Zpacks 10 ℉ Sleeping Bag Review

After all the trips we took last year, I feel really hooked on wilderness camping and hope to keep taking my family deeper into the wilderness. To help facilitate that, I’m looking to lighten my pack, especially for some backpacking. As a big (ok, fat) guy, it’s not easy to find an appropriately sized, lightweight sleeping bag. Fortunately, though, it’s not impossible. I picked up a Zpacks 10 ℉ sleeping bag over the winter and thought I would provide a brief review.

Zpacks 10 degree bag in Ventum ripstop nylon

I ordered an X-wide, X-long 10 degree bag in the blue Ventum. The bag is reportedly 66 in. wide and will fit around the neck of someone 6’4” tall. I measure 56” around my shoulder and 5’10” tall, so I hoped this bag would provide just the right amount of room for me. As you can see from the pictures, it’s a hoodless bag, so I wanted a little extra length to be able to pull it up around my head. I think it would have been fine to got with the long, but I don’t regret the extra length as I can fit my head in the bag, although I find it a bit suffocating to do for more than a few minutes at a time. The total length of the bag is right about 6 ft laying relaxed and lofted, and I measured the widest part of the bag to be 66" on the inside. The final measurement I made of the bag was a loft of about 6", although it was difficult to get an exact measurement. I’ve never had a high-quality down bag, and I’m pretty impressed with how the 900 fill power down lofts in these bags.

Full length zipper option

Close-up of zipper at last baffle

The other options I went with on the bag include a full length zipper and a draft tube. The basic bag is designed to essentially be zipped quilt, and Joe Valesko (founder of Zpacks) suggest sleeping with the zipper under you so that a draft tube is not necessary. However, I wasn’t sure how I would like that as I have not used a quilt before and am a restless sleeper. So I ordered the bag to be more like a traditional sleeping bag. I did find it a bit difficult to keep the zipper directly under me, but I’m not sure these additional options were necessary. Another reason I went for the full-length zipper is that it can be opened from the bottom to act as a vent. I plan on using this bag for all but the warmest months, so I wanted to have some additionally flexibility. When the zipper was kept toward the bottom, I didn’t notice any drafts, but when it was on top, I noticed that the draft tube did not exactly cover the zipper. It’s not incredibly stiff and is fairly narrow, so it doesn’t give the best coverage of the zipper. Obviously, the upside is that it’s not heavy. The bag, along with the cuben fiber dry bag, weighs 30.5 oz, so remarkably, I was able to find a sub-2 lb, 3 season bag to fit my large body.

I used the bag two nights inside a double wall tent (REI Half Dome 4) on an Exped Synmat 7 LW with temperatures down to about 27 ℉ according to Accuweather. On the first night, I slept without virtually no insulating clothes on except for my Merino wool socks, and I ended up being more than warm enough by the end of the night. However, I did have a bit of trouble warming up after catching a chill the first night. It probably took me an hour to warm up, but I don’t think that’s the bag’s fault as my skin was quite cold when I climbed in. I started out with a Polartec balaclava but found myself overheating after a few hours. I suspect that with some insulating underwear or additional light clothing I would be comfortable in this bag into the mid to upper teens. I don’t think I would push it to 10 degrees without some additional layers, though. I did expect the bag to bit a bit warmer than it is, but I should note that I don’t really have my system dialed in for 10 degrees, so it’s hard to judge exactly. I can say that it’s warmer than my Big Agnes Summit Park 15 ℉ bag, so I’m pretty satisfied with its performance.

I was initially concerned with the ultralight materials used in the bag, but I’m coming around to think this is the way to go. Zpacks offers this bag in two ripstop nylon fabric options, green Pertex GL or blue Ventum. I emailed Zpacks to find out the difference, and Joe told me his gut feeling was that they were very similar. Shortly after that, Richard Nisley reported on backpackinglight.com that indeed they are quite similar in both air and water permeability.

