Camping - Days 1 and 2: Shenandoah NP (Loft Mountain)

Since our ten year anniversary was last month, we wanted to plan some sort of getaway while B's mom was in town for his graduation and could stick around and watch the kids while we did something.  The something ended up being a camping trip.  B's sister's family had reserved a camping spot in Shenandoah that, due to the graduation that they were also going to be attending, they weren't going to use, so they offered it to us.  After Buddy's T-ball game on Saturday, and after the giant hoagie, B and I packed up and headed out.  We got to Shenandoah in enough time to set up camp and walk around the campsite.  We ate leftover giant hoagies for dinner and watched the sun set from our awesome campsite (right next to the Appalachian Trail).  I slept poorly worrying about bears.  I'm terrorized easily by wild animals, and reading on the Shenandoah website that bears have learned to recognize food coolers in parked cars, didn't allay my fears.

Sunday morning, we woke up and after some Ziplock bag omelets and breaking camp, we went on a 3 or so mile hike - Doyles Falls (down to some waterfalls, and then up to the parking lot).  The hike was beautiful and not very long, but the up and down made for some sore muscles.

We finished around lunch time and just snacked in the car as we drove to Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia and the the Summit Lake Campground.

We stopped at a Nature Center to use the bathrooms before we got to the campground and found this on the bear proof trash can.  B thought this was funny.  Common thieves apparently like nature centers and camping.  Maybe it's a West Virginia thing.

This campground was more for trucks hauling camping trailers with long driveways and limited space for tent set-up.  It seems like it attracts a lot of local people who are coming for the fishing.  We found a location that would fit both our tent and our screen house picnic area.  It was empty, but the little pole by our spot had a slip on it.  The slip said May 2 (it was May 22).  We asked the neighboring guy and he said that yes, it was an old slip, so while B set up our tent I drove back to the camp station where I filled out the little envelope, inserted our money and paid for the next two nights.  Then I returned and replaced the old tag with our new tag.  This was about 3PM.  Around 5:30 or 6, after we've been set up for a few hours, have blown up the air mattress and are chopping wood for a camp fire, our camp host runs over.  This was the gist of our conversation:

Host: This spot's reserved.  There were some people here earlier with a picnic and they had a chair and they have it for one night and are coming back.  There was a paper clipped to the pole.

Us: This paper.  It says May 2.  We asked the next camper and he said this was old.  And there wasn't anything here.  Not a chair or anything.

Host: That guy [motioning to the next camper] he's been here for a week.*  Well, the couple was here around 2:30 and they had a picnic with their grandkids and they're coming back.

Us: We've been here since at least 3 or 3:30.  We didn't see them.  The site was empty.  And we've set everything up [motioning toward our tent and screen house (which is about as difficult to put up as a tent)].

Host: Well it's been reserved (while lighting a cigarette).

Us: But they put the wrong date, so it wasn't really reserved.

Host: They're old, in their seventies.**  I can't believe she'd put the wrong date.(Sort of shaking his head in disgust at her).  I watched her write it.  She's a retired school teacher.

Us: We'd really rather not take everything down when we're already all set up and we did nothing wrong.

Host: [starts coming around to our side of things] I guess I'll pull my car into this spot next to here and save it for them when they show up.  

*Which should give him more credibility for knowing our spot was vacant, not less.
**He's probably in his mid-60s.

Then he proceeds to tell us to keep our food in the car because the bears have been real active here every night.  And he tells us that if there's a thunderstorm with lightning to be sure to get in our car because our spot has been hit by lightning four times in the last two years.  It blew up a guys' trailer.  It blew up a guys' generator and threw him into the trees, he's lucky to be alive.  I asked if there was a thunderstorm in the forecast and he said yes, with 60 mph winds.  Great.

B's reading Plato's Republic.  I'm reading Toni Morrison's Beloved (only chapter 1).

We built a fire, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.  Played cards and read in our screen house (beautiful invention... why do people have just the shade ones when this kept us 97% bug free!!)  Every time a truck drove past we had to worry about some old couple confronting us.  They never came.  Right around when we'd go to bed there was lightning so we played Phase 10 in the car for about 45 minutes before going to bed. 

I slept horribly because I was paranoid about lightning and bears.  I heard some sort of weird wild animal noise in the night, probably a night bird, that I convinced myself was a bear.  And finally morning arrived.