tables, it is a beautiful place to lounge around under the shade of cottonwood trees while the evening settles in around you. Make sure to get there early and you might see hummingbirds flitting around in the afternoon light while armadillos wake up for a night of foraging. Bonus points: Dogs allowed!

Grapevine Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

There is no easy way to get to this backcountry site, which requires at least ten miles of walking before you can call it a night. Usually done as the second night of a four day trek along the Grand Canyon, Grapevine retains its water flow through May and sometimes into mid-June. Water is life in the desert, so don't be surprised if you share your site with another hiker or two (though we had the whole canyon to ourselves when we went), and maybe some mule deer or coyotes. The stream is full of tadpoles during spring, though they grow up fast before their home dries up. A word of caution: never camp at the bottom of a canyon, wash, or gully in the desert unless you are certain it won't rain anywhere within 40 miles of your location. Flash floods come up fast and without warning even if it isn't raining where you are. 

Sea Rim State Park, Texas

Who doesn't love the sound of waves crashing in a rhythmic beat against the shore? If you can brave the mosquitoes (with the help of lots and lots of bug spray) a stay along the beach at this state park is well worth the effort to get here. While you can drive along the beach to a point, and those with four wheel drive capabilities can drive even further, you can also load up your backpack and walk to any site on the five miles of beach that suites your fancy. You aren't allowed to camp on the grass-covered dunes, but you wouldn't want to anyway; alligators and wild hogs call them and the salty wetlands the dunes protect home. Sunrises and sunsets above the gulf are like nothing else on earth.

Dune field, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado

Everybody wants to play in a giant sand box, and when you can camp in it? Even better. The play of light and shadow among the thirty square mile dune field makes staying the night even more dramatic, just be sure to stay up long enough to catch the sunset over the dunes and wake up early enough to watch the sand begin to glow with the morning light. The hike into the dune field is strenuous, and adding a pack doesn't help. Most people don't cross the first ridge of dunes and that is considered the day use area, so you are required to hike well beyond that before you can call it a night. Give yourself plenty of time to reach your site, but if you do hike in the dark a headlamp is a must. Just be sure to get off the dunes fast if there is an approaching thunderstorm, you truly are the tallest thing out there.

Cottonwood Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

As one of the few permanent water sources within the canyon walls Cottonwood Canyon is a popular backpacking destination, and is easy enough to reach for a single overnight. That doesn't mean you should pass over it though. In the desert, with water comes beauty, and Cottonwood is well named for its abundant cottonwood trees, as well as junipers and other desert flora. The hike into the canyon is not easy, however, and there are signs and rangers everywhere reminding people that going down into the canyon is optional but coming back up is mandatory. 

What do you think? Can you handle staying in a place like one of those mentioned above? Backpacking really doesn't take a special kind of person, it just takes someone willing to try something new with the possibliltiy of learning a few lessons along the way. There are bad things about backpacking, sure, like the bugs and the heat (or cold), the distance from help if you get into trouble, or the possibility of running in to angry wildlife, but the benefits of backpacking far outweigh the risks. I taught myself how to backpack, devouring every book, magazine, article, and blog I could get my hands on before I felt ready enough to try it on my own, and even now I am tweaking my technique every time I load up for a new trip. Lucky for you, I've got most of the hard part figured out and am more than happy to bring newcomers along for a night or two under the stars. I've somehow managed to talk a couple of my friends and my sister into accompanying me on backpacking adventures, and they keep coming back for more so I can't be scaring them off too badly. Congratulations ladies, this day if for you as well! Want to join our ranks and give backpacking a shot? Let me know! In the meantime, Happy National Backpackers Day!

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Nature is an Artist

I have been so lazy about writing lately; it's not that I don't have time, or things to write about, it's just that by the time I go to sit down and write about my adventures I no longer have the brain power to do so. I'm not making any promises about being better in the near future, but let's consider this a fresh restart. I am two months in to my New Year's Resolution to go camping at least once a month (so far so good!) and I took the above picture on my first camping trip of the year in the middle of January on the Gulf Coast. It was a gloomy, foggy, chilly sort of weekend, but the sun peeked out from behind the dense clouds for a couple of glorious hours in the evening, and the molted colors on this shell caught my eye. Given that the sun and the surf eventually bleach all of the shells on the beach a stark white, the oranges and purples actually made me stop in my tracks. Callie, who was with me and was used to me stopping randomly to stoop down and look at something on the ground, just kept going on her merry way. She only came over to investigate when she heard the shutter on my camera clicking as I tried to find the perfect light and angle to capture the shell. I finally achieved what I wanted, and kept going, only to stop a few feet away to look at another shell. Oh, the joys of beachcombing.

