Camping at FDR State Park

I took Julia on her first back country camping trip this weekend at FDR State Park on Pine Mountain.  Although we had been talking about it for a couple of weeks, it was a bit of a hasty decision to go out and do it since the forecast called for rain.  Despite the potential for rain, we decided to go last minute and pushed out about 5:30pm to go to the park. 

I was debating if I should start her easy and do some car camping first, but we showed up and there was some geocaching event going on and all the park sites were booked.  The lady almost wouldn't give us a backcountry spot either since rules dictate you have to register for it at least two hours before sunset (and were showing up about 45-minute til).   

Luckily the Park Ranger was in the shop and saw my North Face Endurance Challenge shirt and figured since I run the park trails every weekend, I could be trusted not to get lost on the trail to one of the few remaining backcountry sites.

We stayed at the Little Bridges back country camp site.  Although it wouldn't have been my first choice, it was probably the best starting site for Julia.  The trail head is located near the pan handle area near the park entrance.  And though we have to hike in about a mile and a half, we were actually less than 500m from the road.  

The site is named Little Bridges due to the many little wooden bridges that go over the stream near the site.  I should have taken pictures of them, but we were in a hurry to get to our spot before it was completely dark and it was raining on our hike out in the morning.  On a side note, the stream is fed by a fresh water spring.   

Although it did rain, which forced me to get up at around midnight to put on the rain fly on, and in our haste to get out to the site we forgot to pack ground pads (which was more for comfort than thermal insulation) it was a great first back country experience for Julia.