Summer School: Vermont Camping 101

Breakaway pants are finally back in stock. I’ve always thought that they would be great for camping but have never tried them out on an actual trip. Okay, the honest truth is, I’ve never actually taken all four of my kids (age 12, 9, 7 and 5) camping (unless the backyard counts). But … with my husband out of town and optimistic visions of “sibling team building” dancing in my head, I stuffed the back of the car last weekend with blankets and a tent (that hadn’t been unrolled for at least four years). Come on, this is camping. How hard could this be?

The next morning I carefully selected what I thought would be be nicest site at the nicest nearby campground. With the enthusiasm of an 18 year old camp counselor I dialed a great campground, then another, and then another. “What do you mean? No room?” Long story sort, I was finally able to get the last tent site for one night at Half Moon Pond State Park on Lake Bomoseen … but the ranger advised me that the night before the adjoining site had a crew of party goers that didn’t adhere to the 10 pm “all quiet” rule. How bad could it really be, I thought?

So we headed south. We stopped at the wonderful Middlebury, VT farmers market. I bought my daughter a great handmade sweater that she has skated in every day ever since. We explored the Falls near the Old Marble Works and then continued to head south to the Park. When we arrived, my kids were amazed. The campground is beautiful. We didn’t end up with one of the “primo” tent sites but it was fine for our first venture. The crooners at the next site turned out to be nothing more than young wannabe musicians who while they played until 10:30 were harmless.

One of the things I learned about camping is that it as definitely gone upscale since I was a kid. We came with a tent, some sleeping bags, and a cooler of food. All around us were folks who brought separate structures to put over their picnic tables, clothes line (makes sense), serious inflatable mattresses, bikes, signs with their name/home town, fancy trailers, and so on. In spite of our first timer status, the trip was great. I managed to make a camp fire and keep it going long enough for us to roast marshmallows. I remembered to bring extra D batteries for the lantern so I could read to all four of them in the tent at night.

There were only two downsides. First, while I brought a pair of our breakaway pants to stay warm at night (we really do wear our products!) and in the morning, some sort of mattress under the sleeping bag would have been better. I hate to say it but while the product testing opportunity was great, the pants just aren’t a substitute for proper padding under a sleeping bag (unless you are wearing six pairs simultaneously). Lastly, as the fearless leader, I took them on a 2 mile hike around the lake (some people in our party referred to it as a death march). My curiosity about why we were the only ones making this trek disappeared when my sweet seven year old daughter Bea was attacked by a swarm of killer black flies. Luckily a couple from Montreal took pity on us and soaked her in cortisone cream.

The next morning we headed home and stopped at Branbury State Park on Lake Dunmore (one of the “primo” areas that I had called). It’s another beautiful camping area with a great sandy beach. I asked the ranger if we could drive through and also how much notice was needed for a reservation. “Six to eight ma’am, he replied.” “Six to eight days,” I asked? “No ma’am, six to eight months.” (Okay, so I am still getting the hang of this.)

Bottom line? They’d go again in a heartbeat and so would I. I learned that four kids can put up a tent together, that the laundry generated from this type of trip is basically the same whether you go for 1 night or 3, those netted houses over the the picnic table are … priceless, bring more fire starters, and reading to your kids in a tent until they fall asleep is really cool.