Fall Camping – More Hiking? and Other Fun

After our pleasant hike-turned-debacle Saturday morning, we returned to our campsite to rest and recover.

We enjoyed a late lunch – hamburgers cooked over our campfire.

Then we headed out to Boggio’s Orchard. Going to Boggio’s has become part of our fall camping tradition. Usually they have pick-your-own apples, but this year’s unusually warm early spring weather wiped out most of their crop when the apple blossoms that came out extra early were later hit with a frost.

But picking apples is really the least of the reasons why we go there. Kai loves going down the big slide down from the “apple tree.”

And he most especially likes going in their corn pit and burying himself in the huge pile of kernels. It is a sensory delight!

Finally, he looked forward to topping off our visit with a taffy apple and apple cider. Yum!

Our evening back at camp was mostly very pleasant. We grilled chicken for dinner, made s’mores for dessert, and played games in the tent.

The only blemish came when the three of us arrived back at our tent after going to the bathroom. The young men and women at a neighboring campsite were very loud, and worse yet, using extremely vulgar language.

I immediately went over there. I politely told them that I had an eight-year old child, and asked them if they would watch their language. Fortunately, they did not give me a hard time. They immediately apologized and seemed very sheepish about their behavior. We barely heard a peep from them the rest of the night.

And that was good because after our extra-long walk that morning, we really were tired and wanted to get a good night’s sleep.

We slept pretty well that night, and even slept in the next morning, not getting out of the tent until it was quite light out.

Over breakfast, I gave Kai the schedule for the day. We would finish breakfast, take down the tent and pack up, and then do more hiking before heading home.

With mention of more hiking, Kai stopped eating. He balked at the notion of returning to Mathiessen State Park. Our bad experience getting lost the previous day had soured him on the idea of ever hiking there again.

My wife and I explained that we would go to a different part of the park, and that we would pay close attention to the trail so we would not get lost.

That did not appease him.

“Lets’s go hiking at Starved Rock instead.” Kai wanted to go where we had been to the previous two years, a place where we had not gotten lost and where he was very comfortable.

It was a reasonable request. And I knew it would be easier to agree to that. But I never seem to take the easier approach when it comes to parenting.

I insisted to Kai that we would hike at Mathiessen.

I never like to leave things on a sour note. I believe in the old “get back on the horse that kicked you off” philosophy. I felt that if we did not go back to Mathiessen that morning, it would send the wrong message to Kai – that the place was inherently bad and that we had not learned from our mistakes.

But Kai kept saying that he did not want to go there.

“I’ll go to Starved Rock by myself! Okay?!”

I tried to stay calm and reason with him.

But after a long back-and-forth tussle, I resorted to a threat. He was due to get a booster pack of Pokémon cards for his good behavior at school last month. We would stop at a store to get them on our way home, but if he did not go hiking with us, I told him that I might not want to do that.

I hate having to resort to threats to get him to do something, but too often it seems like the only way to get him to cooperate.

After much consideration, he reluctantly agreed to hike at Mathiessen.

So we drove there, only this time to a different part of the park, a place called the Dells Region for its canyons.

This time, we carefully looked at the map before embarking on our hike. Though we quickly found out that there was no way we would get lost here. The trail is more clearly marked, and the natural landmarks are such that there is no room for confusion as to which way to go.

And we found out that this area is even more gorgeous than where we were the day before.

Kai was a very happy boy as we made our way through the canyons…

And stepped across the mostly dry bed of the stream…

And tightroped across a fallen tree with Mom…

And climbed up onto a ledge…

Yes, walking through this beautiful place, all of Kai’s anger and fears from the previous day’s hike had dissipated.

We had found serenity, in more ways than one.

This time, we easily found our way back to our car. There was still time to do more hiking. There was one more area of the park we would like to see.

But we thought we would leave that for next year. We wanted to end on a high note.
And now Kai can’t wait to go back there again.

Fall Camping – LOST

We went on our annual fall camping trip this weekend.

My wife and Kai picked me up after work on Friday and we drove about two hours southwest of the city. We had been to the area the past two autumns, and it is our favorite place to go camping.

This was the first time that we arrived after dark. It was a bit of a challenge getting the tent up in the dark with only our lanterns to light up the area, but we were able to get everything set up, start our campfire, cook dinner, and roast marshmallows.

