THEre is one thing the photography must contain – the humanity of the moment.
– robert frank
A couple of weeks ago, I took Lexi camping at the same time as my sister’s family so she would have some of her cousins along with us since it was Lexi’s first camping trip. Before this, she and I had spent one single night in the tent in our backyard and she barely made it through the night. However, I knew she would enjoy all things camping because she loves hiking with me and playing in water with me. We went to Fall Creek Falls State Park in Tennessee because it has a lot to do and is less than 2 hours away, and I had not been there in more than 15 years probably. She loved every second of the trip without a doubt.
When we first got there, we did a junior canopy tour since she isn’t big enough to do a regular one yet. Most places don’t even have options for kids her age so I was excited about it. It was one where you are self-guided and it has different obstacles between platforms and included three zip lines. She was nervous about it at first because she really didn’t know what it was and the full harness worried her I think. I kept reassuring her she would love it and all I had to do was help her transfer from one safety line to the next so she could continue through it. She lost all her nerves very quickly until the last zip line, BUT she asked me to do the whole course again and went super fast through it, even the last zip line.
After the ropes course canopy was all done, Lexi’s first camping trip continued with us actually setting up camp at our respective sites. My sister’s family uses a pull-behind camper instead of tents most of the time, so we got two different campsites near each other.
After a little bit of down time we decided to go ahead and go horseback riding on the first evening so we would have more time for hiking, exploring, and playing in water on the next day. Since Lexi had never ridden a horse before, she got to be at the front of our group with the guide holding a lead rope to her horse. She did such a great job riding, and we even saw a small deer in the woods just off the trail.
The first day was so much fun, and so long. I can’t believe how much we did on the initial day of Lexi’s first camping trip. After we got back to the campsite, we let the kids play on the playground while we worked on supper. We had hamburgers and hot dogs of course!! After that we played some freeze tag in the big field, and then had popcorn, marshmallows, and S’mores. Since Fall Creek Falls is in central time zone, we went to bed so so so late that night. It actually got a little cold that night as well and Lexi hogged the covers, so I didn’t sleep good enough considering how late we went to bed. We woke up quite a bit earlier the next morning than we normally would as well because nature was waking up as well.
For the second day of Lexi’s first camping trip we decided to get started as soon as we could, so we didn’t take time to cook breakfast. We had mini donuts and pop tarts, not too different from what we do many mornings at home. Then we packed some beef jerky, chips, snacks, and water…and got ready to go hiking. We decided to go down to the base of Fall Creek Falls because it was the hardest, and then we would just do some more hiking if the kids had the energy. They did so good, especially Lexi. She didn’t complain any, and it was the longest overall day of hiking she has ever done. She loved going down to the base of the falls and feeling the wind blow mist all over us.
After we hiked back up to the overlook and everyone ate some snacks, we began a loop trail that had several overlooks of the gorge. Then we went back to the campsites for a bit, ate some more snacks, and changed into clothes that could get wet. We went to the cascades and played in the water, including the natural water slides on the rocks. It was super cold, but water like that really always is, and Lexi and I always cool off in water when we go hiking.
We finished this day with steaks and macaroni & cheese since we had really only eaten snack food all day. We had another campfire and had more S’mores, too!! Since the first day was soooooo long and we went to bed so late and got up so early, I tried to get Lexi to bed as soon as it was dark because she was crashing hard even though she wanted to play tag again. Unfortunately, it rained just a little in the middle of the night which freaked her out because it would spray into the tent every so slightly. I knew it wasn’t supposed to actually rain but we ended up in the car for most of the night. Despite the issues of not getting enough sleep, I couldn’t be happier how her first experience camping went. On the final morning we took down camp after eating cinnamon rolls my sister’s family baked. Then we rode bikes a little bit on the lake loop trail. Lexi had just learned how to ride without training wheels a couple of weeks before this trip, so she was nervous about the narrow path. Plus, she was really tired too and she gets frustrated easily, so she and I ended up walking some. The last thing we did was let the kids try to fish a little bit up until it started to rain, which we knew was coming that morning. Once it started raining, we were ready to head back home. We stopped to use the restroom so we wouldn’t have to stop again during the drive, we got some lunch, and we drove back home. Now it is too hot to camp comfortably, so maybe I will take Lexi again in the fall. I hope she always remembers this trip because I know I will always remember Lexi’s first camping trip.