According to Plan

Contented. Sometimes on my travels things don't go exactly according to plan. Actually, more often than not things don't go the way I envisioned them in my head when I planned out my adventure, and those times are what give me my stories. Who wants to hear about a trip where everything was choreographed and rigid? They don't make for fun stories, and I find myself only sharing the times on my adventures where something didn't happen like I thought it should. Even my short weekend get-aways, with less room for error due to time constraints, sometimes don't go the way I want them to. This year's birthday trip was no exception.

I like to take trips every year to celebrate my birthday. Given that I'm a January baby you would think that my options are limited as far as celebrations can go, but I was never one to shy away from a challenge. When I was younger my birthday trips were usually limited to a single day, usually ice skating or maybe driving to a museum or something. As I got older and more independent, I started travelling (go figure, right?) Now, traveling in the winter has its own logistical difficulties, but I always seemed to manage ok. I started exploring outdoors in the chill of mid-winter, first in my home state, followed the next year with a trip to Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park with a friend, and the year after that (last year) I spent a week by myself in the deserts of southern Utah. That trip in itself was an exercise in changes to my itinerary, what with me getting sick and the blizzards I encountered. This year, however, I wanted to go somewhere warm. I envisioned sunny beaches with that sea breeze that keeps everything from getting too hot, camping out in my tent with my pup while wearing shorts and a tank top. Lucky for me, I moved to Texas almost two years ago and the gulf coast is only four hours away, plus previous adventures had led me to a tiny little state park with no crowds. A perfect get-away for the birthday girl.

The day I left home it was foggy, threatening rain. I'd checked the forecast obsessively, making sure I wouldn't have to change my planned location, though I wasn't opposed to travelling further south down the coast until I found warmer skies. The forecast promised the fog would burn off by noon, so I timed my arrival at the park for 11am to ensure I got the perfect spot on the beach. Setting up a tent, which is essentially a giant sail, by yourself on the beach takes some skill and patience, and with only one minor mishap where I had to chase down my rainfly before it blew into the alligator infested marshes I managed to get the tent set up and pitched tightly against the strong breeze, all while dense grey fog swirled around me. The sea was indistinguishable from the sand and the sky.

With the tent up, I waited. And waited. Noon came and went, and the fog only seemed to thicken. I took Callie on a walk along the water where she enjoyed chasing the waves and bringing me seagrass that washed up with the tide. If I wasn't paying attention I could have lost her in the fog that turned everything into the same monochromatic grey. Everything was diluted, even the bright red paint of my car. My grey tent with orange linings all but disappeared, and the only reason I found my way back to it was by walking along the edge of the dunes until I nearly walked into it. As 2 o'clock came and went, I crawled into my tent to try to keep my dog and I a little dry. It didn't matter; everything was damp from the fog that swirled around outside. Finally, an hour before sunset, the fog lifted and sunlight sifted in through the clouds, giving a false warmth to the drenched beach. I crawled out of my tent, but my hopes of lying on a beach while the sun warmed my bones had been dashed hours before. Instead I curled up in the last rays of the sun, wearing a hoodie and sweatpants, and read my book until the light became too dim to continue outside. The fog was moving back in from the ocean, and Callie and I crawled back into the tent for the night.

My one last holdout for the weekend was one of the spectacular beach sunrises that I've come to love so much, but Mother Nature wasn't having it. The fog that had begun creeping back in at sunset the night before enveloped everything in just as dense and damp of a mist as the previous day, and I found myself packing my tent just after what should have been sunrise. Instead, I got to watch the grey mist develop from a dark charcoal fog that blocked out all light into an ethereal landscape that held no shape or feature. After one final walk along the water's edge (only discernable by the wetness of the water washing between our toes, because we sure couldn't see much) Callie and I loaded up into the car and left the park. It wasn't exactly what I had envisioned when I thought about a beach trip for my birthday, but I find myself still happy that I went. Fog on the ocean and beach is something I hadn't experienced before, and now I can say I have. Next time though, I want some sun!

