Camping in New Hampshire!

So... we made it! We camped out of state, on our own, and lived to tell the tale! :) Actually, we did more than just survive-- we had a really good time. Gus was saying the other night how he's enjoyed our camping trips so much more this summer. I think it's partly due to the fact that we have our routine down now, but it's also because the kids are older. They keep themselves occupied pretty well, and it's more fun for everyone!

Anyway... We left on Friday morning to make the three-hour drive up into central New Hampshire. We were staying in the heart of White Mountain National Forest, at a "primitive" campground called Covered Bridge, nestled along the Swift River (a tributary of the Saco River) just off the scenic Kancamagus Highway. We made it there with no problems (well, unless you count two messed-up lunch orders at a fast food place along the way!). Our campsite was awesome! I made a little video of it, because that's what I do. :-P And a still photo of our home-away-from-home for the weekend... Please be sure to admire our new screened-in canopy over the table. We decided that this was a must after being eaten alive by mosquitos on our last trip, and it made this trip so much nicer!

Once we were all set up (which really didn't take too long-- we're getting good at this!), we headed out to explore our surroundings a bit...

That's the Albany Covered Bridge over the Swift River, which is where the campground gets its name (duh). As it passes under the bridge, the river actually widens out a little bit and there are some more sheltered spots with good swimming. We vowed to come back with our suits on. Until then, this was as far out as we'd let the kids go (Niko wanted to go much farther, but I had to remind him that he was wearing regular clothing!)

Back at camp, we enjoyed a gourmet dinner consisting of campfire-roasted hot dogs, Nacho Cheese Doritos, and grapes (see, there was one healthy thing!). And instead of making s'mores this time, we made Jiffy Pop over the fire, which was a big hit (and a huge success, despite all the warnings on the package to NOT cook it over a campfire, haha! We live dangerously...)

Maya regaled us with her campfire stories, which are seriously the cutest things ever. I recorded a little snippet of one story, just because. Her facial expressions are the BEST! The next morning, Niko was up at 6 needing to use the bathroom. Thankfully, I had thought to set up the little travel potty so that we could avoid such an early morning bathroom trip (go me!). After he went and cleaned his hands, he climbed into bed with us... and we all slept until nearly 8:30!!! That is some kind of miracle, I tell you! Even at home, they NEVER sleep that late. EVER. It was fantastic! We got up, ate a leisurely breakfast of eggs, bacon, grapes, and blueberry muffins, and then we decided to go for a hike. Niko was prepared! He had found that walking stick at our campsite, and we'd brought the compass from home. He declared he was our leader.

But anyhow... let me tell you a little bit about this hike. The trailhead was right down by the covered bridge, so we'd seen it the day before. The sign said that it was called the Boulder Loop Trail, and was a total of about 3 miles long: .2 miles to the loop junction, and 1.5 miles beyond that to "ledges," whatever that was. We had no idea where the trail went, but 3 miles sounded doable! What the sign did NOT say was that there was a 950-foot elevation gain in the first 1.5 miles, and then the same amount of drop on the return trip. So we basically climbed a (small) mountain. I found this after we got home yesterday. We might have known this if we'd had any sort of phone service out there, but we didn't. And it's a good thing, because we probably would have missed out on this experience because it would have been too intimidating, especially with the kids!

So, not knowing where we were headed, we climbed and climbed and climbed. It was very steep at parts, and the trail was covered with thick tree roots and large rocks. But it was shady and relatively cool in the woods, and we just kept going...

Finally, the trees opened up, and we found ourselves on what could clearly fit the definition of a ledge! We'd made it! We took pictures (an older couple that was there offered to take one of all four of us):

EXCEPT... another group of hikers showed up while we were there, and their leader was telling them how this wasn't really the top... there was still another 15 minutes of hiking, including some of the steepest trail yet. Well... yay. We were exhausted. But we took a nice long break, and then steeled ourselves for the final ascent. And... we made it! This ledge was definitely quite a bit higher, and the drop-off was a lot scarier. This was as close as we'd let the kids get:

We explored for a few minutes, and Maya and I discovered that there were wild blueberries growing all over the place! I was positive that that was what they were, but was still a little hesitant to try them. Gus wasn't-- he ate one. They were definitely blueberries. We all tried some. Nobody got sick. :-P

And then it was time to go down. Downhill was much faster, but it was also brutal because it was so steep. Plus, the trail was still covered with large rocks and tree roots, so we had to pay constant attention to where we were stepping. Our legs were jelly by the time we made it back to the trailhead. And even then, we still had to walk another half mile or so back to our campsite. At least it was flat!

Back at camp, we ate a very late lunch (it was 1:30). The hike had taken us around 3 hours! The kids were a little tired, but not nearly as wiped out as Gus and I were. After we ate, I went and rested in the tent, and Gus apparently fell asleep on picnic table bench. The kids played in and around the tent.

After our cat naps, we decided to take the kids swimming in the river. But we didn't want to walk there, haha! We sucked it up and paid $3 for a day-use parking pass, and parked right next to the covered bridge. The kids had a great time in the cool water, climbing on all the boulders, and having their first "river swimming" experience! I sat on the small beach, in the shade of the bridge. It was lovely.

After that, we had a semi-disastrous dinner... I had brought some homemade spaghetti sauce in a mason jar. After contemplating different ways to cook it, I decided I could just heat the glass jar directly on the camp stove. And it was working out just fine until seconds before it was time to serve dinner... and the jar broke! The bottom of the jar broke cleanly off from the rest, and spaghetti sauce went oozing EVERYWHERE! Gus grabbed a plate, and I spooned as much of it as I could onto there. It was a huge mess. But we managed to salvage enough for dinner, and then we cleaned the stove up as best we could (I actually need to work on it some more today). It was quite an adventure!

Fast forward to yesterday... the kids slept until around 7:30 (not bad), we ate breakfast, packed up, and drove home. We showered, unpacked, and slept in our own bed. Another successful camping trip on the books! :)