One thing that really concerns me, especially as a canoe camper, is keeping my gear dry. Cuben seems almost too good to be true, so I wanted to test out the dry bag that came with the sleeping bag. I recruited my 7 year-old daughter to help me with an experiment, and we decided to stick the sleeping bag in the dry bag in the shower for thirty seconds to see if any water would get in. I stuffed the bag in, closed the velcro, folded the closure three times and buckled it. We directed the water spray on top of the dry bag and adjusted it a couple times to ensure the water had plenty of opportunities to enter the dry bag. After taking it out of the shower, we dried the outside with a towel and inspected the sleeping bag and dry bag. The sleeping bag was dry without any noticeable moisture. However, we did notice that the velcro closure was wet, so I don’t know how much longer it would have kept the sleeping bag 100% dry. Nonetheless, I’m pretty happy with the results and am confident enough to continue using the cuben dry bag in my pack. I think I’ll give it another test toward the end of the camping season.

 

Soaking the dry bag

After the shower

My initial impression of this bag is extremely positive, and I don't see much that's not to like about it. Probably the biggest downside to this bag was waiting the five weeks it took to receive it. Plus, any bag with 900 fill down is not cheap. The upside, however, is that the warm to weight ratio of this bag is amazing. There are obviously trade-offs for the ultralightness. For example, you give up a hood, but a hood is not always necessary, and when it's cold a fleece or down balaclava can be worn. Another trade-off is in the durability of the materials. Although the 0.7 oz/sq. yd. ripstop nylon is likely durable enough, it's not going to be as strong or abrasion resistance as a heavier fabric. Even the drawstring used on the Zpacks bag is an ultralight option; I think it's about 1.5 mm in diameter and seems adequate for its purpose, but it's definitely smaller and feels less substantial than drawstrings on some of my other heavy weight bags, which range from 3.5 to 6 lbs. I'm also not in love with the draft tube, but it does seem to reduce drafts, especially when the zipper is toward the bottom. 

Ultralight drawcord and cord lock.

I look forward to putting this bag to this test in the northwoods this year and hope to report back after dozens of nights in it.

April 10-12, 2015, Devil’s Lake State Park, Baraboo, WI

Spring is finally here, and we are eager to get out camping again. Although this winter wasn’t particularly harsh, it was difficult to go so long without camping. Maybe we’ll have to take up winter camping one of these years…

Anyway, with the weather forecast for 60s and sunny in Southern Wisconsin, we searched for some place that we could car camp to shake off the cobwebs of what to pack and to try out some new gear. With the state park system still in winter mode, we found the options fairly limited, but we decided to give Devil’s Lake another a try, especially since it’s usually too crowded for us in the summer months. That park gets well over a million visitors a year!

Our two-night trip was not very eventful, so I’ll try to keep this post short. Since I haven’t written in awhile, though, I thought I should update the blog.

I took Friday off to volunteer at my daughter’s school, so I had some time to pack and load the car in the afternoon before Lorraine got home from work. I even squeezed in a 20 minute nap by accident! After a quick stop at Culver’s, we made it to Devil’s Lake in plenty of time to set up camp before dark. Amber was dying to play with us, but we were in camp chore mode and had to keep reminding her that there was work to be done. We got a good fire going just after dark, and Amber got to roast a marshmallow but didn’t manage to talk anyone into playing.

It was a nice but chilly night Friday. I stayed up a little staring at the fire, but I was tired and made it to bed before 10 pm. I was eager to try out my new 10℉ Zpacks sleeping bag, which I found to be pretty nice, especially for the weight. Here is my review of it. It was definitely sufficient for the low of 27 degrees, although it took me a while to warm up after getting chilled sitting out without warm clothes.

Saturday morning Lorraine got up crazy early as usual, but Amber and I slept in until nearly 8 o’clock. Within minutes of me getting up, she called from the tent asking for her mom. Since Lorraine was still out hiking around the lake, she asked if I would play with her. We agreed on chess and cards, so she was ready to get up even without Mom to snuggle. After about an hour, we decided we would go to the park but half-way there, she complained of a stomach ache and we returned to find Mom back. Mom was hungry from her hike and offered to cook us bacon, eggs and toast!

