Backpacking with Sam

Sam's middle name is "Walker," and true to his name, he's far and away the best walker of our three kids. I tested him after the Fourth of July parade, when we walked home from our old neighborhood. About four miles. He did fine, so I started scheming for something bigger. Last weekend, we did it.

Sunday after lunch, we pointed the car towards Dayton. Our destination was the Twin Valley trail, a backpacking route that connects two metro parks in the Dayton area. We started on the north end, in Germantown Metro Park:

Our route had us walking about five miles on Sunday, camping at Cedar Ridge, and six miles back to the car on Monday. The first bit was through an open field:

and then into the Germantown Metro Park:

Most of the trails in the metro park were wide and shady, nice for walking:

The odd thing about about backpacking in a metro park is that you periodically break into civilization, where people are fishing and enjoying the park:

From Germantown Metro Park, the trail swings into the Twin Valley trail, which starts off on this old... roadway? Dry riverbed?

The trails in the TVT system were narrower and rougher, and we saw many fewer people. We made it to our campsite and had to figure out how to kill several hours until bedtime.

Whittling...

Throwing a string over a branch...

Eating...

...card games and reading occupied most of our time until it was dark enough to bed down. The night was clear and beautiful, so we left the rain fly off and enjoyed a bug free night under the stars. Possibly, this was our only bug free time during the trip. The bugs were pretty bad, especially after our bug spray died early Monday. Besides enjoying time with Sam, the thing that sticks with me about this trip were all the gnats that flew into my eyes.

Monday morning, we packed up and headed out. We enjoyed this view across the valley more than the previous afternoon, since we weren't staring into the sun:

Our game for the walk home was to be the first to spot the "walker dudes," signs designating the backpacking trails (Sam beat me in the end)

We broke out of the woods to cross the Germantown dam:

Sam thought this caterpillar was pretty cool:

My gear for this trip was an approximately 25 year old Kelty internal frame pack. I guess I don't go through camping gear like I do bikes. Sam carried, for most of the trail, a small REI pack with his otter and pillow.

No heavy, clumping boots for me. My slip on shoe/sandals worked just fine. And looked damn good.

There was a little more up and down and several creek crossings on the west side of the trail:

By about mile five, we were both ready for our walking to be done. My shoulders were sore, and Sam was only keeping ahead of me to beat me to the walker dudes. We finally made it to the end:

Followed by a well earned lunch at Cici's!