Jankers

Mike dug out our camping gear and we took Nora for her first night in the woods. We went to Hickory Run State Park in White Haven, PA, about 2 hours North of Philly. It was a great park with lots to do. We started with choosing a site and setting up camp. Here’s Mike setting up the tent, with Nora closely watching.

Then we drove to the boulder field. Nora fell asleep on the way, so she missed out. I wish I paid more attention to what caused the boulder field, because the brochure I saved doesn’t really explain it. This text doesn’t truly explain it either (I found it online) but it’s better than I could do.
“Boulder field formed 20,000 years ago during the last ice age. Ice a mile thick covered most of Canada and part of the United States. This ice sheet stopped less than one mile north of Boulder Field and greatly cooled the climate. Cave dwellers, wolly mammoths, and saber-tooth tigers roamed the world south of the ice sheet during the Wisconsin Glacial Period. The yearly temperature was 20 degrees to 25 degrees F cooler and winter lasted for six months. The average annual temperature was below freezing, causing the ground to be frozen throughtout the year. This is called permafrost.”
So the field was formed because of the way the glacier finally melted. The water sunk into the ground and then refroze, breaking up the rock. The largest boulders are up to 26 feet!

After the geology lesson, we went on a short hike that ended at the base of a waterfall. It was supposed to be 0.7 miles, but it felt longer. We used the jogging stroller for part of it, and then Mike carried Nora the rest of the way. Nora loved the waterfall. And the water. Here’s a pic of her clapping for the waterfall.

Next we walked to the lake. The water was perfect to cool us off. It was a hot day!

Back to camp for dinner. Of course we had a thunderstorm. Mike and I have gone camping two other times since we’ve lived in PA. Each time we got hit with thunderstorms. Here’s the screened in room that I made us buy after the first time we got hit. I wasn’t going to spend any more camping trips sitting in the car!

The night ended with Nora refusing to go to sleep. She kept crawling around the tent following all the noises in the campground. Our sleeping wasn’t so good either. We thought that Nora would be ok sleeping on some towels. We brought a sheet that we planned on putting over all of us, because it was supposed to be really hot. Well, the towels weren’t thick enough, so Nora slept on the sheet. Then it got really cold, so poor Nora kept waking up. I ended up with her in my sleeping bag on my mat with me halfway on the mat and halfway on the hard ground. Urgh. Our next camping purchases will be a mat and sleeping bag for Nora! Here she is the next morning, looking no worse for the wear.

On Sunday we headed off to Mike’s mountain bike race in Danville, PA. It was a hot, hot day. I think it was 7 riders that were sent to the ER nearby! Mike finished the race and got third place in his category. Yeah Mike!

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at 8:56 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.