I hung the hammock I got for Christmas, and I’m worried it might no longer be mine since Amber loved it so much. She probably spent a few hours climbing in and out and even agreed to trade Christmas presents, but since I don’t have a lot of need for Magna Tiles, I wasn’t ready to seal the deal. I did get a chance to take a short nap in it when they were at the park, and I can see the appeal of hammock camping, but I’m not sure I’m quite ready to take the leap.

Amber stole my hammock!

Later in the afternoon, we took a paddle around Devil’s Lake. It’s not exactly an exciting lake to paddle, but it was neat to check out some of the rock formations. We were also able to see some of the climbers doing their thing. Interestingly, there was a loon fishing on the lake. Lorraine said it was vocal when she was hiking but I never heard it while we paddled.

Nice beach for launching

Can you find the climber?

GPS track of our paddle

Later, we managed to drag Amber up to the East bluff to watch the sun set, then we headed back to start a fire and make her a pudgie pie. Even though it was a slow day for the park, there were numerous people coming and going, so I’m glad we got a chance to camp here before the busy season.

Sunset over Devil's Lake

We ended up leaving fairly early on Sunday morning because Amber had stomach problems through the night. It was a good first camping trip of the season.

October 24-26, 2014, High Cliff State Park, Sherwood, WI

  This last weekend we took our final camping trip of the season, and it was the most unique of all of our car camping trips because of Halloween. My wife and daughter trick-or-treated at High Cliff State park last year, but I stayed home. This year, we decided we would camp out if the weather was nice enough, so we made reservations about a month in advance with hopes the weather would be nice. Luckily, Mother Nature cooperated with highs around 60 F and lows of about 40 F, although a steady wind made it feel a bit cooler on top of the cliffs.


We arrived Friday night after dark to find Lorraine's brother and his 8 year old waiting for us. They had planned to surprise us with a fire but were having difficulty since the wood shed (and park office) was already closed and much of the downed wood was wet. Finding wood unavailable at the park, we had previously stopped at a convenient store just outside the park and picked up four bundles of wood. While we set up camp, our guests got the fire going. Amber played really well with her cousin that evening while I sipped on vodka and lemonade and chatted with the adults. I really enjoy having a few drinks while sitting around the fire, but it almost always result in a middle of the night call of nature, which isn't so fun in the fall with cool temperatures. However, it was unusually warm for a late October morning, so it wasn't too bad to crawl out of the tent.
Saturday morning, Lorraine treated us to bacon and eggs while Amber anxiously anticipated the two trick-or-treat events coming for the day. We headed down to her brother's house to join them for their neighborhood trick-or-treat, which felt quite strange in sun glasses and 65 degree weather. We walked around until the kids were too tired to continue, then we headed back to camp for a late lunch. We took some time to look at some decorations on the campsites, but Amber insisted on waiting until dark to be surprised by the decorations at the sites on the electric loop. I'm glad she did because the extent to which these sites were decorated was impressive and surprising. The decorations were far more elaborate than anything seen in our neighborhood. There were makeshift tunnels with creepy display cabinets containing heads and other spooky concoctions. There were lighted mazes full of witches and goblins and skeletons and costumed people handing out candy. Zombies were roaming the campground, mad scientists were creating potions, and frightful creatures were jumping out of dark corners. Quite impressive, especially for a campground.
After trick-or-treating, we returned to our site on the non-electric side and found it a dark contrast to the carnival atmosphere on the electric side. I had prepared the fire pit and started a one spark fire, which was proudly my best fire starting accomplishment of the year. I knew it would be dark and that we would have a crowd, so I put some advanced effort into carefully assembling multiple layers of wood shaving, leaves, tinder and kindling. The kids munched on their candy and roasted marshmallows while everyone chatted and enjoyed the warm autumn night. 

By my count that made 30 nights we slept in a tent this year, including our first family backpacking and canoe camping trips, so I consider this season a great success. I look forward to next season, but I admit I am ready to put away the camping gear, rake some leaves and watch some football! Go GATORS!

