Camping doesn't always go as planned.

It's good to be prepared when camping.  You just never know. 

Things usually go as planned while we camp.  Sure, there are glitches sometimes.  Such as on our first primitive camping when we got caught up in strong winds in the middle of the night and ran for cover to the truck.  Big mistake, stay in the tent.  You actually anchor it that way.  That was at Big Lazar Wildlife Management Area.  We've learnt a lot since then.

Well, nothing really happened on that trip..except a little excitement in the night...the wind, an animal walking around the tent while we were trying to sleep, and earlier that night, me trying to scare off an animal. I couldn't see it but he growled at me.  Of course, I growled back as best as a "half scared human" could.  I couldn't run, he would chase me, so I ran him off.  ... It was all fun, and we considered it our graduating camping test. 

Check this site out if you need to be prepared too tent camping.

We went camping this past weekend in the Oconee National Forest.  And for the first time we had to abort and come home earlier.  Yes, camping doesn't always go right. 

We've never come home earlier.  Instead, I remember when we were enjoying the peace and quiet so much that we stayed another day.  And that has happened more than once.  Now, we prepare to stay one extra night/day, just in case.  So what happened, you might ask?

Everything was going fine.  The Whip-poor-wills are singing their heart out in the night.  These are night birds that eat insects and they have a unique call.  It goes like this "whipowill, whipowill, whipowill...".  And they can carry on, especially when they've just migrated back and are looking for a mate.  Here is a picture for you, courtesy of Lloyd Spitalnik.



by Dmitry Benbau

 Did I say everything was going fine? We saw the most beautiful moon I've ever seen in my life!  It was big, stunning, all white and bright.  I pointed my binoculars toward it and ...wow! I saw things I've never seen before such as holes, long crater lines, shadows of hills or whatever they were.  I knew this was unusual so I checked it out when we got home and sure enough, the super "perigee moon", not seen since March of 1993.  You needed to be at a place without all the lights of the city to really appreciate it. 

The next day, we heard a helicopter and an airplane sounds in the distance close to our camping site.  We saw smoke, and then ashes falling from the sky.  A forest fire, not one of those induced and controlled burns by foresters.  A real bad forest fire.



by Lloyd Spitalnik



We were just enjoying the birds, the peace and serenity.  Some pretty Pine Warblers were around among other cute birds.  See the picture of the Pine Warbler?  



Debbie suggested we pack up and leave.  I started taking down our station...and the sky cleared.  Pretty much.

We enjoyed the rest of the day, made a nice campfire, enjoyed the moon again.  This time it looked more like a harvest moon.  Still big, and a different color.  Go figure.  White one day, reddish the next day.

Time to go to bed around 10:00 p.m.  We doused the fire, and we couldn't believe what we saw next.  Smoke all around our area.  What a surprise. 

We went to the tent.  As I was getting ready to sleep, Debbie suggested we go home.  Go home, in the middle of the night? How can we take down all these tents in semi-darkness, tired...  Well, are you married? Then you know about not arguing with your wife.

I was sure the smoke would clear, but I would hate to be wrong on this one.  So, I asked "you really want to go home?" "Yes", came the reply.  We took down everything in the night (remember the full moon? came in handy), packed the truck.  At 11:30 p.m. the smoke was still there, no wind to blow it away.  Now, I'm really happy I kept my mouth shut.  She was right. 

This is how our site looked before we took it down.  (This picture is not from last weekend, but all the same elements were there).

Packing everything was easy because we knew where everything was.  Be prepared, learn tent camping.  Now, we can say that we took down our whole site in the middle of the night in semi-darkness.  That's our "black belt in camping". 

Enjoying nature can be a family affair

Children learn from their parents. Usually. What's better than to go for a walk a nature. It's beckoning us to come and smell the fresh air, listen to the water running, and watch the birds.

This is just what we did this past weekend. It was nice. The trees were blooming, the butterflies were out, the migrant birds were coming back. We saw some Purple Martins.

We went to the Little Water Falls at the Piedmont Wildlife Refuge. Didn't we go there just a weekend earlier? Oh yes, it's never the same, and there are a handful of places in nature we go to regularly. And when Kelly and Leah are there, it just doubles the fun.

The water is still running, making a nice waterfall. It's cool just to sit by it and listen to the water. This is a pretty place. I'm sure you have pretty places like this near you too. Make the time to go if you can. Take the kids with you, if you have kids. It's best to start early. That way they want to keep going later.

We all had a good time and we can't wait till next time.

An afternoon at the Piedmont Wildlife Refuge

What do you do when you're in love with nature? You're right! You go visit her. And she puts up her prettiest colors for you. She lets her pretty birds sing for you. She shows you the trees getting ready for spring, and the little miracles she knows how to perform. Just look.

We paid nature a visit this afternoon, and she was happy we came. We saw no one else visiting at the Piedmont Wildfile Refuge. We felt she was a bit lonely. She blew us kisses through the cold breezes. At first it just felt like a cold wind to us then we realized that Nature was just caressing our faces. Ok, calm down now, Mother. Show us some pretty birds.

Have ever seen Purple Martins and Tree Swallows performing their dances over the water? Nice, very nice. They make their acrobatic dances and swoop over the surface of the water, tirelessly. We were not sure if we should be clapping or not.

Do you see the raging water in the last two pictures? Well, we were here last fall and we could walk all over the place. Now, a beautiful waterfall. The background made us look like we belong...so we took some pictures. Have you noticed the natural green carpet of moss being laid in the 1st picture? Sure, I'll sleep there. But no, thanks, I'll bring my own tent. I'm not sleeping on the carpet. Just kidding, no camping allowed there actually.

All in all, it was a pleasant afternoon. We saw flocks of birds, some may be migrating back north (the ducks). We drove through the Refuge (sort of protected forest) and stopped whenever there was something interesting. We walk also, of course. That's part of birding, taking a walk in nature, isn't it?

Nature is beautiful. Go pay a visit sometimes.