Comprised of pink granite, Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, or E-Rock as it is commonly known, is a great day trip from Fredericksburg or Austin, TX.  The Tonkawa Indians believed they could hear the spirits talking at night, thus, the source of the name.  Geologists tell us today that the creaking and moaning sounds come from the rock heating during the day, and cooling at night.  Still, a hike to the top of E-Rock is an “enchanting” experience for anyone.

There are two ways to see Enchanted Rock:  (1) Walk the 4-mile trail through the picturesque canyons around the base of the giant, looking up at the sheer cliffs and sides sliding toward you, or (2) walk straight up the side of E-Rock.  While there is a “path” of sorts, you pretty much walk up the side, all the while at a serious slant, until you get to the top.  With backpack in place and bottled water in hand, we tackled the rocky rise.

It was fall, and we were amazed to see the wildflowers literally growing from cracks in the great rock.  Reaching the top, the view for miles and miles around all sides defied description.  The total silence, broken only by the occasional voice of a fellow hiker or the screech of a buzzard flying below us, was intoxicating.  Sound a little dramatic?  There aren’t words to describe the peace that fell over us as we sat for a long time atop the granite dome, imagining the messages of the spirits who spoke to the Tonkawa in earlier days.

Hiking straight up E-Rock is for those in excellent physical condition.  Absolutely no knee, ankle, back, or heart problems should attempt the hike to the top.  The walk up is not nearly as challenging as the walk down!

Camping in the park is for tents only; reservations are a serious recommendation.  The park closes to day hikers, particularly on weekends, if too many people show up at once and the parking lot is filled.  You can buy some limited supplies when you check in at the Ranger Station.  Picnicking sites and restrooms are available.  Wilderness camping on the far side of E-Rock is also an option for wilderness lovers.

I have climbed Enchanted Rock twice, both times a blessing of spiritual and natural beauty.  Now, missing the ACL in one of my knees, I’ll enjoy it from the trails that wind around the base.

For the young family looking for outdoor adventure and quality time together, it is often the first camping trip.  Unless one has been passed down to you, you have to buy the tent.  And then, there are all the camping supplies – the ones you THOUGHT you needed, the ones you DID need, and the ones you REALLY needed, but didn’t get.  There are sleeping bags, bike carriers, outdoor lanterns, and everything made by Coleman.  What is a new Igloo to you is a familiar friend for every raccoon for miles around.  So much to know – so much to learn.

Our first camping trip was no different. We bought a Eureka tent that was guaranteed for life, and rated for high winds and snow.  OK – we lived in South Louisiana, but we wanted to make sure we had all bases covered.  (If Eureka had known what was coming, they probably would have asked us to share our luck with another company!)  For food, we had cokes, bread, hot dogs and bacon.  What else would you need?  It’s a camping trip….

It was October, and the leaves were turning.  We chose a beautiful campground, Clear Springs Recreational Area, located in the Southern Mississippi hills, halfway between Natchez and Brookhaven off Highway 84.  It was a special place where we had camped as children with our own parents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  There was a great trail for hiking, a perfect lake for fishing, and lots of raccoons to leave leftover hotdogs for, (so totally against the rules – sorry!), and a really clean bathhouse.  We chose a campsite on a slope  near the edge of one of the beautiful creeks in the campground. It was perfect!

Setting up the tent took over an hour;  we were on a learning curve.  And someone should have told us about using a ground cloth.  Sleeping bags in place, dinner went off without a hitch – it’s hard to ruin hotdogs for a 2 and 5 year old.  After a really successful first campfire that chased away the chill of the October evening, we headed for the sleeping bags.  All was well…

Changes, they are a-comin’……….

Around midnight, thunder rumbling in the distance was sending a loud message that changes were coming.  Clear Springs is a retreat nestled in a cove in the hills.  We could hear the storm moving all around us, but couldn’t see it’s approach.  The thunder woke the children; both were ready to “go home now.”  The storm moved rapidly toward us;  the rain started.   As the storm came over us, winds literally howled around our tent.  I believe it’s the first time I had ever actually heard “howling” winds.  The sounds of trees falling in the hills all around was terrifying.

As we huddled together, just waiting for a tree to fall through our new tent, we felt the dampness seeping into the floor.  Had we waterproofed the tent seams?  Hmmm… No one told us about that.  Were the sleeping bags waterproof?   Should we have set up camp on a down slope near a creek?  So much to learn in so little time.

