So last Friday, my father and I loaded up the Jeep and took to the forest without much of a plan. After wandering for a while, we ended up traveling along a ridge just south of Cheaha State Park, known as Kentuck.
We stumbled across this campsite, a clear cut area just off the main road.
Good view, huh? So we set up our tent-cots, (more on those later) and set to making a fire. We filled the rear floorboard of the Jeep with split wood from home, but we did not really use it much. Since this area was clear cut, there were many sticks and logs scattered about which we could use.
I was using my phone GPS to figure how far we were from the town below. 8 miles or so.
At first my Dad and I both were nervous about cooking with an open fire, I never had, and Dad hadn't in years. But it ended up working out really well. Just before this trip I had purchased a metal grate which is used over the fire as a grill. Seen here making coffee the next morning:
We used it that night to cook four fillets of salmon, which ended up tasting pretty good. I put all four on a metal plate, which made it where the spot closest to the fire cooked the fish while the other three spots just warmed them. Then, after the piece on the hotspot was cooked, I moved it aside and placed one of the others there. It worked well, the two fillets I ate tasted great, and Dad says his did as well. While on the topic of cooking, breakfast the next morning went well as well. After Dad brewed some coffee, I boiled some water to make cheese grits in.
The grits were great. I was really expecting them to taste burnt, or watery, or otherwise bad, but they didn't.
The location was great as well. The Talledega National Forest is a great place to live near. Specifically, here on the ridge, the wind was enough to keep the gnats away, but not quite enough to be a problem to us. As I said before, the view was great. I could see my hometown clearly, looking like a small pocket of civilization surrounded by wilderness.
This trip was our first time using tent-cots. They fit well in the Jeep, much better than our enormous eight person tent-mansion that we have used in the past. I hope to get a roof rack soon, and they will fit better there. They are really nice. They are warmer than a normal tent, and actually fairly spacious inside. They only took a couple minutes to set up, and even less to take down. Plus, they kept us a little above the ground, which was nice. It is like having your own personal pod to escape to, yet you are still fully in nature. They do have a few drawbacks though. I left one flap open, so I got pretty smoked. Also the dew formed on the roof, which was absolutely frigid in the morning. They really wouldn't work for groups larger than two or maybe three either.
So all in all, this was an awesome camping trip. Everything worked out well, the location, the food, the Jeep, the tents, everything.
Some random pics for your enjoyment:
Sunset
Here is one of Dad, cause he's not in any of the others. (He took most of those pictures)
Sunrise
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