This past weekend I went camping at Kenneth Wilson State Campground, near Woodstock, NY. It was supposed to thunderstorm Friday night, so Hiking Buddy and I battened-down the hatches on the tent.
This tent is ready for any storm!
There were so many ropes and stakes on that thing, it wasn't going anywhere if a tornado hit it! Okay, that's a bit of hyperbole. Anyway, guess what? No thunderstorm. No wind. Almost no rain. Oh well!
Saturday morning we deviated from our normal oatmeal breakfast and had scrambled eggs with green chiles and cheese instead. Yum! As we were sitting at our picnic table, devouring eggs and slurping coffee, the man with his two sons across the lane were making lots of noise. Throughout our stay, we repeatedly heard excited cries of glee over hot chocolate... he had those kids wired! He also seemed to get really frustrated when they got super hyper, but couldn't seem to understand the cause and effect taking place.
Oh, so back to the story. Right. So, we're sitting there, noisy kids nearby. And who shows up?? A big adult black bear! He moseys through the two empty campsites adjacent to the noisy kids, paying neither them, us, or our eggs any attention. We sat there for a moment just watching in our caffeine-deprived state, not sure what to do. Hiking Buddy's first move: grab the camera. In her excitement, she had trouble getting it to work, but here's our proof of the bear:
You can see him, right?
It's there, that dark smudge, see?After that excitement, we decided it was time to get out of the woods and onto the water. Kenneth Wilson Park has kayaks and canoes for rent!
Enjoying a waterfront view of the Catskills
We had fun paddling around the pond and stream, creeping up on turtles basking in the sun, spying on schools of minnows, and viewing lily pads up close. One of the highlights for me was seeing a belted kingfisher fly by.
After canoeing, we ate lunch on the day-use area lawn, then headed back to camp for a rest. Walking around the campground, we found all kinds of neat mushrooms, plants, and animals.
A salamander at our campsite
Mushroom, with patriotic beer can for scale
There were blackberry bushes scattered throughout the campground, and we managed to find a few that were ripe. For dinner, we started a big fire and roasted potatoes and onion in the coals. We grilled corn in the husk on the grate. Yum!
We packed up camp on Sunday morning, then walked the nature trail. It's a really pretty walk by a gurgling stream and through an evergreen forest. We saw many more mushrooms in the woods. For our brunch-time treat, we drove over to Woodstock and ate at a Mediterranean restaurant.
I had a really fun time, and would definitely camp there again.
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