October 17-19, 2014, Lake Kegonsa State Park, Stoughton, WI

October weather in Wisconsin can vary considerably, and since we don't currently camp below about 30 F, I keep thinking we might be done for the season. However, a decent weather forecast had us looking for a spot to camp. My wife insists that we don't camp or hike where hunting is allowed, so our options were limited. She found that Kegonsa State Park was having a candlelight hike on Saturday, so she booked a couple nights for us. With high winds and cool temperatures, I decided we would not paddle since our open water recovery skills are unexplored. Instead, I planned to take it easy and maybe walk a few miles, so I packed my 22 lb zero gravity chair, which is essentially a campground lazy boy recliner.

We hustled on Friday afternoon and set up camp before dark. I bought four bundles of firewood from the vendor, who drives around in an old pickup truck, and built a fire. It was certainly nice to have a fire on the cool windy night. I don't think the temperatures dropped below 40 F, but the wind was strong, and I got a chill if I moved too far from the fire. Instead of adding layers, I just pulled my "lazy boy" right next to the fire pit. 

As usual, Amber and I slept in on Saturday. I still wonder why she sleeps so well when we camp as opposed to home. Lorraine had already eaten some breakfast and hiked a few miles before we even got up. I built another fire and lounged around while they went to the park. When they returned, Lorraine and I had tortilla pizzas and Amber ate some oatment, then I was coaxed into walking down to the lake. Amber rode her bike and played on the playground for awhile. The campsite was covered in leaves, so I helped Amber pile them up for play and even buried her a few times. Afterwards, we

had an early supper of Mountain House chicken noodle, which Amber begged and begged us to cook it, although it turned out none of us were crazy about it. I wanted to wait until dark to take the hike, but Amber was extremely excited to do it, so we held out as long as possible and started right around dusk. The weather was nice, and it wasn't as crowded as I remember in the past. The 1.2 mile hike was over quickly, and we returned to camp for a fire and roasted marshmallows. I stayed up a couple hours after Amber and Lorraine. The forecast was for 33 F, so I actually slept in my clothes and stayed completely toasty and even had to unzip my bag a bit.
Sunday morning Amber woke up to a nearly shut eye from the stye she refused to let us cover with a warm washcloth, so we made an appointment to get her to the doctor later that afternoon. After breakfast, we hurried to break camp so we could get home and cleaned up before Amber's doctor appointment. The only treatment the doctor recommended was a warm washcloth applied numerous times a day with Children's Tylenol for any pain. Several days later her eye is almost back to normal.

October 4-5, 2014, Governor Dodge State Park, Dodgeville, WI

As the days are becoming shorter and the temperature begins dipping down to the freezing mark, it appears that we have likely hung the canoe up until next seasons (literally, since I store it from the garage ceiling). Hopefully, as our skills improve and we compile cold-weather gear (such as wet or dry suits), we may take to paddling later into the fall. For now, though, are fall camping trips are primarily terrestrial. Looking for some reprieve from the unusally crowded October campgrounds, we picked out a short-trek backpack site at Governor Dodge State Park. Lorraine and I are planning an early summer backpack trip in the Smokies, so we were also looking to sort out our backpacking gear.
We decided we would hike a 3 mile loop sans packs, then backpack to our site afterward. Many of the trails at Governor Dodge were closed due to a tornado that hit earlier in the year, so we settled on the Lost Canyon Trail almost by default. As we like this area, it was really no compromise. The trail starts near Stephens Falls, which is a favorite for our daughter. We spent some time exploring the spring house and snapping photos of the falls before taking the Stephens Falls trail to the Lost Canyon Trail. The easy 3 mile hike took us more than two hours with all the stops and foot dragging, but it was a nice stroll through the small canyon, which was mostly protected from the cool winds.