A Snapshot and The Scoop: The Diversity of a Tidal Marsh

Tidal marshes are some of the most diverse ecosystems I've had the pleasure of exploring. You've got all of your grasses, reeds, and shrubs of course, not to mention any wildflowers you might find in the right season. And then the fauna: millions of insects, spiders, and other bugs constantly zoom around you, carrying on their own simple lives. Crabs and snails and all sorts of fish swim in the pools, ponds, lakes and waterways. And the birds, oh the birds! Storkes, herons, ducks, little field sparrows, swallows and many, many more I can't name. No wonder the tidal marshes near Sea Rim State Park are set aside as a National Wildlife Refuge! There are enough birds nesting in the reeds, only to pop out for a moment before diving back in, to fulfill any bird watcher's dream list. Have I mentioned the alligators that roam the park, or the wild hogs that go snuffling, snorting and splashing through the shallows, or how about the otters that make their home among the warm brackish waters near the coast? It's a nature lover's paradise and a refuge for everyone, not just those who call it home but for those who are just passing through as well.

Leave me a comment and tell me if you've ever explored tidal marshes. What did you think?

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Itty Bitty Toad!!

Have you ever seen a smaller toad??!! We saw this tiny little thing hopping along on our path and couldn't help but to pick it up and marvel at it's adorableness. Is that even a word? It is now! Don't worry, we set him off to the side of the path in the direction he was going so no one would step on him, and he went along his merry way.

Leave me a comment below and tell me if you think he's as cute as I do!

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Anyone Wanna Go?

I don't care if it's cliche, I love these types of photos! And who doesn't, especially when you really did wake up in the middle of nowhere and this really was your view when you opened the tent flap. I mean, ocean, sand, and the beginnings of a cotton candy sunrise...sigh.

Leave me a comment below and tell me if you'd like to go beach camping with me...anyone?

My Top Four Favorite Campsites

If you've read anything on this blog at all you've realized by now that I love to camp. And not the lavish, high-end glamping, but the roughin' it down and dirty camping in a tent, preferably with no people, no showers, and amazing views. Just in case that wasn't clear, I've compiled a list of my favorite campsites and have laid them out below. Please keep in mind: this is a work in progress and I will update the list as I continue to find new, fantastic places to pitch my tent. Here are my top four favorite campsites, in no particular order:

My Spot, CO

My Spot has been a long standing campsite in our family, ever since we discovered it years and years ago on a family vacation. It was always the place I chose to camp any time I was asked to pick a spot, and I have many fond memories playing on the rocks near the cold mountain creek near Monarch Mountain in the central Colorado Rockies. The last time I was there we only stopped for a lunch picnic, but I would love to go back and camp again, just for the trip down memory lane.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Cosby Campground, TN

Great Smokey Mountains National Park completely blew me away as a whole, but camping at Cosby Campground, as the only person on my entire loop, backed up against the forest and warned about the resident bear, I was in awe. Evening sunlight filtered through the thick canopy of leaves, and nights were darker than I thought was possible. Shining a flashlight around revealed the eyeshine of millions of forest bugs, and I fell asleep each night to the melody of a thousand crickets. Each morning I woke up to a tent covered in dew, and smelled the musty rain scent of a forest that is perpetually wet. I would love to go back to that park and get out into the backcountry, maybe try out the AT for a few nights!

Sea Rim State Park, TX

I'm a morning girl and a sucker for sunrises, and I'm not sure a slow sunrise over an ocean beach can be beat. I loved camping on the beach of the North Texas Gulf Coast so much that I went back a second time, and I wouldn't say no to several more trips per year. The sunrises linger on, from the first glimmer of light on the eastern horizon to when the sun finally gets her round face fully over the horizon, and even a little after as she continues to light up the low clouds like fire. Plus the fact that it's a relatively unvisited little park with five miles of deserted beach, and the ability to camp anywhere on the sand that you want as long as you're not on the tidal dunes and out of reach of high tide. Now that's my kind of park.

Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO

This campsite right here is a bucket list item I can finally cross off! I have wanted to backpack into the tallest dunes in North America for years, and have stayed right on their skirts in the park's established campground, but never had the chance or the gear to actually hike into the dunes and pitch a tent. I have finally accomplished this goal, and slept soundly in the dead quiet night surrounded by mounds of sand. After climbing the dune ridge to catch the sunset (skypainting, when words are hard), and sitting outside my tent watching the stars unfurl into the Milky Way, of course. And waking up to glowing ridges and deep bowl shadows then next morning? Bliss.

Have I convinced you to tent camp a little more? Have I inspired you to take your own adventure, by yourself or with a friend, to a place where you can pitch a tent in a lovely place? Let me know if I have, and if you're at all interested in camping with me next time!