A bee attack. A tree branch crashes into the ground near the campfire. Rain. Chiggers. The annual family camping trip. Two weeks ago, instead of camping at the river as we did the last two years, we rented a primitive campsite at Muddy Run Park in southern Lancaster Country. Not a tiny campground campsite. Instead, this campsite is on a remote hillside surrounded by trees and next to wetlands, without any other tents or RVs in sight. There's a spring, a creek, and two bridges. (We could … [Read more...] about Camping at Muddy Run
camping
Return to the River
Crayfish, turtles, and snakes— they were as much a part of our camping weekend as the campfires, tents, and trains. For the second June in a row, our family camped on the banks of the Juanita river for a weekend. This year, because of the dry spring, the river was much lower than last year. My nieces and nephew spent hours wading and swimming in the shallow water. Cordell said, "Almost every big rock has a crayfish under it if you turn the rock over." Several of us were standing … [Read more...] about Return to the River
A Weekend at the Lake
Raystown Lake is the largest lake totally within Pennsylvania— an S-shaped, man-made reservoir in Huntingdon County that's just far enough away from home for the denizens of Lancaster County to make it an ideal vacation spot. Well, for the some of the denizens, anyway. Until this summer, I had never been there. In fact, I couldn't say I'd ever spent more a few hours at a lake. So when my friend Regina invited me along with friends to go camping and boating at Raystown Lake, I was happy to … [Read more...] about A Weekend at the Lake
Between a Railroad and a River
A few days ago, Pearls Before Swine ran a comic strip where Goat tells Pig and Rat he's going camping the next day. "What does that involve?" asks clueless Pig. Cynical Rat answers. "It's where you deprive yourself of all the nice things you have for no particular reason." Last weekend, I went camping with my family on private property near the borders of Juanita and Perry County. My sister had found the Juanita River Escape on social media last year. "You will have the 3 acres to … [Read more...] about Between a Railroad and a River
Camping in Pennsyltucky
Public campsites are to camping what decaf is to coffee. They might be safer, cleaner, and more conducive to sleeping, but they're favorless and boring. So when my church small group went camping last month, I was glad we were doing primitive, private-land-next-to-state-game-land type of camping, not pitching our tents at a KOA and trying to avoid eye contact with the neighbors at the next campfire. Marlin and Amy, one of the small group couples, did most of the planning. Marlin has … [Read more...] about Camping in Pennsyltucky