Category Archives: Camping

Thunderstorms, loud neighbors, and leaky air mattresses…our time in the Daniel Boone National Forest

05/22/2022 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

Even with the hardships and struggles that come with travel and camping I find myself disappointed that it is over.

30mins into leaving my parents house on our way to Kentucky our brake caliper locked up and needed replaced.

Not going to miss the leaky air mattress though…kind of reminded me of my parents old waterbed but without the fun water.

Red River Gorge in Kentucky won me over with the first hike.

The woods felt earthy, deep, and wonderful. And I knew I would miss them.

Mountain Laurel abounded as well as magnolias, giving the place a rainforest and magical feel.

Thunderstorms came which lead to a lot of “keep away from the sides of the tent!” But also falling asleep to the sounds of rain (and let’s be honest kids complaining of rain leaking in).

Tearing down and setting up the camp is stressful and not my favorite but the endless possibilities to explore make it worth it.

I missed our RV but enjoyed being closer to the forest. I did not enjoy being closer to loud neighbors that liked to stay up until 2am though…

Cumberland falls took me back in time and I reread “Moonbow Inn” by Laura Frantz while we stayed there. Seeing the places described in the book made it come alive.

Cumberland Falls State Park Campground was a letdown after the beauty and peace of the Koomer Ridge campground. The spaces were smaller, tons of light flooded our tent all night, and the heat and bugs were pretty oppressive but I loved the falls.

Next time I would just stop for the day. But I am glad we got the chance to hike out to Dog Slaughter Falls ( my kids were concerned about taking our dog to such a tragically named place though). Hardly anyone was on the trail and the hike and falls were breathtaking.

I feel like we went at a great time of the year, bugs were not too bad, the weather was pretty good although it got a bit hot once or twice, and the crowds were non existent.

I would not mind going in early May again!

Camping, Parks

Kansas

12/07/2021 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

I decided to stay in a state park near Monument Rocks Natural Landmark, I could not believe this beautiful (not flat) spot was in Kansas and was hoping to return if we liked it.

Also, stay two days to see the area.

My first mistake was not working harder to reserve a spot beforehand, so far we had zero trouble finding spots so I did not think it would be a big deal.

My second was travelling there on Thanksgiving, everything was closed, and we were all hungry because I was going to make Thanksgiving meal when we got to our spot…

We got to Lake Scott State Park and it looked super promising but then we started see the dreaded “R” for reserved on every single site.

Maybe three other families were there so we had no clue why everything said that but they had signs saying to not park in one of those spots.

We drove around for probably an hour (while hungry) trying to figure out how to get a spot.

I found their system super confusing and of course there was no one around to clarify.

We finally parked in a spot with no electric (thankfully I was not counting on the microwave to make any of the meal) and I set about trying to deep breath past the stress of the last hour and hurriedly get food cooking.

Nick was kind of done with Kansas after that.

We did everything I wanted to do in two days, in one.

It was a beautiful, interesting area though!

The Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park and Monument Rocks where so pretty to see.

There was also a pueblo at Lake Scott, the farthest east they have found one.

Super interesting.

I am glad I got to see it, just wish their system was not so confusing.

I was super thankful to head to an Oklahoma State Park the next day!

It made me grateful for our easy to use system!

Anyone know why Kansas would say they were all reserved?

Camping, History, Parks

A Fort, White Sand, and Sand burs.

12/04/2021 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

After Wind Cave we headed south to Fort Robinson, all of the buildings were closed but we still enjoyed walking around and reading the history of the place.

We had learned while at the Crazy Horse Monument that this is where he was killed.

This place has a lot of sad history including being a POW camp during WW2.

That being said it was a beautiful place to camp for the night and the wildlife loop was pretty.

The horses (I think they belong to the fort) surrounded our vehicle and even stuck their noses in!

There were actually a lot of trails and I would not mind going back to this area to check out more of it.

The next day we continued our journey south and stopped at Lake McConaughy.

As we got closer I realized there were a lot of campgrounds around the lake and I started panicking on picking the right one.

I ended up choosing the one where all the sand burs go to party.

Do not walk on the grass was our mantra the whole time.

Our poor dog made that mistake several times.

I was pretty sure this was the fail of the trip, it happens. They can’t all be winners.

It was windy and the sand would get in your eyes, the vault toilet was not super clean, sand burs were everywhere and on everything, and it cost more than most of our stops.

It was pretty though.

And than we went to Kansas…