We stayed in the tent, water literally flowing through it, our sleeping bags soaked through, until the first light.  When we surveyed the damage, we realized we were in the natural drain path for the campground to the creek!  Who knew?!?

Finally, with dawn’s first light, we gathered up all of our wet gear, rolled up our wet tent, and threw everything in the back of our truck.  The two hour ride home was wet, cold and miserable.  A lesser family would have thrown in the towel…. and the tent, and the sleeping bags and everything that went with camping. But we persevered.

We have continued, for many years, to return to Clear Springs with our children, and now, our grandchildren.  The tent has been passed on to our son; and yes, it is still in good shape.  Remember that lifetime guarantee? Our Coleman stove is still in use, and our Igloos still keep things cold.  For us, camping is now in a 32 foot Fifth Wheel, complete with AC, a microwave, and satellite TV.  But the camping experience is still the best.

For many years, we camped with a tent.  While our tent was a Cadillac of a tent, with the children grown and us looking for more luxurious accommodations, we bought our first RV .  It was a 30 foot bumper pull, a CrossRoads by brand.  It was bought, almost on a whim.  We went to an RV/Outdoor show, thinking we would move up from a tent to a Pop-Up, then saw a really small bumper-pull, then this 30 foot trailer with a queen-size bed for MiMi and PaPa, and bunks for the grandkids.  It happened just that fast. ( Have you been there???)

It was a Friday afternoon in February, with a cold weekend forecast.  We had bought the trailer earlier in the week , and it was ready for us to pick up.  After receiving a brief instructional session from our sales person, we hooked her up and were off!

We showed up at Fountinebleau State Park near Mandeville, Louisiana near sunset, and we had no reservation.  Figuring out that we were totally green at RV camping, the park ranger assigned us to a pull-through site.  Good thing there!  We had come prepared that day with 2 pillows and sheets for the bed.  That was it.

After parking our new trailer in the pull-through site, and spending the rest of the weekend in a trailer that seriously needed leveling, we locked her up and headed into the nearest town for food and a few other supplies.  We got back to the campground well after dark, around 9:30 pm.  The temperature had dropped to around 30 degrees, with a forecast low in the 20’s. To our surprise, our new trailer keys had apparently fallen out of a pocket somewhere in a Home Depot parking lot in the nearby town.

A park ranger would be there until 10 pm, and suggested we call Pop-A-Lock.  He also suggested that, it was his understanding, that many of the keys that accessed the storage compartments for many brands of trailers were generic.  (Did you know that?) If we could find someone in the campground with a trailer similar to ours, their key might open our new palace on wheels.

After knocking on a lot of trailer doors of perfect strangers in the campground, we found someone who had a key he was willing to loan us at the late hour.  The ranger was right!  The key fit a storage compartment on our trailer, that happened to lead into the inside living area, if you lifted up the wood base for a mattress in the bunk area, and crawled up through the small space. I know you can picture it!

Lesson learned:  Keep a spare key to your trailer in your tow vehicle, and a spare key to your tow vehicle in your trailer.  You can’t really function without either.

Tent Camping Hints:

We started off as tent campers. We have many wonderful, and well, challenging, experiences to share.  Tent camping takes you back to the basics; it gets you in touch with nature.  Nature gifts us with sunshine, spring days, cool nights, and the sounds of crickets and frogs as you lay in your sleeping bag.  Nature brings unexpected thunderstorms, along with hotter-than-planned days, and colder-than-anticipated nights.  Nature’s gifts can include an eagle that soars high above your campsite, or raccoons that raid your food, as well as a surprise meeting with a pair of unidentified yellow eyes on your way to the bathhouse during the night.

Survival Hints for Tent Camping:

1. Waterproof everything.  Waterproof everything.  Waterproof everything.  Do you get my point?

• Purchased liquid waterproofing material is available for applying to the seams that hold your tent together.  This needs to be reapplied occasionally.
• Keep your clothes in an Igloo or other insulated container.  You will quickly find that humidity will make every wearable item you brought feel like it is is still on the damp cycle of your dryer.  The Igloo will keep the humidity out and your clothes relatively dry,  and it gives you something to sit on in your tent.
• Keep all of your chips, cookies, bread, etc. in an insulated cooler, as well, so they won’t get soft.  No ice, please!
• Don’t forget to waterproof the top of the screen tent canopy you bring to put over your food table.
• Make sure you use a moisture barrier, such as a plastic sheet, UNDER your tent when you set it up, and have another to place OVER your tent, in case of rain.