I think sometime around 4 o'clock or so, we finally hit the trail to the campsite. We had never been to these sights before, so we weren't sure what to exptect. The trail was wide and dry, although it seems like it would be prone to becoming muddy in the rain. When we checked in at the ranger station earlier in the day, it seemed like a good idea to pick up some dry firewood since I expected dead and downed burnable wood near the sites to be picked over this late in the season. However, the bundles at this park were substantially larger than they are at most parks, so the burden of their weight had me rethinking whether we even would need a fire. We decided to drop the wood about a third of the way in and retrieve it later (maybe!). Without the awkward heavy bundles to weigh us down, the remainder of the trail was pretty easy even with our packs. Our lightest tent able to accommodate all three of us weighs 8.5 lbs (complete with the stakes, footprint, etc.), plus I agreed to sherpa the night's water supply, so my pack wasn't exactly light at about 45 lbs. Still, my new Kelty Red Cloud 90 handled the load really well, and I'm quite please with the purchase, although I think I would like to compliment it with a smaller, lighter pack someday. Lorraine's pack weighed in at just over 20 lbs and Amber's was between 9 and 10lbs. We were pleased to find a fairly secluded, good-sized campsite waiting for us. After weighing our options between to obvious tent pads, we chose to place the tent on the one with the lesser chance of falling trees and limbs, although it was a bit more exposed than the other pad. 

 With the tent location choice made, I left Lorraine and Amber to put up the tent while I retrieved the wood. I figured I could load one bundle on each shoulder and hike the both back in one trip, but they proved to awkward to balance that way, so I dropped one, figuring I could come back (or not) for the other. Seconds later, I ignored a faint call from a hiker behind me only to hear her calls of "Sir" become louder. I turned around to see if she was addressing me, and turns out she was offering to carry the other bundle. I certainly could not ask her to do so, so I gave her plenty of opportunity to change her mind and accept that it was not necessary, but she was pretty insistent. I was quite grateful for the offer as carrying the wood was the only time I felt exerted on the entire trip. She insisted that it offered her a good chance for a workout. As often as I am dismayed by the thoughtlessness of many campers, I encounter thoughtful, kind and generous people on the trais, water and campgrounds. I'll have to remind myself to pay it forward.

We had plenty of time to get camp setup and a fire started before dark. Although bears are not a concern in the park, raccoons certainly are, so I even set up my first ever food bag hang, It went really well, although I only got the food about 8 or 9 feet off the ground, which would certainly not be enough for avoiding a bear. Still, it gave me a little confidence in my technique and how much rope I will need. For canoe and car camping, I take hundreds of feet (probably close to 300 ft) of 3 mm polyester line, and I really like how well it works. For backpacking, I decided to try some thinner, lighter 1.75 mm Dyneema line, which is supposed to have a tensile strength of 450 lbs. Fifty feet of this stuff weighs only 0.9 oz and proved enough to hang a food bag, although I will probably bring another 50 ft of something of similar weight. The only downsides I found to this line are that 1) it's expensive and 2) the thin line is not very comfortable on my hands to pull tight. Still, I'm loooking to lighten the load for backpacking, so I think this will be my new go-to backpacking rope. Anyway, for supper, we had a Mountain House beef stroganoff, along with some cheddar cheese, summer sausage and pita bread. The Pocket Rocket stove seems like a winner, at least for boiling water. Amber and Lorraine also roasted marshmallows. Once again, Amber was ready for sleep an hour earlier than at home, so she and Lorraine went to bed around 8:30. I stayed up about an hour watching the fire.

The overnight temperatures were forecast for the low 30s, so we weren't sure how we would handle it since we usually only car camp in those temperatures and often have extra blankets ready. This time, we wanted a test of our gear and clothing, so having extra blankets a 1-mile round-trip away offered us a good chance with a relatively easy safety valve. I usually only sleep in the tent with shorts, but I decided to add socks and a fleece shirt. It took my bag about 30 minutes to warm up, then I had no problems sleeping. I think with long underwear and a hat, I could be fine down to about 20 F. Mostly, though, I was worried about Amber, but she apparently stayed nice and warm all night, although we had to keep putting her back on her insulated sleeping mat. She was layered up and slept deep inside her Eureka Azalea 15 F sleeping bag. Lorraine was the only one who got cold, so she may have to make some minor adjustments to her layers or get a warmer bag for these occasions.