Kai had been excited with anticipation over our trip all last week, and when my wife picked him up after school on Friday, his teachers at school reported that he was particularly happy.

And though he was quite excited at the campground, he actually slept pretty well that night. I think he just always is more relaxed when he is in the same tent with Mom and Dad, and that helps him to sleep. My wife and I, on the other hand, had trouble adjusting to sleeping in a tent.

But, the next morning, we got up as soon as it started to get light out and Kai helped me start the campfire and get breakfast ready. He was bothered by the smoke, but was happy after he put on his swimming goggles (that we brought for use in the shower as he mostly takes baths at home and does not like to get water in his eyes).

After breakfast, it was time to go hiking.

On our past visits to the area, we have always gone hiking at Starved Rock State Park. It is beautiful there, but we have covered most of the trails there so we wanted to try a new spot. So, we drove over to nearby Mathiessen State Park, which is only a few miles away from Starved Rock.

Many people in the Chicago area are familiar with Starved Rock, and it is a very popular weekend destination. In fact, the worst part of going there are the crowds on the roads, in the parking lot, and on the trails. By contrast, there was hardly anyone at Mathiessen as we started hiking that Saturday morning.

We enjoyed our walk through the serene woods.

The trail we took that led to the Vermilion River. The water level was much lower than it would be in the spring, so we were able to walk along the riverbed.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that some trees were already turning colors.

But our most pleasant surprise was that Kai willingly and eagerly walked with us without complaining. In the past, we found that he often would vociferously complain about how tired he was after just a short distance, taking the fun out of our hikes. This time he actually seemed to enjoy the hike as much as we did.

He enthusiastically commented on how far he thought we had walked. “We’ve gone 3.7 miles!”

Everything was going so well.

Until we got lost.

We were trying to make our way back to the parking lot. On our way to the river, we had not paid close enough attention to landmarks. Now, trying to get back to the parking lot, we found several spots where there are forks in the trail, and we were often unsure of which way to go. On one of the forks, we had gone in the wrong direction.

When we did not return to the parking lot in the amount of time it should have taken, we knew we had gone the wrong way. But rather than turn back, I was confident that we would circle back to the parking lot a different way if we kept going.

Kai kept counting the distance. “That’s 5 miles!” Except now his voice wasn’t so chipper.

At one spot, we found a trail map. But the colors on the map had faded and all the markings looked the same. It was difficult to discern which way we needed to go. We picked a direction and kept walking.

After an additional hour of walking, Kai started to panic.

“We’re never getting out of here! Call the police RIGHT NOW!”

My wife and I tried to talk to him calmly. We will find our way out, we told him. There is no need to call the police until it gets dark, and it is still only 11 AM.

The park is really not that big. I figured that it would only be a matter of time before we found our way. But as we kept walking, I was getting more tired and started wondering just how long it would take.

After awhile longer, we finally ran into some other people on the trail. They had just started their hike so we asked them if they could point us in the direction of the parking lot. Unfortunately, one person said to go one way, while the other said she thought we needed to go a different way.

Hearing their confusion, Kai started yelling. “THIS IS THE WORST HIKE EVER! I’M NEVER GOING HIKING HERE AGAIN!!!”

Eventually we came back to a spot we knew we had been to before, and then we took a different fork and finally came back to the parking lot. It had been about two hours of walking from the time we realized we had taken the wrong turn. Kai estimated that we had walked 10 miles altogether. I think that is probably pretty close.

My wife and I were relieved to finally get back to the car. Kai was still angry.

I was disappointed with myself that we had spoiled Kai’s great attitude by getting lost. We would have to try to undo the damage so he would not be turned off from hiking again.

The first step – getting a cold, refreshing treat!

Kai’s mood improved as he enjoyed his blue raspberry sorbet.

But, he still grumbled that he did not want to go back to Mathiessen ever again. We were planning to go back there the next day to explore a different area. I could see that was going to be a challenge.

Tomorrow: More hiking? And, the rest of our camping trip

Take a Hike!

It looked to be the perfect weekend for camping. The weather was great, the fall colors were nearing their peak, and my son had a three-day weekend with the Columbus Day holiday. What could go wrong?

We returned to Starved Rock State Park, where we went a year ago. Starved Rock is the exception to the drab landscape of most of our state.

