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As we drove into Wild River State Park with our camping gear in the back of the minivan, my 10-year-old son looked askance at the woods.
"Is there a TV here?" he asked. "Because I really want to watch the World Cup."
I guess my family wasn't primed for outdoor adventure.
My husband and I camped as newlyweds. But we had never gone camping with our three children, ages 4, 8 and 10. (I don't count the time we pitched a tent on the lawn of a friend's house because we were feet away from hot running water and a toilet).
For our first foray into nature, we decided to stick close to the Twin Cities. We had only one night to spare, and we didn't want to spend hours driving.
But as we were packing, I wondered if our 24-hour trip was worth the effort. It had taken days to gear up. We bought our first family tent, borrowed sleeping pads and a camp stove from friends and dug sleeping bags out of storage. I hunted for flashlight batteries, packed food and decanted biodegradable dish soap into a small plastic bottle. At least each son packed his own clothes with a checklist — fleece, swim trunks, hat, underwear, two pairs of socks.
"I'm going to bring my purse," our 4-year-old daughter announced, convinced she would find a shop in the woods.
After a 75-minute drive, we pulled into the park and my mood started to lift. We could have reserved a site online, but we opted to take our chances with one of the many first-come, first-served sites.
Sixty-seven
Still, you can nearly always find an unreserved site, as long as you're not arriving prime time during a holiday weekend.
In the camp office, we studied a map and picked what we thought would be an ideal location.
When we drove up to our spot, we found a middle-aged couple sitting in lawn chairs at the campsite next door. Two young men strolled by smoking cigarettes and carrying a cooler. Everyone looked perfectly nice, but I realized I did not want to be anywhere near them.
I asked the kids, "Do you want to be here? Or do you want to be in the woods by ourselves where you can run around and be loud in the morning?" I knew what they'd say.
We ended up swapping the convenience of the car campsite for the seclusion of a backpack/canoe site right off the St. Croix River. We had to walk a third of a mile from the van, everyone making two trips to carry our belongings. But it was worth every step.
The site had everything we needed — a picnic table, a fire ring with a grill and a toilet off the woods.
We pitched the tent and had lunch. Then, my husband took a nap with the 4-year-old while the boys and I explored. About 20 minutes up the trail, we found raspberry bushes with ripe berries and a beach with sand like brown sugar where another family was hanging out. The boys splashed in the water and dug inlets and sand castles.
That night, we made a fire. (I recommend the 25-cent fire starter we bought at the office along with our firewood. It's a tiny paper cup filled with sawdust soaked in paraffin). When you camp, basic tasks like cooking become entertainment. My 8-year-old son sharpened sticks with his knife and we roasted hot dogs and sausages. For dessert, we had s'mores. The boys ate their marshmallows half burned on the outside and still firm inside. I toasted mine over coals until they were golden brown and gooey all the way through. We washed the dishes in water heated over the fire and dried them in a mesh bag hung from a tree branch.
By now, day was waning. While the rest of the family walked up the trail to fill water jugs, I watched the sun set behind the St. Croix River. Earlier in the day, there were motorboats and canoes on the water. Now the river was abandoned. It rippled glossy and greenish gold, like olive oil spilled in a black skillet. It was easy to imagine that I was the only person around for miles.
It took awhile for everyone to fall asleep. I read out loud from "Peter and the Starcatcher." When I turned off the lantern, my 10-year-old asked, "Is it safe to sleep out here?"
I assured him that we had checked the forecast and expected nothing worse than a drizzle.
"No, I mean, like, what if someone comes along."
He felt exposed by the mesh window, so dad volunteered to change places and somehow, after rearranging ourselves, the youngest ended up with the cushy inflatable pads and I ended up sleeping on a foam roll that provided about as much cushioning as a stack of tortillas. Then, my daughter needed to go to the bathroom.
When we got outside in the dark, she clutched my hand. "Mama, I was just teasing. I don't really need to pee."
"Hmm. Are you scared?"
"Yes. I'm scared of bears and burglars."
I carried her to the toilet in my arms and showed her the moonlight filtering through the trees. I told her there was nothing that could harm her.
The next morning, we woke at dawn to a flock of pheasants running by our tent and flapping their wings. My husband caught a glimpse of them before they took off. We started another fire to chase off mosquitoes. We made coffee on the camp stove and let the boys toast bread over the fire and spread it with marshmallows and Nutella.
The rest of the morning we explored the park and stumbled on the old site of the Nevers Dam, which had been built in 1890 to control the flow of logs from logging sites farther north. Eight million logs could float by in two hours! Enough logs to build more than 900,000 homes jostled past our campsite in the years before the last log drive in 1912, when the old growth pine forests were gone.
We could have explored the park for days. If we had wanted group activity, there were a half dozen programs that weekend, including a bicycle ride, campfire story time and naturalist talks. A nearby stable leads horse rides through the park. We could have swung by the visitor center to borrow a kids' camping activity bag or a birding kit with binoculars and a guidebook. You can borrow a GPS unit to geocache. The visitor center even runs movies on rainy days.
While we packed up our campsite, it started to drizzle. When we got home, we had to dry out the sleeping bags in our porch. I was sore from sleeping on the tortilla bed. The kids were covered in bites from mosquitoes undeterred by our Deet-free repellent (I've found a better brand).
But everyone had a good time.
"I love camping," said our daughter. "I want to camp every night this summer. Can we?"
We'll likely go back. I'd like to rent a canoe for $30 from Eric's Canoe Rental at the park, load our equipment into it and paddle downriver less than a mile to a canoe campsite my husband scouted out during a run.
Best of all, we are no longer first-time campers. Now that we've gathered matches, dish soap and other gear in one big box, packing will be a cinch.
Maja Beckstrom can be reached at 651-228-5295.
THE SCOOP
What: Camping
Where: Wild River State Park
Information: www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks
Cost: $5 daily parking permit ($25 annual permit); tent campsites range from $12 to $20. Rustic cabins $45-$50. If you book in advance, add $8.50 reservation fee. Firewood and fire starter is $4.
Target audience: Anyone who wants to trade the sounds of traffic for bird calls at 6 a.m.
Crowd pleaser: Need we say s'more?
Avoid: Don't forget matches. Make a packing checklist or use this one from REI at rei.com/expertadvice/camping.
Tip: Don't feel like you need to buy equipment. Borrow from friends or rent.
Special event: A new program for first-time campers called "I Can Camp!" offers overnight sessions every Thursday and Saturday through Aug. 21 in a different state park. You bring food and sleeping bags, leaders provide tents, air mattresses and other basic equipment, along with activities and lessons in outdoor skills, like how to start a fire and pitch a tent that will keep you dry. $55 for up to six people. www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/can_camp.html
More info: Read previously published family outings under "family fun" at MinnMoms.com.
