| Trip Report: |
This was to be my first ever backpacking trip with my three kids ages 4, 5, and 7. I loaded up the kids on a Friday night after work and set out to South Mountain State Park. I had done a lot of hiking in the past so I thought it would be a piece of cake. I arrived around 6 pm to the park and I stopped by the rangers station to register for a back country permit for camping. As I loaded up my gear and the three kids to hit the trail there were four guys that asked where I was headed. When I told them they laughed at me and said I might make it about dark. I of course did not believe them because it was only 2.1 miles to the campsite. However what I did not figure on was that you literally had to climb a mountain to get there and with a full backpack it was a lot harder than I ever imagined. From the parking area the trail starts out flat and wide following the river as it passes by a picnic area and an amphitheater and there are a couple of other trails that turn off to the left but you just stay straight. Finally the trail narrows becomes rocky and has some roots that are easy to trip over before it takes a left hand turn up the side of the mountain winding and climbing at a steady pace. this is the part that took forever because Brandy did not like the climb and wanted to stop every 100 feet for a break. At about a mile the trail seems to level out a bit and then winds around the top of the mountains up and down for the next mile before you finally see the side trail for the camping spots. There is a large clearing with four camping spots and an out house. As I rushed to get camp set up before the last of the light evaded me the kids played in the meadow. Then I still had to cook dinner for the four of us. I decided to set up our tent close to the outhouse under a huge oak tree because it was the first campsite we came to. There was no one else in the camping area except me and the three kids. That night I slept like a baby. The next morning I saw a couple of post with chains hanging down in the middle of the field and decided to explore. The sign on the post said this was where you hang your bag of food to keep the bears out. It was a rude awakening to me in that I had no idea there might be bears or what I should do if we encountered one on our trip. After looking at the map I had I decided I would leave my tent set up and just carry all the rest of my gear while me and the kids headed out for several hours of hiking. We continued down the trail to the water fall where all my fears were quieted by the sound of rushing water and the natural beauty of the area. First we stopped at the top of the falls then we climbed down a set of stairs to the bottom where there is a viewing platform. This is where we ate our lunch before hiking back up to our campsite for the night. That night there was a full moon and every time I heard any little noise I would wake up thinking there was a bear in our campsite so I did not sleep much. The next day we cooked breakfast and discovered there was a stream at the back of another campsite across the meadow that we were in so we moved our camp over. After very little sleep we decided to only hike a couple of miles again leaving our tent set up and then I let the kids play in the water of the creek while I laid on a big rock and relaxed. After dinner we went to bed early then the next morning woke up to new campers arriving at one of the other sites in the meadow. Now it was time for us to head home so we fixed breakfast, cleaned up and packed up our gear in our bags to hike the last three and a half miles home. We went by the water fall again and stopped for a bite to eat before finishing the trail and heading home. Overall it was a great trip and I learned a lot about backpacking and what not to bring. |
Trail Map For This Area
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