This year, we hiked to a few places we did not see last year, including Council Overhang, a large “amphitheater” carved naturally out of the rocks over time.

The waterfall at the end of Ottawa Canyon was mostly dry, but it must be spectacular in the spring.

Kai’s grandfather came with us. He kept up on all the hikes.

But Kai wasn’t much for hiking, at least on the trails that I wanted to go on, and that frustrated me a lot. He seemed fine about walking all around our campground where he could look at the numbers of every campsite.

But, when I wanted to expose him to more of the canyons and bluffs and beauty of the area, he loudly protested. His whining reminded me of the similar time we had this summer when we tried to hike in the Smoky Mountains.

It wasn’t until we went to an apple orchard/pumpkin farm later in the weekend that Kai really smiled a lot. Here you see him enjoy the corn barn where he could meet all of his sensory needs by rolling around in a big pile or corn kernels.

I’m exhausted, more mentally than physically. And when I think of going on another vacation with Kai, the foremost thought in my head is “take a hike!” to that.

I’m sure that will change over time. But, for now, I’m happy to be back in our boring home where we have some peace.

Perfect Getaway for Fall Camping

Outstanding weather.  Gorgeous fall colors.  All the elements of a nice, weekend camping trip were in place.

With our son being off from school for Columbus Day yesterday, we took advantage of the three-day weekend to get away for another camping trip.  Our destination this time: Starved Rock State Park in northern Illinois.

In a state where the predominant landscape is flat cornfields, the beauty of Starved Rock stands out like an ear of Indian corn in a bushel full of feed corn.  Starved Rock has breathtaking bluffs, colorful forests, and impressive canyons.  Located just two hours from downtown Chicago, it is a popular getaway destination for the urban and suburban crowd.

The crowds this weekend were even greater as the nearby town of Utica had their 41^st annual Burgoo Festival.  The name Burgoo, I later learned, refers to the stew served at the festival.  According to Kai’s grandfather, possum is the key ingredient. 

We had no interest in trying the stew or attending the festival.  Or rather, we knew that Kai would have no tolerance for the crowds there.  And what a crowd it was.  According to the sign entering Utica, it has a population of 1,000.  But, this weekend, I would not be exaggerating to say that there were more than 100,000 people at this giant craft fair/flea market/outdoor party that encompassed the entire little town.  As a veteran of many Taste of Chicago festivals, the crowds at the Chicago affairs have nothing on this shindig in Utica.

Our problem was that the only way to get to Starved Rock is to travel through Utica, which basically only has one primary road that goes through it.  As we waited in incredible traffic in a town that has no light signal, Kai got increasingly agitated.  Somehow we managed to get through the town and reach the State Park while we still had some semblance of tolerance for each other.

Once at Starved Rock, our weekend was wonderful.  My wife and I most enjoyed the spectacular scenery while Kai loved camping in a tent.  It was the perfect time of year for camping.  In our area, the leaves are at their peak of vibrancy, and the weather this weekend warmed to 80 degrees.    

Starved Rock is now my wife’s favorite spot for camping.  The trails, besides taking you to and through amazing sights, are well-marked, with plenty of trails being easy to walk for novice outdoors-people like ourselves.  Fall is also a great time to camp because there are virtually no bugs and the humidity is low.

In addition to the camping and hiking, we took a break and went to an orchard about a half hour away to do some apple picking.  It is the tail end of apple season, but Boggio’s Orchard & Produce had enough for us to fill up one bag with Red Delicious apples.  We also picked out a giant pumpkin to bring home.  Plus, they had some fun play areas for kids, with Kai’s favorite being a large “sandbox” that was filled with kernels of corn instead of sand.  My wife and I liked that it wasn’t as messy as sand, and Kai loved the sensation of the corn against his body.

When we returned home yesterday, we were tired but also feeling relaxed.  It was great to have weekend that was fun for all of us.  We will definitely be going back. However, unless we develop a taste for possum stew, I think we will try to avoid the Burgoo weekend next time.

To see more photos, visit Hanabi Boy on Facebook.

Starved Rock State Park has a nice website.  For planning where to hike, I particularly like the detailed information they give on all of their various trails.

To learn more about Boggio’s Orchard & Produce, visit their website.