Sanborn County Park
Although I had completed a backpacking test run at Manresa State Beach, I wanted to test out more equipment, so I booked a one night stay at Sanborn County Park. I’m so thankful that I booked this trip, as I learned a lot about heat management, which was something I had not even worried about when thinking about this trip.
As soon as I started parked, I saw turkeys and deer in the grass field next to the parking lot. I went close enough to take some pictures, but I didn’t get closer as I didn’t want to bother them during dinner. I walked a half mile to my campsite (I had chosen the farthest away camping spot so that I could walk longer carrying my pack) and setup camp.
I got a three person backpacking tent (Naturehike Cloud Up 3 Person Tent) for when I go backpacking with my kids, and I found this tent to be well-made and plenty roomy. The only hiccup with it was that the rain-fly only fits right when you drive in the stakes to pull the rain-fly tight. Well, the ground at Sanborn was as hard as rock, so I decided to skip the rain-fly, since there was no rain forecast.
I cooked myself dinner and with an hour or so of daylight left, I went on a short hike.
When I came back, I called it a night—got in my tent, and watched a movie. Afterwards, I went to sleep around 10pm.
I woke up around 12am feeling a bit cold. So I pulled the sleeping quilt tighter around me and went back to sleep.
I woke up around 3am, and I was freezing. You see, it was about 45 degrees out with a gentle breeze, and I was doing a bad job of thermal management. I was wearing just a cotton t-shirt and an underwear in my quilt, and I was really cold around my chest because the top of the quilt lets in plenty of air. After 15 minutes or so of not accepting what I needed to do, I bit the bullet, got up and put my jeans and my puffy jacket on. I took a quick restroom break, and got back in the sleeping bag. I fell back asleep around 4am and got a decent night sleep until 7am, when I woke up for good.
I was warm, but I was tired from the rough night. I packed everything up and headed home.
What I Learned:
I should have put on the damn rain-fly even if it was not going to rain. It would have helped—at least a little bit—with warmth.
I need to get serious about under-layers and mid-layers. I later found this link, which was super helpful.
The gate at the park is locked at 10pm and is only opened the next morning at 7am.
My sleeping quilt did not have closures on the back (like some quilts), so I’m going to add those by modding the quilt.
Camp Review:
I stayed in site 33, and because there was no one near me, I thought the site was amazing. Had site 31 and 32 been taken, however, I would have found this site to be tiny, with no privacy from those two sites.
Because I was alone near the end of the campsite, I had the last bathroom all to myself. It was clean, had soap, and there was an electric hand dryer.
The creek was loud, but I rather enjoyed it.
Although the camp is very close to the city, the park itself is quite isolated. This shakedown run really felt like a bona fide camping trip.