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Alright, so its 2021 and we finally got the van out and running – a little late but life intervened.  For starters, we just finished a quick 4 day tour of places we had been before. That kept the logistics down, the confidence up and we could focus on enjoying ourselves and relaxing rather than planning and prepping.  It was one of the more chilled drives we have done.

We started off at Savage River, more specifically the Elk Run portion of the park.   Its about the closest boondocking place from the house and hence an easy step-off point.  It is however not a very interesting place in itself.  The sites are on the bottom of a very steep valley with small creek running close by.  Its pleasant enough for an evening /night but there really is nothing to do, no hikes, views etc.  During the summer, its alright, but early/late in the season, it gets pretty dark down there.  But the dog loves to run and chase frisbees, little traffic and very few other campers.  Its a decent place.

We headed south toward Monongahela National Forest – one of my personal favorites.  Its only really down there where I feel that the forest is vast. We were very lucky to land back at Island Campground, a perfect spot for an evening.  The creek is pleasant, there is a simple, flat in-out hiking trail and despite the road, it gets quiet at night.  Quite a few anglers there going for trout but overall its one of my favorite places.

Saturday night is tricky to find open places and we decided to use Harvest Host again for a booked stay.  We had excellent experience with them twice and found a farm (not a vineyard) in VA.  Mill Gap Farms is located in an incredibly gorgeous location and the hosts were gracious, fun and hospitable.  Tesla and the local dog got on “alright” and overall, it was a great evening / morning.

We headed Sunday toward Loft Campground in Shenandoah National Park.  We tend to always head up the Shenandoah – while slightly repetitive, its just gorgeous down there and we love the hikes.  It was fairly hot and we managed a single 2 1/2 mile hike with fairly steep profile and a little waterfall at the bottom.

Loft campground is “alright”, certainly not my favorite. Its crowded, feels worn out and there really isnt much to do, the AT runs near it somewhere but I was looking for an open place to exercise the dog somewhere.  Pleasant enough.

Monday morning, quite a bit of fog, then rain, we just slowly cruised home and cleaned up.

Fall is here in Maryland and with cooler temperatures, we decided to head out into the forests as much as we can possibly can.  So, the last weekend, we switched it around a little and checked out some parks / hikes in Pennsylvania.   We treat these short trips a little like “scouting” trips in order to get an understand what is worth coming back to – and hence we cover quite a bit more ground than is really relaxing.  But we learn a lot.

Thursday.  We planed quite a long drive this way, heading out all the way to Ohiopyle State Park.  I tend to avoid State Parks, they offer no real advantage over State Forests but add a ton of rules that we really don’t need. But that specific area doesn’t seem to have a lot of alternatives.  The hikes there are spectacular, a gorgeous river walk made us really wish that we could have camped right there.

Camp: 39.87979, -79.49269

Friday

Ok, this is where it gets weird, we went west to Ohiopyle but had to drive all the way East again toward Michaux State Forest.  We had been in that area before and really wanted to check it out a little more.  We went up to Chimney Rock  with amazing views.

The campsite had me worried originally, google maps shows it on a large parking lot designed for ATV riders.  But it turned out to be really nice, open are where the dog could run free. Unfortunately, fires were not allowed due to some drought and the temperature dropped down to 4C, not much incentive to stay outside after sunset.  Moonrise was awesome though and Mars was incredibly bright.

Here is a short video of the campsite.

Camp:  40.01744, -77.29874

Saturday

Quick but amazing hike near the campsite was the Pole Steeple Trail that a hiker recommended to us.  Great hike, amazing views and definitely worth exploring more.

The next camp was up North in Tuscarora State Forest but we decided to do a quick hike even further north.  Long drive but it was worth it, the area up there is beautiful.  We hiked the Spirit of Tuscarora trail around 4 pm and the light was really magical.  Access to the lake wasn’t really obvious and decided to drive straight to our next camp much further south.

The drive was a little rough, 10 miles on windy gravel roads but virtually no traffic.  The campsite was allocated by the forest service and turned out to be quite very nice but not near anything. Great site to camp for the night but with not fire allowed it was less than optimal.  Very quiet though, beautiful moon rise as well.

