I Hate Beach Camping #2 - First Landing State Park

After the Assateague Island Disaster of 2016, I decided to try again with a different beach and a different season. Thankfully no theft or illness befell us while we were camping at First Landing State Park but it was miserable.

1. I made the mistake of choosing camp site 150.

• On the map, 150 looked great. There was nothing between 150 and the ocean. In real life, though, site 150 was surrounded by tall shrubs and sand dunes making a beach view impossible. 

• Site 150 was in the full sun with zero shade available.  The sand was burning hot and there was no shade to escape to. In the early morning the site was ideal, but only until about 9 am.

• 150 was all sand and no dirt. I had to pitch the tent on the deep sand because there were no other choices available. With sand right outside the tent door, keeping sand out of the tent was impossible. 

2. We arrived during a heatwave

• Even on a reasonably cool July day I should have expected lots of sun and temps in the 70s and 80s. We arrived during a heat wave and the temps were in the 90s with high humidity. 

• Camping with children is tiring on a good day. Excessive heat makes camping exhausting.

3. We didn't sleep well in the tent

• The night provided little relief from the heat. The humidity and sweat caused sand to stick to our bodies even in bed.

• The helicopters from Fort Story were active during the night, flying directly over the tent at low altitude many times. This was a neat experience, but tiring.

4. Sand was everywhere

• Sand was in the car. I still have sand in the car from Assateague Island from 2016. Next year I still have sand in the car from First Landing. No amount of vacuuming will remove all of it.

• Sand was on our bodies during the night despite rinsing off at the beach shower. We should have gone to the bath house to take a full shower but we were too tired on that first night.  

• Sand was in my bed the morning after I got home. I used the same blanket in the tent that I used on my bed but I shook it out well. It wasn't enough.

5. We weren't at the ocean!

• How I could have missed the fact that First Landing State Park was on the Chesapeake Bay and not the Atlantic Ocean is mind boggling to me. The ocean was a 5 mile drive away but we didn't go because I thought we were looking at the ocean. One look at the campground map would have informed me of this, but I was so sure the campground was on the ocean that information to the contrary didn't register.

6. The water at our beach was dangerously dirty with poop

• One day after we left, the State of Virginia issued a Swimming Advisory and posted a warning sign at First Landing beach explaining how people shouldn't wade or swim in the water because the poop levels were too high. Yuck!

• All the beaches surrounding First Landing were fine. Of all the water we could have chosen, we had to choose the dirty water.

Roof Bag and Kelty Cosmic Down 20 Sleeping Bag - Assateague Island

Taking two children camping is no small task. Even an adult alone requires a bunch of equipment. The car is usually stuffed so tight that my girls can't see each other and the passenger seat is filled.

That situation changed when I began using a Sherpak Go! 15 Roof Bag on my Assateague Island Trip of 2016. I packed the roof bag on the ground to see how things would fit but then I took everything out, hefted the bag up to the roof, and repacked it on top of the car.

At first I threaded one strap through the front car door opening and the back strap through the back door opening but the straps buzzed terribly and gave me such a headache I had to pull over. This was, unfortunately, right before I had to drive over the dreaded Chesapeake Bay Bridge. For my next trip I threaded both roof straps through the back door opening and the buzzing was more tolerable.

The roof bag isn't easy to use. At 5'4" I have to climb on top of the car every time to zip it shut and secure the straps. The buckles for both compression straps have broken but I won't really be in trouble unless one of the buckles for the main straps break (the straps that hold the bag to the roof). The Sherpa roof bag works and it does give more space in my passenger compartment but it's not easy for me to use.

For Assateague Island in March 2016 I also had another untested item to try out. I brought a Kelty Cosmic Down 20 Women's Sleeping Bag from REI. The first night of our trip the temps were about 25 at night and I had to used another lightweight down sleeping bag as a liner before I was warm enough to sleep. Maybe if I had worn expedition weight long underwear with two pairs of wool socks I might have been warm enough with the Kelty Cosmic Down sleeping bag alone but I was freezing. My Kelty Cosmic Down is ideal about about 50 degrees.

The Trip That Started it All

I don't even remember how I got the idea to take my 5 year old camping. The girls and I visited Leesylvania State Park for the first time in 2012 where I heard about the nationwide program called The Great American Campout put on by the National Wildlife Federation. I had camped before having children and it sounded fun and it cost only $25 so I thought we would give it a try.

My mom, who was still alive at the time, wasn't sure if camping was safe or not so she wanted my littlest to stay home for the night so our first trip was just me and my 5 year old.

Once we arrived, Ranger Genevieve took us on a walk near the Potomac River and started our campfire. She made starting a campfire look very deceptively easy. 

At some point in the evening I realized that we were the only campers at the event. Finally I asked Ranger Genevieve if there were other campers coming and she confirmed we were the only ones. I was shocked and she must have realized it from the look on my face. She reassured me that she had camped many times at Leesylvania and that the chief ranger lived at the park and she was quite sure we would be safe. I was tempted to go home but we stayed.

Look at that teeny tiny backpacking tent that I had from my earlier days!

The music from Tim's Rivershore across the Potomac filled our tent until 2:00 am at which time it promptly shut off and woke me from the shock of the sudden quiet. There, at 2:00 am, with my child sleeping beside me, I was alone in a big field. It was kind of terrifying but nothing bad happened. Nothing bad usually happens. The night was peaceful and beautiful and we were in a protected state park, not in the backcountry. We survived.