Raccoon Creek State Park in June

We had some good friends, Heather and Hyrum who lived in Austin with us. They were always planning some fun adventures even with the kids, so I asked her to do a guest post. I hope you enjoy her adventures in Pennsylvania!  The following is a kamping with kiddos post from Heather!

Thanks to Kelli for inviting me to share an experience from our family camping trips. We have taken all of our kids on camping trips pretty early in life. We’re definitely not as rustic as Clint and Kelli though.

We went camping in June to Raccoon Creek State Park outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with our four children, ages 6, 4, 2 and 1. The weather was lovely, highs in the mid-70’s and lows in the 50’s.

The highlights of this trip were the beach and a little hike we took around the lake. The beach trail was about .3 miles of downhill from the camp site. The trail was well kept and easy to follow. Charlotte-2, tripped a few times so make sure you have band-aids. This way took about 15 minutes.

The beach has nice sand that goes right into the water. There is little shade nearby so next time I would bring a beach umbrella. There is a bathhouse close for changing and showering off as well as a concession stand down the road. We liked what we saw and headed back up the hill after doing a little wading. This time we took about 20-30 minutes.

Our big hike was the Wetlands Trail--1.2 miles. We took this to Nichol Rd, then the Heron trail (.5 miles) until meeting back up with the Wetlands Trail to our car. It took us about three hours to do the whole trip, maybe 3 miles altogether. The Wetlands trail is categorized as easiest hiking by the park and while the terrain is fairly level and easy, the trail was overgrown with wild raspberry bushes and other thorny vegetation so long pants are recommended.

The Wetlands trail winds around the Upper Lake in the park and then into a valley to meet up with Nichol Rd. The first part of the trail is wide and easy. It is through long grass and we got wet from dew--I was wet to my waist by the time we finished hiking the trail. We enjoyed seeing some herons, frogs, and a water snake. The vegetation got fuller about .75 miles in and stayed that way up until the last .2 miles or so on the Wetlands Trail. There were a couple of large dips as well where the trail comes quite close the bank of the lake. The vegetation made it difficult to see and at one spot Hyrum took a spill with Spencer-1 in the kid pack. Nichol Rd is a wide gravel road with a gradual uphill when headed toward the Heron trail. The heron trail was mostly down hill as we headed down to the Wetlands trail. We thought the Heron trail was easy due to the lack of vegetation. The whole trail was also very shady.

I find that one of the best things to remember with kids is always have food and water. Those two things can calm just about any complaint. Camping with kids is a fun and worthwhile experience. It was nice to unplug, talk and play games together as a family. It requires flexibility and patience, but is well worth the work.

Snake River in June

We do this trip every year as a family. It's the Einfeldt/Herbert Family Reunion and it never lets us down.  As the kids get older they have more fun, though it's mostly a trip for the enjoyment of the adults! We set up a base camp at East Table Campground about 10 miles east of Alpine, Wyoming.  We camp for 3 days and 3 nights.  The kids run around the campground in a little pack playing in dirt and mud for 3 days straight and never get bored! They are only allowed to go down by the river if they have on a life jacket and in the company of a responsible adult.  The kids LOVE throwing rocks into the river.

This year we borrowed my Aunt's motor home and slept like royalty! It was nice to have a place to put the baby to sleep that was more insulated from sound and weather (we made him a bed in the shower). We also have a nice shade canopy that doubles as a place to get out of the rain. It can still act like winter in June in Jackson, so it's good to be prepared. We take full winter coats, hats and mittens for the kids. I take my good waterproof hiking boots just to wear around camp and my old swim team coat (a calf length long fleece lined coat).

We had quite a few little kids this year, so Clint planned a kids float trip from Astoria Hot springs down to East Table.  We saw several bald eagles, lots of geese and baby geese, and even a beaver.  Clint pulled over and we hiked out to a "secret" tank that he knew is parked on the other side of the river. It took us about 2 hours, but the kids had fun paddling and we even hit a few little whitewater rapids.

The boat was a little crowded, but here's the wild kid ride!

We don't usually let the kids ride down lower canyon until they are ten years old. If they want to challenge to go sooner, they can.  But they have to pass a test.  Their dad throws them in the water and if they can keep their cool and swim back to the boat by themselves, then they can go down on the next trip. We make them wait until the next trip so they can go get warm and dry and not freeze the entire trip down.  So far, since we started the challenge, we've only had one little toughy pass the test. He's the little blondie near the back right of the kids trip.  He also went cliff diving and did a front flip off the cliff. Crazy brave kid!!!

Probably the highlight of the trip for the kids was making FAIRY HOUSES.  Since my three oldest are girls, we do lots of girly things, though Clint adapted it for the boys and they went searching for stuff to make troll bridges.  My sister in law Jennie brought these books she had seen back east about fairy houses that had pictures of all these incredible places people had built. All the Grandmas Becky, Claudia, and even Grandma Debi had so much fun decorating little fairy houses with the kids. Jennie even wrote the kids little notes from the fairies that had come to stay in the house, and sprinkled glitter around as "fairy dust." I imagine with the boys you could do something similar.  I can't believe how detailed they all got with their houses. It lasted for 3 whole days of kid entertainment.

Ali with her fairy house.

Summer with her fairy house.

The real reason we go on this trip is for the ADULTS!! We take turns watching each other's kids to do 3-4 trips down lower canyon a day.  It wasn't really big water this year, but it was still big enough for Clint to flip his raft (not on purpose). They saved everyone real quick, but it was definitely a first for Clint, his pride is maybe a little bruised after that.  We have all the rafts, life jackets, and gear, so if anyone ever wants to join us, let me know. We always need more paddlers!!!