Camp.  40.2403806, -77.5437306

Sunday

Last day, so general direction was heading home.  We found a nice 6mile hike back in Michaux forest that had great reviews.  The Rocky Knob Trail has optional push to the local reservoir (where we had been before but on a different location).   The “Rocky Knob” itself looks like quite some scramble but wasn’t on the trail – that may be an interesting location to check out later.

With COVID-19 in the country, all spring travel and camping plans were on hold until this week when we decided to take “Serenity” out for a short overnight trip to New Germany State Park in Western Maryland.  The park itself borders Savager River where we camped in March making planning and logistics pretty straight forward.

New Germany State Park also is the place where friends introduced me to cross country skiing and I assume some of my skin and blood cells have richly fertilized the soil.  I am one with nature.

Taking Serenity for a 1 day-trip requires about the same prep as taking her for 10 days (sort of), tanks still need to be flushed/ filled, the “emergency” crate checked out, battery / fridge powered but of course we need less food and fewer clothes etc.  Its a good prep run for longer trips.

Drive was uneventful, its a little scary that we aim for the same McDonalds has 1/2 way stop as before but familiarity has advantages.  I am still apprehensive of driving this car, she handles alright but its just a different experience from driving a smaller vehicle and I notice the 2 1/2 hour drive far more.  This could get a little tiring when we do proper, real road trips with 500 miles / day to just get to the place.

We had of course no idea how crowded it would be, as far as we could tell, this was the first weekend with the parks actually allowing camping and I had visions of hordes of nature-starved hippies clinging to trees along the way.  But the “pet friendly” area had 2 other parties (incl 5 more dogs) out of ~12 spaces, so hardly overcrowded.

We set up camp and walked a quick 4.61 miles.  Pine forest and the vegetation wasn’t nearly as far along as at sea level.  It seemed to lag about a month behind, I didn’t realize that the 2300 ft in base elevation made such a big difference.

Overnight, quite some heavy rain but clearing up at 6am for a quick dog walk.

Overcast – made a great, slow breakfast and slowly packed the van again, the idea of this all was to create some form of routine that even the dog understands.

And then headed back home, although via a few Scenic Routes to check out for camping possibilities for the next trip.

Next time, need to focus a little more on hiking maps and locations, there is no cell phone connection locally.  Other than that, easy, 1 day / overnight trip and (nearly) everything worked just fine.

Taking the van out early for short trips had been our plan to shake-down the equipment and ourselves for longer trips later this summer.  Thankfully, we have a ton of local parks, mountains and beaches within driving distance.  Unfortunately, the State Parks are mostly closed until April and don’t allow camping.

But… Maryland also has State Forests, not all that many but those are a lot less developed and controlled.  Savage River is one of them (the biggest, I think) and within easy driving range.  Its got an interesting history (B52 memorial), a reservoir, creeks, lakes etc.  And because its a State Forest, it has far fewer rules about what one can do and whats not allowed.

The drive there was uneventful, Serenity just rolls beautifully but in hilly country uses 12 miles/gallon -> no joke.  I am starting to like driving her, she is sluggish uphill but on straights just keeps rolling along. The radio really is junk and needs to be replaced.

We checked out the campsites around 3pm or so and thought about exploring or going for a hike but the weather was already iffy and we somehow didn’t really feel like going anywhere.  We lit a fire, let the dog run crazy in/around the little creek and basically treated ourselves to a lazy afternoon.

After all, the “camp life” is what we want to test out with the van, having a fire, tea, some junk food etc.  If the weather had been better, maybe get a book out and just chill.

Cooking happened over the fire in the Lodge Cast Iron pan we had for years but never used.  Worked really well, very delicious.

Next day starts weirdly enough with snow – we had not seen any in Maryland this season so waking up to an inch or two of white slush was very nice.  The van’s heating had kept up really well, used hardly any propane and kept us warm and comfortable.  Loud, though.

Slow breakfast, re-kindled the fire and headed out toward the Deep Creek area that we wanted to look around at – its a resort / recreation area thats quite nice but completely developed and in summer likely horribly overcrowded.  Not so bad off-season – just not too exciting.  Onwards to Swallow Falls State Park – now that was a really nice surprise.  Lovely falls, great scenery – slight rain/snow but really worth going again (when I bring the tripod).