NY Camping Trip Recap, Day 6 (last day!)
{Part five here}
It worked! I retrieved the umbrellas from the car without getting wet at all, really (actually, the canopy of trees provided a nice natural umbrella). Once I had an umbrella I dashed over to the stuff tent and pulled on my jeans over my pj shorts, and put on my raincoat. Then I ran back to the tent for the girls and distributed the umbrellas. We then made our trip to the bathroom together.
When we got back we began to think about a way we could cook breakfast without getting drenched. At a slight break in the rain I was able to get the camp stove going on a picnic table under the canopy of trees, so coffee got made. Then I created a sort of cereal bar and eating station under the tailgate of our van.
The tailgate didn't provide total coverage so we still got quite wet while eating, but at least we got our meal. Afterwards the girls went into the sleeping tent to play cards while M and I sat on the tailgate to drink the rest of our coffee and discuss a plan for the day.
We had been eyeing the forecast in the days leading up to our stay at Watkins Glen. Looking at the updated forecast that morning, our fears were confirmed that the following morning after what would have been our last night at Watkins Glen was supposed to be exactly the same, weather-wise. Pouring rain all morning. Because we saw a break in the rain forecast that afternoon, we decided it would be better to break camp during that break of sunshine than stay another night and have to break camp the next day in the pouring rain. We did have a bit of time to kill before the rain stopped and the sun came out, however. And soooo... we forced our children to take a walk in the rain so we could see more of Watkins Glen before we left.
The rain was letting up as we walked, and as you can see by the pictures it was all misty-moisty down in the gorge... very magical. It did take some convincing to get the girls to go but once we were walking they enjoyed all the amazing sights so much. I'm actually really proud of them for doing so well, after so many days camping, when they were all quite tired... they remained so cheerful and amazed and impressed by every new thing we saw. I'm a lucky Mama.
Do you see the little toad on the rock ledge there?
He was just hanging out, taking in the scenery.
We walked under so many waterfalls!
Little J with her wink. Gets me every time.
Such a cool walk. We all got pretty soaking wet and squishy sneakers but it was worth it. It wasn't a long walk, too, so we arrived back at our campsite in just over an hour and the sun was coming out in time for us to enjoy our lunch.
M participated in a long-standing camping tradition of *my* family, which is rolling up your lunch contents into a tortilla and taking a huge crunchy bite. :)
After lunch was consumed and cleaned up, we began the process of breaking camp. Doing this project after our stuff had all just had a thorough soaking was not exactly pleasant, but much better than packing up soaking wet stuff while also getting rained on, so I think we timed things pretty well. By about 3 PM we had everything broken down and re-packed into the car, and we were ready to get on the road.
As we started driving I wondered if we might squeeze in a trip to another old favorite spot of mine, Thatcher State Park. I had spent a lot of time there with my grandmother's side of the family at childhood reunions, and I was remembering a particularly cool hike there that I really wanted to show the girls and M. We knew we would need to stop for dinner anyway, and Thatcher was a good halfway point between Watkins Glen and home. It was a perfect plan-- stop for a picnic dinner and stretch our legs on a short walk, then complete the final 2.5-hour drive home.
And it worked really well! After another pretty drive we arrived and had our sandwiches and pretzels for dinner at a beautiful picnic overlook. Then we got on the Indian Ladder Trail!
As you can see J was quite tired by this point and needed to be carried for much of the walk. Because she had been such a trooper up to this point and was running on a major sleep debt we indulged her, M and I taking the carrying in turns. I was actually glad to be carrying her on this trail, because it was a lot more scary than I remembered-- many steep dropoffs to our right with no railing. When you're a kid I guess you don't think as much about that but as I walked the trail my adult fear of heights and Mother Bear fear for my kiddos were definitely kicking in. So I was glad to have J safe in my arms and not navigating the trail herself.
This walk is such a great memory, and it was the perfect way to end our trip. The slanted twilight light, the rising clouds of mist from the morning rain, the fact that we were the only ones on the trail, and the discovery around every corner of places I remembered from childhood... it was just a really special evening. I'm so thankful I could share these places with my fam.
The trail is currently one-way due to COVID restrictions, so when we got to the visitors center at the end of the trail we were about a 1/2 mile from where we had parked our car. M grabbed the keys and actually ran the distance by himself, then drove back for us. We had a nice time resting on the benches there and enjoying the view!
When M arrived we got in the car and bid our farewell to New York State. We drove back and arrived home in MA around 11:00 that night. As wonderful as it was to fall into our own comfortable beds that night without having to pitch any tents, and only have a few steps to walk to the bathroom in the morning, we definitely miss our camping locations and the fun we had.
And that's it! Our camping trip recap is done, just about a month after it took place! As a side note, I recently read that the month of July saw record visits to New York state park campgrounds, so much so that they are now worried about a second wave of COVID and are considering tightening up restrictions a bit. So a lot of people had the same idea that we did, but having done our trip in June we sort of just missed the rush. Therefore, I can't say I recommend traveling there right now; definitely do your research about current conditions and restrictions if you decide to go. But there is certainly so much beauty to behold there and we will likely go back sometime in the future!
The end :)
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