Campsite for Two in Sproul State Forest

It was being billed as "the last backpack trip of the season." Last week, while we were camping out in Quehanna, my husband told me that when we got home, we should just go right back out into the woods again! He wanted to go to Sproul, he said; it isn't a long walk in. And besides, we were already packed up; why not just go out again?

Well, of course, I informed him that that was absolutely NOT happening. When we got back from Quehanna, I could barely walk for several days. I wasn't backpacking ANYwhere. I needed some recovery time. And so it was that we ended up going to Sproul, but not until now.

You would have thought that we'd have packed it all up on Friday night, but no. We had a long day on Friday, and ran errands all around and did some visiting. When we got home, we plopped into our chairs in the living room and watched Criminal Minds, non-stop. So Saturday morning, we got up, ready to roll.

We packed up our gear and my husband put it all into his big black Chevy Impala. We had stopped for double cheeseburgers on Friday at Burger King buy one get one free. We were smart enough to grab an extra pair, which we requested with no toppings or condiments. Guess what we had for late breakfast on Saturday morning before we left on our trip: you got it right, DOUBLE CHEESEBURGERS.

We made the drive to Sproul, which takes about an hour, and we were quite surprised to discover somebody else in the parking spot we usually use! So we had to park a different place, under a glorious yellow tree. 

As we were finishing packing up, a lady drove up in a minivan. A red pick-up pulled up from the camp below to pick her up, as the road worsened just beyond the parking spot. As we were ready to walk down that road with all our gear on, it was BLOCKED! Who knew there'd be PEOPLE? But then they were gone, and we were on our way.

The hike into the campsite we call Pine Glen in Sproul is our shortest one. It isn't even a mile. Which was a good thing for me, as I was worried, once again, about my left knee. It held up pretty well, and soon we were in our campsite setting up all of our gear.

We've been on three backpack trips this fall; this trip is the only one short enough to carry my blue bag chair, which you may see there on the left, in front of my tent. My husband's chair and tent are to the right. Between us, I put down a blue half-groundsheet, to put our stuff on. 

Having a chair is such a god-send. When I don't bring it, I take along a stadium chair, which is tough getting into and out of on the ground, but it's really handy for inside the tent. Having a real, full-size, sit-up chair is amazing! I actually sat in it while inflating Big Agnes, my sleeping pad. I got 'er done in 15 minutes flat, which may be a new world's record!

One of the things that happens as fall moves on is that night falls much more quickly. This campsite is quite shady, with lots of pines (and pine pitch, you've been warned!). The sun leaves it early, and then come the shadows of the night.

We heard an owl hoot around dusk, a long Whoo-WHOOoooo! and then later on, the coyote howls began. I wasn't sure I heard anything like an elk this time, but the coyotes were very close and very vocal and very restless. I got out my whistle and wore it around my neck, ready to blow it as loudly as possible, if they should come too near.

I was in and out of my tent a number of times in the evening, and somehow left the tent door open a bit for an hour or more. Ick! It's my personal policy to keep everything zipped up tight, because I don't want any surprising night visitors, which can involve any sort of creepy-crawly your imagination (or their hundreds of little legs) can bring you. With deep chagrin, I quickly looked around inside my tent, closed things back up. Would I pay for this later? Tune in tomorrow to find out!

My husband is in charge of the lanterns, and as it began to get dark, he lit two of them, and I turned on my blue Christmas lights, which I string along my tent. We take our animal friends along, including Alex and Little Bear and Little Moose and Tiny Tiger and the Anteater. They play in the trees while we camp out. At nightfall, they move closer: on top of the tent, and then inside for the overnight.

So it was getting darker and we had the lights on and the coyotes came closer and closer, and it was making me quite nervous. I had my whistle in my hand. I told my husband: "I'll give you 10 seconds warning to cover your ears before I blow it." Shortly, it was down to 5 seconds, then to 3 seconds warning. Fortunately, I never needed to blow that whistle!

Eventually, things calmed down some, and we sat listening to our music well into the night. My husband brings the music and a speaker or two. He's been messing around with our old silver speaker, which has seen some wear. On this trip, he brought along my pink iLove speaker, which you can attach to an iPod and then stick the iPod inside it. It's awfully cute, and sounds really great!

The huge Hunter's Moon was our constant companion for the evening, and it kept us company overnight as well. Our high temperature for the first day was 60 degrees. Our campsite was well lit; would have been even without the lanterns. Finally, around 11:15 at night, I grabbed all of my stuff, and my critters and got in my tent and my sleeping bag. Shortly after that, I was fast asleep!

Tune in tomorrow to hear about day 2's adventures in Sproul.

Our soundtrack song for this first day's adventures is from the album Hard Promises, which we listened to by the light of the silvery moon. Here is a personal favorite by Tom Petty, with Stevie Nicks, Insider. One of its verses appears below. (And yes, I HAVE crawled through the briars!) Favorite comment: All the kids are so worried about how Stevie was looking at Lindsey, when the real show is how she looked at Tom. <3

I'm an insider, I been burned by the fire
And I've had to live with some hard promises
I've crawled through the briars
I'm an insider