sunfishW. and I spent Saturday night camping at Worthington State Forest at the Delaware Water Gap.

We drove out on Saturday afternoon, where we met up with 5 other scouts/families; unfortunately, we arrived just after the larger group had taken off for a hike up to Sunfish Pond.  Sunfish Pond is quite a hike – about 6 miles round trip, and would have been challenging for W. to say the least.  I’ve hiked up the A.T. at least twice, and the terrain can get very steep and rocky.  Instead, we setup camp and hung around until the group returned, then had dinner by the campfire.

The temperatures during the day were pretty warm, but the overnight temps dropped into the 50s, which we got to experience first-hand when W. woke up for a 2:00 AM trip to the bathroom.  He really had to go bad, and the dam was about the burst; he did not even have time to put on his shoes for the 100 yard walk, so we grabbed our flashlight and took off into the darkness in just our socks.  Brrrr.  We were men on a mission, and focused on completing the task at hand without delay.

The pace back to camp from the bathroom was a little bit more leisurely, and I noticed the pitch black darkness that lay just outside the small area lit up by our flashlight, and I remembered the warning signs posted all over the forest about the presence of black bears in the area.  I quickened our pace.  When we arrived back at the tent we tore off our muddied socks and jumped back into our sleeping bags, where we slept rather fitfully until sunrise at c. 5:45 AM.  By 8:30 we had struck the tent, broke camp and were in the car for the ride back home.

This was W.’s first experience with real camping – out in the woods with real wild animals, amid the threats of deer ticks and poison ivy, instead of in the comfort of the backyard.  Despite the fact that we missed the hike, he had a great time.