Kanaskat State Park (July), day 1

Monday, July 24, 2017

My second camping trip!

I enjoyed that first camping trip to Kanaskat-Palmer State Park in June so much that I decided to go back to that same campground for my second camping trip, this time in July.  This trip was for three nights, same as the first one.  For this trip, I reserved a back-in campsite (the first campsite was a pull-through campsite).  I didn’t think it would be difficult to back the trailer in, but I needed to find out.  When I was first boating and learning how to maneuver my boat in tight quarters, my friend David told me “don’t go any faster than you want to hit something”.  That holds true for backing an RV trailer too!  I had no problem backing into this campsite.

I set up the campsite as usual, being sure to plug in the power cord first to confirm that the electrical outlet worked.

In this particular site, the side of the trailer with the door would be getting full, hot, afternoon sun, so I extended the awning for shade.

This was only my second time setting up camp, but already I noticed I was faster and better at it, tho I kept my checklist close at hand.

I made sure to position the trailer over to one side of the paved site so there would be room for the awning to fully open and room to move around outside the door of the trailer … and yet I also kept just a tad bit of room on the other side of the trailer so I would have access to the power outlet.

As usual, Little Towhee was out the door and down the steps before I even noticed.  She sure likes the outdoors!  Can’t say I blame her. 🙂

The earliest check-in time at state parks here in the State of Washington is 2:30pm.  I arrived at 3pm, checked in, drove to my site (#42), got the trailer parked with a reasonable amount of backing and filling, set up the trailer and unhitched it from the truck, and then parked the truck a little bit offset from the trailer.

I park the truck offset from the trailer for a reason.  Although I’m sociable and outgoing and love interacting with all sorts of people, I also like my privacy.  Having the truck offset from the trailer like that (in the first photo above) means the truck hides the door of the trailer fairly well and blocks the sight line of people walking past my campsite, so it gives me that bit of privacy that feels comfortable.

By the time I was finished with all of these domestic tasks and had considered all of the considerations and had taken a few photos of my setup, it was well after 5pm and I was ready to sit a spell and cool off.

This site had a nice picnic table and fire ring, which I enhanced with my SO comfortable anti-gravity chair.  (And if you look really closely in the photo above, you’ll see Little Towhee sneaked over to the picnic table!)

The site was completely encircled by woods.  How lovely!  From my chair I could see nothing but trees, felt just the slightest cooling breeze (thank heavens because it was a hot day), and I heard nothing but a sweet chorus of woodland birds.

Somehow this cold bottle of brew appeared at my elbow … made to order!  I swung my chair around so I could enjoy the view of my home in these spectacular surroundings.  Ahhhhh, life is good.

I felt thoroughly at ease in my outdoor living room, with trees for walls, and an endless blue sky for my ceiling.  At some point I would need to get up and fix dinner, but not quite yet, ok?  What a beautiful setting … what a beautiful world.  My oh my.  And I have two-and-a-half more days of this!