Marsh Lake Twenty-Seventeen

August 21, 2017

Marsh Lake. The home of week-long camping trips of my childhood with my Aunt Sherol’s family (my mom’s sister.)

I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t want to go camping this year. We had a much busier summer than we anticipated and quite honestly, it seemed like a lot of work. Plus, camping with little kids is a whole different story. Nights at Marsh Lake can be very cold and when it rains, it pours. The thought of keeping Oliver entertained in a tent all day didn’t sound too fun.

But Brandon r e a l l y wanted to go this year and since Kristin and her family were going to go, I gave in and off we went to the great outdoors.

I was not the happiest camper when as we were setting up our tent, it started to rain. I thought, “here we go- a rough few days!”, but thankfully we only had a short rain that first night and great, cooler weather the rest of the time.

However, I’m so happy Brandon convinced us to go. (Usually I’m all for adventures). But my anxieties about the trip were surpassed by the fresh mountain air, sound of gravel roads, smell of pine and campfires, endless walks and hikes, caneoing, and time completely unplugged ( a rarity these days!)

Lessons learned:

Camping with other people is so much easier. We split up meals and gear, which was a blessing since our Pilot was filled to the brim with just a few days worth of stuff.
It’s a lot of work. It will always be work. I’m grateful for my parents who worked so hard to take our family of 9 for an entire week with no complaining that I remember. I had the thought up there, “I’ve had my turn as a child, now is my turn to help my children create their own camping memories.” And so we’ll continue to camp.
Fresh mountain air is so rejuvenating.
Food always taste extra amazing when camping.
Staying up late with my dad, Sarah, and Justin laughing and eating mollicks was a memory I’ll cherish.
A tent heater is a life-saver. And so is a double-high air mattress.
A treasure hunt is always a good idea.

The famous “stream”

My cousin Juli, Justin, Emily, and I would live at this stream, spending hours upon hours each day fishing. We’d ride our bikes from camp with our fishing poles bouncing up and down while avoiding all the scary cows to get here. The stream seemed SO far away when I was younger. It’s less than a mile and we all walked there on our last day, including all the little ones. So many wonderful memories from this place!