 Sunday turned out to be a really nice mild fall day. Lorraine collected twigs and small branches while I got a nice fire going, and we took our time packing up camp. Lorraine had visited a neighboring campsite and found it littered with food and burnt trash. She picked up what she could, and we packed it out along with the rest of our gear but not before getting in one last photo opportunity of us with our packs. It's amazing how energetically Amber hikes on the way out compared to the way in, although she did slightly wear herself out and had to take a quick break. We promised a trip to the playground in exchange for good behavior, so after dumping our garbage we let her play at the Cox Hollow campground playground. By about noon, we headed back to Madison, where we had lunch at Laredos and did some browsing at REI before going home.

September 26-28, 2014, Hartman Creek State Park, Waupaca, WI

Lorraine wanted to return to paddle the Chain O' Lakes near Waupaca, WI, because she didn't really get a chance to do so on our last trip this summer. Since Hartman Creek State Park is conveniently located on the edge of the lake chain, we decided to camp there. We rushed out a little earlier than usual on Friday afternoon because of the shortened days. We made it to the park and set up camp just as it began getting dark. We were a little disappointed in our site selection as we thought we had reserved a site along Allen Lake, but it turns out we had a site inside the loop. The site wasn't bad, but camping next to strangers is starting to wear on me, and I'm craving a bigger adventure. The campground was probably only half full on Friday, so we had a little bit of quiet and privacy. We had a nice fire, and I enjoyed some quite reading by headlamp after Lorraine and Amber went to bed.

Lorraine was hoping to get started early on Saturday, but Amber and I just seem to sleep so well in the morning hours. We finally got up sometime after 8 am and enjoyed a bacon and egg breakfast. I think Amber ate two oatmeal packages, half a banana, five pieces of bacon and more than one egg with cheese. Wow! She's not a baby anymore. I really enjoyed my bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. After breakfast we headed to the Marl Lake landing and were surprised to be the only ones there, although more people arrived before we got launched. Still, compared to the last time we put in there, it was extremely quiet. I got Amber a pair of NEOS Adventurers, and we were disappointed to find out they leaked. After addressing her wet feet, we finally got on the water around 10:30 am. We paddled for about three hours, visiting twelve small lakes. The fall colors were wonderful, and the lakes were not very crowded. The highlight for Amber was pulling the boat through Beasley Creek. I admit it was a nice diversion. I think we had a first after the paddle was over. Amber let it slip that she wished it wasn't over. We had offered to take her to the swimming platform on Marl Lake, but she seemed intimidated for some reason. Since there were a couple people hanging around the platform, I didn't push it and offered that we could drive around to that side of the lake after lunch.

We had home-made dehydrated chili with Fritos for lunch, although I think Amber ended up eating oatmeal. Afterward, we walked over to the fishing peer on Allen Lake to let Amber fish. We didn't have any live bait, so Lorraine made some bait from our sandwich bread. Amazingly, the fish loved it, but she wasn't able to hook anything. Before supper, we decided to head to the beach to check out the sunset and play with the remote controlled boat. Amber and I played a little in the water with the boat, then we threw a frisbee around before watching the sun set behind the tree line.

We headed back to have dehydrated fajitas for supper. As Lorraine was preparing dinner, I started a fire. As we were eating the fajitas, I made Amber a cherry pudgie pie.Unfortunately, the campground became more crowded as the day wore on, and our relative quiet and privacy was overcome by loud conversation and bright camp lanterns. I watched the fire before becoming too annoyed with the neighbors and crashing around ten.  

I slept in Sunday morning and found that Lorraine and Amber had gone a hike around Allen Lake. I enjoyed some quiet and ate a little breakfast before they returned. We decided to pack up before lunch, then we let Amber dip a line at the fishing pier before heading home. For some reason, I seem to be drawn to Subway steak sandwiches after camping, so we made a stop for lunch. The weekend weather was absolutely beautiful, but it was probably the last such weekend we will have this year. I enjoyed the paddle, and although it's a bit disappointing to think it might be one of the last of the year, I know that we had a really great summer of paddling and camping.

