Seasons of Change: Campsites

What do I look for in a campsite? I want something away from other people. Preferably next to a stream with a relatively flat place where I can set up a tent. We had all of that on the last camping trip we went on. The first night we stayed at a little campground with composting toilets and a water tap. I think some of the sites had electricity and you could buy wood from the campground host. As far as roughing it goes, if you like to watch the great outdoors from the luxury of your camper, then this would be the campground for you. The campground itself was located in a fairly remote area on a non-major road. Half the sites were nicely forested areas along the side of a good sized mountain stream. The site we stayed in had a short path to a nice little gravel beach where we could sit and soak our feet in the stream. Pretty sweet site if you ask me.

The second night we went a little more adventurous and spent the night camped at a site in the national forest. It was a pull off on the side of a major, but not heavily traveled highway. It was almost pure luck that we stopped there, but it turned out to be a pretty nice site. It too had a good sized stream running through it. It also had a nicely treed little area not too far from the stream with several fire pits around the area. Luckily for us, no one else was camped there, so we parked and set up camp. Some previous visitors to the site had made some nice log seats and also left a grill screen that just happened to fit perfectly on the fire pit.

We spent the night exploring the area along the stream and then had a little campfire while the stars came out. The only sound that night was the quiet rushing of the stream and the occasional car driving down the highway. The site was fairly well hidden in a thicket of trees so car lights were not a big deal.