Solo Camping Trip

I love camping and camping is a great way to explore new places on a single mom budget. There were always at least one of my children with me on our camping adventures and at most all five! The older my children get the harder it is to coordinate a weekend around everyone's different schedules. 

This year as summer came to a close I made the spontaneous decision to reserve a spot at one of my favorite places, Hickory Run State Park. It's less than a two hour drive from my house, so it's doable for a quick weekend get away. My youngest son who still lives at home with me and is a senior in High School, was looking forward to our camping trip, but at the last minute he had to back out. He had a school project deadline and work scheduled for the same weekend. My daughter is in college and  isn't a huge fan of camping. And my three oldest son's live in Florida. I had two options, cancel my trip or go alone.

That is how I found myself packing up my car for a one person camping trip. Fun fact: I didn't need to put the roof rack on for the first time, as a one person camping trip fits entirely inside my small Venue Hyundai. I even was able to pack the small cooler for the weekend as I would only be feeding myself and I decided I would be eating very simple this weekend.  I was warming to the idea of an entire weekend of peace and quiet. Something that is rare in my life especially with my full time job caring for four toddlers.  

I aimed to leave straight after work so I would arrive before dark on this last weekend of September. But as I drove north towards my destination, I felt like I was losing my race with the sun as I saw it sink below the horizon faster then a sinking ship. I arrived at my campsite after dark. The sounds of campers laughing around their bright campfires was my sound track while I wrestled with setting up my four man tent by the headlights of my car. It took twice as long to set up alone and there may have been a few swear words released in the process, to help me, but I got that tent up, all by myself and it felt so empowering. I then got my bed set up and next was building a fire. To celebrate my achievements I made myself a smore and savored the empowered feeling, wrapping it around my shoulders like a warm hug. I wished my mom could see me now!

 I wasn't quite alone as I had brought my two ferrets, Cosmo and Nova. They love going on adventures and I have brought them on several camping trips since I adopted them, as well as many day hikes near our home. They are great little hikers and when they get tired they get to ride in their backpack. After letting my worried children know that I was safely set up at camp, the ferrets and I settled in for the night. The nearby stream singing me to sleep. I couldn't wait to explore how close I was camping to the stream. I couldn't see it in the dark but I had purposely chosen my camping spot to be near it. 

The next morning I woke with the light of day and the need to pee. I had no idea how far the bathrooms were and I knew it was early and wished I could ignore the pressure in my bladder and sleep in on this treasured no alarm day. It was a chilly morning, and a process to get out of my cozy cocoon. The bathroom was a five minute walk from my tent and the cool morning temps made me grateful I had packed extra sweatshirts and blankets. When I arrived back to my campsite the sound of rushing water called to me to come explore. I was  on top of a small hill that looked down into a forest that looked like something our of a movie about fairies and magic. I followed a sort of path down the small hill, around some large rocks, over moss covered logs, through a blanket of ferns, around a rocky wall and discovered my own little waterfall. It was as if a light shown down from Heaven on me and wrapped me in a warm hug in that moment. I teared up with emotion because I absolutely love waterfalls and all of my camping trips or favorite hikes involve waterfalls. Discovering this private little waterfall just steps from my campsite, that I randomly chose a few weeks prier, felt like a nod from the Universe that I was meant to be right here, in this exact moment. 

I went back to my campsite to make coffee and brought my mug of hot coffee to sip by my very own waterfall.  It felt as if my mom's spirit was sitting next to me and she was smiling with love over my pure enjoyment and wonderment of this very personal magical moment. I was meant to come on this solo camping trip this weekend. I was meant to see this weekend as a chance to build on my growing self confidence and belief in myself. Life is a gift and sometimes we get lost in just surviving our day to day in work and paying the bills and our souls need to disengage and find the quiet. It's in those moments that you discover the pure joy and magic in living. 

I had the most relaxing, self-care weekend of my life. I ate when I wanted to eat, I read in my hammock, with the sound of the breeze in the trees overhead. I hiked with my little hiking buddies  and only felt scared for a short period in the woods when I didn't see any other humans for a while and visions of meeting a bear filled my head. Luckily I never found myself confronting a bear during my weekend. I only had the most blissful weekend, soaking up all that nature has to offer. I was sad packing up and saying goodbye to my solo weekend, but I left there ready to be a mom and care-giver again. I look forward to more solo camping trips with Cosmo and Nova in the future.