2. Plan ahead to keep ALL food tightly locked away – even when you are not at your campsite during the day.  Hungry critters do not wear watches!  They will share in your edible goods 24/7.

3.  Bring a small broom with you, and get some sort of entry rug.  It is a challenge to keep the inside of a tent clean.

4.  Bring ear plugs.  While you may be planning to listen to the sounds of nature,  you may end up in a campground with Non-tenters, aka RVers, whose AC units hum throughout the night.

5. Always bring extra blankets and towels.  Figure out how many you think you’ll need, and double it.

6. Come well-stocked with insect defense: repellent for mosquitoes, spray for wasps and hornets, and powder or granules for ants in the ground.  Spray the legs of your picnic table with ant or bug spray that has a residual effect.

7.  Come prepared with extra bungee cords and small ropes;  somehow, you always need them.

Do you have any special helpful hints for tent campers?  Share them with everyone!

Hints for RVers:

Plan ahead.  The world of RV camping has gone to reservations.  The idea of stopping for the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot or in an over-night rest area may be plainly unsafe or illegal. Reserve America is in use in most places.  To find a federal camping spot, check out recreation.gov. But have a reservation.  A reservation guide, such as Woodall’s,  is a real safety net.

Don’t leave home without the current version of the Next Exit by Mark Watson. No, I don’t know Mark Watson; further, I have nothing to do with his book.  I just know it is an invaluable tool for knowing where you can find gas/diesel, and where your RV or Fifth Wheel rig can fit in the gas station!  You can buy this book online at Amazon.com, and probably at Camping World or Barnes and Noble.  It is updated every year, and cheap.  Ours is dog-eared.

Survival Hints for RVers:

1. Check out your equipment BEFORE hitting the road.

• Check the propane in your tanks.
• Make sure your refrigerator is working; turn it on at least a day before you plan to leave.
• TIRES    TIRES TIRES If you have ever had a flat tire or a blowout on your RV or Fifth Wheel while travelling 65+ mph down an interstate, you know why this is so important.  Check you tire pressure.  Check your tires for signs of wear.  If any of your tires look even questionable, REPLACE THEM!  You can scrimp and save in some other area – but don’t take a chance on tires! We speak from experience, and not a pretty one.  MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GOOD, SPARE TIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!
• This is a good time to remind you to have RV insurance and Road Service, such as that provided by Good Sam’s.  It is cheap, and worth every penny.
• Attachments – If you have bicycles, ice chests, swim toys, or other small items tied or attached to the outside of your RV,  make extra sure they are secure.  One of these items coming loose on the interstate and flying into another vehicle is the LAST thing you want to add as a vacation memory.
• If you have a Fifth Wheel, make sure the tow hitch of the trailer is securely clicked in place before pulling out.   Speaking from another unpleasant experience, if it is not, the trailer will slip loose and land on the sides of your truck bed.    Not a pretty sight!  We’ll write about it and show you a photo later……..

2. Take extra plastic storage containers of all sizes.  These are stackable, and you never know when you will need one for something, whether it is leftovers, or a small turtle that needs a home to ride back in.

3.  Take a collapsible clothes hamper for dirty clothes.  It stores flat, is usually made from breathable mesh for moisture issues, and is easy to take inside straight to the laundry room when you return home.

4.  Use non-skid cabinet liner in all of your cabinets and drawers.  This really helps to keep things from sliding around so much while you’re on the go.

5.  Place child-proof cabinet locks, aka “kiddie locks,” on any cabinet door that might jar open while you’re travelling.  After arriving at a destination with most of our mug collection in pieces on the floor, we discovered this solution.

6.  After setting up your campsite, sprinkle ant poison around the area where your tires touch the ground.  This really helps avoid unwanted visitors in the pantry.  Use caution here if you have a little pet with you!

7.  Have a toolbox filled with basic tools that never leaves your RV.

Please share any helpful ideas related to RVing you have learned along your RV journey!

As any seasoned camper knows, half the time you spend in a campground is with other campers talking about camping!  We hope you will use this site to share your helps, hints, travel suggestions/pitfalls, or campfire stories with everyone.  Here are some topics everyone will be interested in:

• Camping with children/grandchildren
• Camping with pets
• Very cool places to camp
• RV maintenance hints and helps
• New camping products you have found
• easy, efficient food prep/recipe ideas for camping
• new or unusual places to camp
• how to live long-term in an RV

Campers are a sharing lot.  Let us hear from you!