Are you a camper? Growing up we did not tent camp as a family. When I got married my wife and I decided to try some camping in various state parks around Texas. My first-time tent camping experience was attending some mountain bike races in Texas in my early 20s. We have continued to go on camping trips once or twice a year and our daughters now enjoy these trips as well. This type of camping involves loading the truck with all of our gear: tents, air mattresses, cooking supplies, and many items of comfort and then heading to the state park to set up camp. These sites usually have a fire ring, cement table, water, and possibly one electrical outlet. This is definitely not “roughing it” camping but it is sleeping outdoors in a tent, and you never know what kind of weather you may experience around Texas. There have been times we’ve gone to sleep when it’s 60˚ and woke up to 30˚, and rain will come and go on a moment’s notice. The various state parks have activities from hiking and biking to fishing and other outdoor activities. I have always enjoyed these trips. These trips are perfect for a weekend, as I am usually done with camping after two nights.

I give you all this background because this past December my 13-year-old daughter expressed interests in backpacking. I have enjoyed my queen-size blow-up mattress, steak dinners cooked over open flames, plenty of drinks and snacks, my bathroom and shower just steps away from the tent, great fires, and comfortable camping chairs. Yes, my idea of camping may not be camping for some people, but this is my type of camping. So, when my daughter wanted to go backpacking, I was like… “You want to do what?” “You want to carry all of our gear?” “You want to sleep on the ground?” “You want to eat dehydrated food?” This was not my type of camping and I wasn’t sure that I was on board with this. The more we talked the more I became aware of how much she wanted to do this and I realized that there was no turning back. I also knew this could be a great father-daughter experience.

So, our first task was to assess what gear we had and what we needed. All we had at this point were quality sleeping bags; therefore, we needed to accumulate a few things before this adventure could begin. I found a great used pack for my daughter and a tent on eBay. These were gently used items and were foundational to our gear. We acquired some new sleeping pads at REI and some cooking equipment. We spent about a month acquiring the gear we needed and then we had to find a free weekend, which turned out to be the hardest part of preparation.

We live in Katy Texas, which is a suburb on the westside of Houston. Katy is not known for its hiking or camping activities. This town was founded as a rice farming community so you can imagine wide-open flat fields that were developed into master planned communities. We wanted to find someplace close for our first trial run. After a little research I found the Lone Star Hiking Trail. You can learn more about it at www.lonestaretrail.org or purchase a wonderful book The Lone Star Hiking Trail by Karen Somers. I have lived in the Houston area all my life, but this trail was a new find for me. The Lone Star Hiking Trail is the longest contiguous trail in Texas covering 96 miles through the Sam Houston National Forest. We live about 1.5 hours from the western trailhead so I thought this would be our first place to visit. I purchased the book to learn about the trail and try to gain a better understanding of what to expect on this hiking trip.

My goal was to hike in about a mile, spend the night and head back out. We finally found a Friday in early April that was open, so we marked the calendar and had the target in site. The week started and the weather forecast was not looking good and as the week went on, we were still not sure if the weather was going to hold out. If the trail gets a lot of rain the trail will become very muddy and we did not want to hike in the mud. The week stayed overcast and threatened a lot of rain but overall stayed dry so by Thursday we were planning to hit the trail. Friday came around and we loaded all of our gear. I have provided a list of most of the items we carried at the end of this article, for anyone who is interested.

Like I mentioned earlier we started at the western trailhead, which was well marked and had plenty of space for parking. We started hiking about 5:15 PM. The trail was well marked and easy to follow. We quickly got to the one-mile marker and I was ready to setup camp. As mentioned above, this was a trial run just to test the waters. I would have been happy to have stop for the night but I could tell my daughter wanted to push on and make it to the 2.5 mile mark, which was described as an area with a small pond that was good for camping. I am glad we did. I know 2.5 miles is not far for many people but for us as first timers it felt good to hike much farther into the woods. We found a nice small dirt area that had been camped at before which provided a nice place to setup camp. Earlier in the week I came across my Bearz outdoor blanket that was given to me as a gift. This compact blanket turned out to be a great piece of gear. This blanket provided a quick spot to put down our gear while we setup our tent. The Kelty Tent was easy to setup. We did do a trial setup in the house prior to our trip, which I always recommend so you are not trying to figure out what to do while out on the trail.

Once camp was setup we decided to read. A good book is necessary for me while camping. I brought along Jimmy Buffett’s A Pirate Looks at Fifty. This is a great book to read while on an adventure as Buffett shares many stories about his adventures of traveling, fishing, and flying his own plane. My daughter brought Renegades by Marissa Meyer which was a teen novel about a twist on super heroes.

Once we had chilled out for a while we decided to cook supper. I have never eaten backpacking dehydrated food, but I got a tip from a friend a couple of months prior to our trip. He said I had to buy from Packit Gourmet (www.packitgourmet.com), which is a small business in Austin Texas making trail meals. We brought along the Texas State Fair Chile and we both thought it was a good meal. I especially liked the small package of Texas Pete’s Hot Sauce that was included for a little spice, and the corn chips for some extra crunch. I highly recommend these folks if you are looking for some trail meals.

One thing that did concern me a little bit on this trip was being completely alone in the forest, just the two of us. Given that there was only one other car in the parking lot, and since we did not pass anyone while hiking, I figured we would not see anyone while camping. I was very surprised when all of a sudden, I saw a random dog running around the pond. He was not small and as soon as the dog saw us he took off. It did make us a little nervous not knowing where the dog came from; however, we did not see him again. Once dinner was over, we climbed into the tent around 8:00 PM to get away from the bugs and to continue our reading.

Sleeping on the ground even with a pad is not that comfortable for me. I finally fell asleep sometime after 10:00 and woke up many times throughout the night. By 5:30 AM we were wide awake, and it was starting to sprinkle. We knew there was a chance of rain and we were able to check radar to confirm that it was headed our way. We packed up and hit the trail by 6:00. Hiking back out in the dark and then watching the sunrise was so peaceful. The forest was coming alive as the birds started to sing. It was an easy hike back and we made it back to the truck just in time to beat the rain. The rain started pouring down as we drove away.

The first question I asked my daughter was do you want to do it again and she did not hesitate; she responded with a resounding (emphatic) “YES!!” That’s all I needed to hear. As long as she is having fun I will be there as her partner in backpacking. SignOut To The Trail……

Some of our Gear:

Pack - Mystery Ranch Scree

Pack – Women’s Osprey Aura 50

Tent – Kelty TN2

Bag – North Face Cat’s Meow

Bag – Women’s REI Carina

Pads - REI Co-op Flash Insulated Air Sleeping Pad

Stove – MSR Pocket Rocket 2

Cookset – Sea to Summit Alpha Cookset 1.1

Food – Packit Gourmet – Texas State Fair Chile

Daniel and Mia's Hike and Campout