I have returned! Barely.
What am I rambling about? Well, for the last four days I have been chaperoning our annual 4-H campout at Mirror Lake. Our group has an annual tradition of heading out to Mirror Lake Campground for a few days of fun, food, and fellowship. And sore joints.
But I am getting ahead of myself. Tucked in a valley between Highway 95 and the gigantic Lake Pend Oreille is Mirror Lake. At one end is a Boy Scout camp, Camp Stidwell, at the other end of the lake's placid waters is Mirror Lake Campground.
The campground is a throw back to another era. To begin with, it is a nature campground, so turtles, frogs, and birds rule. Well, and dogs, because every single resident appears to have one or many. Not that I mind, cause I love canines.
That said, the campground is not an overly manicured testament to modern American aesthetics. Instead it is an old family plot of land with a log cabin on the shore that is a testament to the family who settled at the edge of the lake over a hundred years ago. To say it is tranquil and unfussy there is an understatement.
Most of the campers are local people who just leave their campers in place all season. Like seriously, one of the old guys camping there weed-eated around his trailer one morning. Things move slow at Mirror Lake.
Well, not all things, as we invaded the campground with about 20 teenagers. The gentleman who is the camp host lets us have the group space at the top of the campground for our annual campout, and it comes with a field.
That field is the battleground, I mean rec area for no small amount of fun. I played more kickball and volleyball than I have since I was about twelve, and my carcass feels every slide and dive right now let me tell ya!
One of my favorite parts about the lake is that no motorized engines are allowed, so solitude reigns. Well, except at the swimming dock. It's more like perpetual king of the hill at the swimming dock. Carnage. so much carnage.
Honestly though, our group of kids are pretty swell, there was no real carnage or incidents, the imbibing older folks and their dogs made more noise than our group.
Each year I rent the kids a fishing boat with an electric motor from the nice folks who run the campground, our 4-H leader gets the kids a paddle boat, and all of us brings tubes and kayaks. We then proceed to spend hours playing in the lake. It's more than a good time!
And the dinners are sublime! All of us pitch in and group craft the campfire cuisine. My friend and I did nachos with about every conceivable topping known to humankind Friday night, and there really is something glorious about food being consumed while one's personage is coated in a respectable layer of dust and debris.
So, after days of wiffle ball, the boys scaring the girls and deflating their tents while clad in ghillie suits, friendship raft construction, sharks and minnows games galore, and no small amount of food ingested, we finally made it home. Another successful 4-H campout in the books! Not to mention that next year's spots are already reserved. Honestly, I am glad it is a year away, I need to heal up!:)
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Hello @generikat, this is a beautiful post. As always.
Camping trips have always been a favourite pasttime of mine. Especially on the edge of a lake. Although i've not been able to camp for over a year now. Reading your post and seeing your beautiful pictures has rekindled that hunger within me.
Thank you for that, dear friend.
And thank you for sharing.
Oh my most excellent friend, I am so sorry it has taken me days to reply! We are getting ready for the state fair and in the middle of harvest around here so it's more than a bit crazy, I'm almost always on the move!
Hopefully you get a camping trip in in the near future, I find them a restorative balm for my usually overworked soul lol, Can't wait to read about your camping adventure if you share it with us:)
I really ought to try camping again. But I think I would like it better in a travel trailer than in a tent. We had a tent when I was a kid, and I now have great respect for my parents, who were well into their 50s by then, for going to all that trouble. As an adult, I learned that camping means mom takes all her work with her and has to do it in an inconvenient place. My mother must have really liked camping!
Yes, you should totally give camping a whirl! With the hubs spending an entire career roughing it in the field and my camping experience being in a wall tent during hunting season as a small fry, I have to admit that the whole travel trailer experience is right nice! I call it 1%er camping as it kind of reminds of taking a hotel room with you wherever you go.
Your mom sounds like my grandma, she must have liked it too because dang it had to be a ton of work that she did to get it all together. Just the amount of prep I have to do for the trailer is substantial for sure! However, some of the campers that come to my RV spot seem minimal in the amount of to dos they require in order to have fun and relax. Hope to hear of you wandering off and camping soon!
You have found a wonderful place to enjoy the water and to camp. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for stopping by @rcaine!
!CTP
!PIZZA
Love the pictures. Looks like an amazing place.
Seems like you all had an awesome time. Looks like a really nice spot! Thanks for sharing :)