Onion River Exploration Project: Camping with Lil Wade

Wade, Grandma and Grandpa

Day 5 (7/18/14)
As I mentioned in the last blog, we had to be up to the registration office at 10:00 to make sure we got a campsite for tonight. We didn’t bother getting up early since it would have been hard to squeeze in a camp breakfast and kayak in before 10:00. After making some coffee and getting the fire going again we made some ham, egg and cheese sandwiches in our sandwich irons. Everything always taste better made over a fire. Again we marveled at the peacefulness of our camp spot. We had only had a couple people wander past on their way to who knows where as we sat there and enjoyed our morning. After finishing breakfast we still had some time to kill so we took a short bike ride and headed up to registration. We had been warned by the girl in the office that last year fights had broke out over campsites so we were not surprised to see a line forming already and a ranger present when we got there at 9:45. For the most part people seemed in good humor however, so we passed the time chatting until the office opened up. They were taking groups one at a time and we were third in line. When we had our turn there were three spots left to choose from. One was on top the hill and would make biking with our kayaking gear a challenge so we selected the one that looked easiest to transport gear down to the water’s edge. As it turned out the site was ok but nothing like we had the night before. By now the campground was filling up and we had campers all around us. We were determined to make the best of it and set up camp and prepared for our son and his wife and baby who were coming over to spend the afternoon with us. After they arrived we packed Wade (our grandson) and his gear into a stroller and took off to show them the sights. What a difference a day can make. When we got to the beach it was teeming. The parking lots were full and there were even a couple of buses onsite. Because of high water the boat landing was closed. In fact you couldn’t even get to it without wading through standing water, so that is where we headed. As expected we had the area all to ourselves and Wade loved playing in the water that was only inches deep on the roadway. We chased little minnows and frogs around and marveled at all the tiny snails. We hiked for a while up the Tamarack trail but were warned by some hikers coming back that after the bridge the trails were under water. By then the mosquitoes had found us anyway so we headed back to the beach. I had promised to buy everybody slushies, our favorite Mauthe treat. After playing with Wade on the playground equipment our guest had to head back home. We walked back to camp, made another camp supper and retired early so that we could get up early the next day to do some more kayaking.