September 5-7, 2014, Buckhorn State Park, Necedah, WI

It's nice to have a long Labor Day weekend, and I like to take advantage of the extra day, but it's just usually way too busy and hectic to camp or canoe at the state parks. So, this Labor Day we took care of chores and the home front with the expectation of a two-night-post Labor Day camping trip somewhere nearby. The parks didn't seem to clear out as I had remembered after Labor Day as most of the more desirable campsites within a couple hours of Madison were taken. Lorraine decided to book a site at Buckhorn State Park, which is a fairly good-sized park with lots of shoreline. Some of the sites are even on the lake, but we were not able to secure one. Nonetheless, we planned on getting some paddling and hiking in this weekend.

I took off work a couple hours early on Friday afternoon to get a jump on the weekend and to help us get to camp before dark. After picking up the kid, packing the car, watering the garden and feeding the cat, we were on the road around 5 pm. We decided to hit a Wendy's drive-thru on the way, and I paid for it later that evening with nausea. Anyway, the drive was uneventful, and we made it to our campsite, A4 by 7 pm and quickly setup the tent and tarp. Right before leaving, the forecast looked to suggest we might get some rain just as we were setting up camp, but fortunately, we only got a couple drops and a nice rainbow. The site appeared to once have been part of a group camp area, as evident by the signs and a communal fire pit. The site was not bad, but we've definitely had nicer. It's on a loop with four other sites, and would be ideal for a multi-family group. We built a fire and got a little time to relax before heading to bed. Bedtime was not entirely peaceful as we were "blessed" with the jubilation of a Christian group's kumbaya celebration on one side and a drunken party on the other along with numerous train whistles throughout the night. Nonetheless, I slept pretty well.

 Surprisingly, I was up around 7 am with the expectation that we would do some fishing and paddling in the morning. However, Amber just could not wake up, so Lorraine and I enjoyed a rare opportunity to chat without being interrupted by whining or demands. After an hour or so, I started craving the bacon, egg and cheese sandwich Lorraine had promised me for breakfast, so I started waking Amber. It's amazing how much better she sleeps in the woods compared to home. She finally became responsive around 9 am, then we ate a delicious breakfast. By the time we got cleaned up and ready to head out, it was approaching 11 o'clock. Time for lunch! Just kidding. Amber really wanted to try her hand at the kid's fishing pond, which sounded good to me. We picked up a couple dozen nightcrawlers and park at the trailhead to the pond. There were plenty of biting fish, but they were all really small. Despite feeding them more than a dozen worms, we weren't able to hook a single fish. Man, I really am a lousy fisherman. I have a lot of excuses and theories, but I guess it boils down to me not knowing what the heck I'm doing. The closest thing we came to catching was a turtle that Amber half-way reeled in before it shook loose. She was thrilled, so it was worth the couple hours we spent. Lorraine wasn't interested in fishing, so she walked the trail around the pond with camera in hand to photograph the scenery and wildlife.

I figured we better eat something before heading out for a paddle, so we went back to camp and had lunch. I made grilled cheese for Amber and grilled ham and cheese for me, while Lorraine made herself a cheese quesadilla. I started to make Lorraine's lunch, but I guess she saw the uncertainty I had about how much cheese to add, and she jumped in and made it the way she likes. I added some Fritos (which were supposed to 
go with the chili we forgot at home) to
my plate and had a pretty tasty lunch. After cleaning up, we headed to the canoe launch despite Amber's protests, which we subdued by offering her a bribe of a trip to the playground afterwards in return for good behavior. We started in the section that is supposed to be an interpretive trail accompanied with a brochure, but we paddled that section last year and were underwhelmed with the guide. For example, the place labeled #4 on the map begins as "Underwater life: Underwater lurk thousands of fierce predators" Uh, ok. How's that different than every other place we've canoed?

Anyway, it's not a bad paddle, but the loop is short, so we decided to head for the day use island marked on the park map. Amber did not like paddling out onto the lake as it was slightly choppy, but it was nothing dangerous or anything our boat couldn't glide over. Besides, most of the way there was shallow enough for us to stand, and much of it was only a couple feet deep. The island seemed pretty nice, but there must have been 50 people enjoying the lake from boats or by playing in the shallow water around the island. We circled around it, and headed back toward the cove toward our starting point. There were some ducks and geese to view but nothing too exciting, although the lake seemed like a decent recreation area. Later when exploring the shoreline around the park, it became clear to me that part of the reason so many people choose that island is that the beach and campsites along the mainland have water quality issues, sometimes with the pea-soup-like growth that is common in late summer. Uggh! Our paddle ended up being 3.7 miles and took just under 2 hours. If Amber enjoyed herself a little more in the canoe, I would have liked explored some of the waterfront campsites, but our trip was a decent compromise. Upon returning to the parking lot, we noticed a fresh scratch on the passenger side of our van and suspect some bewildered paddlers we encountered may have been responsible.As promised, we spent some time at the playground and explored some of the shoreline near it. Amber swang a little, negotiated a make-shift obstacle course, fleetingly wrote her name in the shoreline sand laughing as it was washed away by the waves and played some pretend until she decided she would rather be back at camp. It was already evening, and I think we had a fairly full day of outdoor recreation, so I was ready to wind downBack at camp, I built a fire, and Lorraine boiled water for a Mountain House Chicken Teriyaki with Rice, which Amber and I shared. Of course, Amber continued her gentle demands, asking for minute rice and a pudgie pie. After catering to Amber, Lorraine finally got a chance to eat, and she opted for a cherry pudgie pie cooked on the fire. Amber eventually got a couple marshmallows over the fire before being ready for bed. I stayed up a few more hours enjoying moments of peace between drunken howls and screams of our neighbors and unsettling campfire songs from the church group. I finally had enough around 11 and fell asleep quite quickly, although somehow my mat was shove in the corner, and I kept waking up feeling claustrophobic. I finally crawled out of my bag and moved my pad to a more comfortable location. I was awakened many more times throughout the night and could never quite be sure what woke me, but every time I woke up I could still hear the drunken neighbors, even at 3 or 4 am. I sure hope the crowds thin out this fall.

Sunday morning my alarm went off at 6:30, but I just couldn't do it. We had plans for a morning hike and to try to get back home for a birthday party, so I felt pressure to get moving. Still, I slept another 45 minutes before forcing myself to wake up and start putting away sleeping bags and mats and trying to get Amber started for the day. She kept asking if we could stay one more day, but we both needed to get back to work on Monday. Still, it's great to hear her asking for more camping and outdoor activities. I took a break from packing for oatmeal and bacon. Thanks honey! The tent was wet with condensation, but we decided to pack it up anyway. We were packed and ready to hike by around 9:30 or so. We decided to hike the trails leading to the waterfront campsites on the west side of the park. We've been talking about easing our way into backpacking as a family and are also looking for some local canoe camping locations, so we wanted to scout out these sites, which are accessible by foot or by boat. Some of the sites were pretty nice, but a few had almost no shade, so I'm glad we took the time to look at these. We ended up hiking almost exactly as much as we paddled in just about the same amount of time. Interesting. Our GPS track is shown below. We probably would have hiked out of there a little faster, but Amber decided she no longer was interested in the birthday party. Since we weren't rushing back, Amber wanted to stop at the observation tower, which I did not find very exciting, but she seemed to have a good time.

We were all hungry, so we decided to have a sit down lunch at Buckhorn Cafe. Wow, they have some big burgers. We stuffed ourselves with an appetizer, burgers and dessert. Shortly after leaving, Amber changed her mind and wanted to attend the party. Although we wouldn't be back in time, the hosting family already told us it was fine if we wanted to stop by after the party hours to play in the bounce house, so Amber and Lorraine did just that as I unpacked the van. Wow, I was exhausted, but didn't feel like I should be. I guess I can't give up my trips to the gym if I want to have the energy for some real adventures. The weather was great, and I look forward to some more trips this fall, although I have mixed emotions about missing college football.