From Where I Sit…

Visit to Beaver Creek State Park

October 9th, 2007

Bennett Family

What a busy weekend. We had a nice time, not as nice as we’d hoped, perhaps, but still a nice break from the routine!

We had made reservations at Beaver Creek State Park in one of the park’s Rent a Teepee. I had seen a listing for a “Pioneer Craft Festival” held in the park’s restored pioneer village, featuring a working grist mill (still actually water powered), blacksmith’s shop and other period buildings. We’d peeked at the getaway rentals before, but this just seemed to be the right time.

Friday we picked the kids up from school early and headed out. It was a three and a half hour drive from Columbus to Beaver Creek, and we didn’t want to be arriving and setting up camp in the dark. We arrived about 5:30, got set up and even had our dinner on the table by 6:45.

I was pleasantly surprised by the teepee. I was worried that perhaps it was too good to be true, and that we’d go in and find all kinds of critters we didn’t want to share a teepee with, or that it would be very worn and run down. But the teepee was in good condition, and it included a lot of equipment. Three folding cots were available for us, as well as an air mattress. They also loan you a Igloo water cooler, a regular rolling ice chest, dishpan, camp stove, and a lantern. The stove we passed on… it hadn’t been cleaned out very well. They also included a full size propane tank and connectors, so we could save our propane tanks. I was surprised at the room inside the teepee as well… we could fit four cots in, and still have room to move around without being pushed right into the side walls.

Unfortunately, the campground turns out to be located right off a fairly busy road. We were shocked by the traffic, frankly, because on maps Beaver Creek State Park looks as if it’s in the middle of nowhere. But apparently it’s close enough to Youngstown and Pittsburgh to have developed a fair bit of “exurb” housing.

The rear of the campground is probably much quieter, but unfortunately the teepee is right up front. It’s also right next to the amphitheater, because of course why would you want to go camping if you couldn’t sit on a bench and watch “Open Season”? Oh, and it’s right across the road from the latrine (a good thing with children) however there’s a large pole mounted utility light, what I think of as a barnyard light, right next to the latrine (a bad thing). So all night we had a significant florescent light shining on our site. The site was never truly dark, which I missed terribly. I love the dark when I’m camping.

OK, so we shake off the disappointment about the site not being perfect, and head out the next morning to the Pioneer Craft Festival. Surely that will be better.

Er. Well, the village is nice, and the operating mill is fascinating. There was also a small Civil War encampment, which was interesting and we enjoyed chatting with the people there. The blacksmith shop was operating, and I enjoy watching a smith at work… but the crafts? Let’s just say kitsch had met a tent and had a swarm of progeny.

There was more kitschy stuff in tents than you could shake the proverbial stick at. We dutifully looked at it all, and dissuaded the kids when they began to be convinced they needed to get a fleece NFL pillow or a bench with some now thankfully forgotten “country” (or perhaps that’s “kountry”) phrase stencilled on the back. I did see two women selling homemade soap — the closet thing to a period craft I saw. Oh, and a quilter. Otherwise we were looking at glittered sweatshirts and “Wax Dipped Snowmen”. I kid you not. Some photographic evidence is in the Flickr set, but fortunately much of it will slowly fade from memory never to be restored.

We eventually gave up and went back to the campsite. We took a break and enjoyed the site and the kids enjoyed time playing frisbee, then we took on the Dogwood Loop Trail.

This was a beautiful trail, very steep in places as we descended and climbed back up from the creek in the ravine bottom. The Little Beaver Creek is a lovely creek, deservedly named a state and national scenic river. Unfortunately, the summer has been too dry to maintain water depth for canoeing, so we had to pass on that experience. But it was still beautiful to observe.

Saturday evening proved that there needed to be a bit more patrolling from the park officers, as the “no alcoholic beverages permitted” was being rather blatantly ignored. I’m not going to make a fuss if someone has a beer or two in their campsite, but when a group of women go wandering down the main road, obviously partying, asking my kids to participate in a “talent show” and making a loud scene, I get annoyed. I remember turning to Rick at some point and asking “Where do quiet people go to camp?” Past the requisite movie (which we could hardly ignore — the kids went to watch, while Rick and I played a game of Sequence), a group of teens chose to remain at the amphitheater site (right next to us) and play tackle football until quiet hours began. LOUDLY. Losing their ball under our van, because the difference between the amphitheater site and our site was a little difficult to see… in the not quite dark.

Eventually people did shut up and go to sleep, and the road quieted down.

Sunday we spent a little more time exploring along the creek, then headed out to spend a day exploring places of interest along our route home. We visited the reconstructed Fort Steuben, which I found very interesting, and stopped at Barkcamp State Park and Salt Fork State Park to look around. Both parks appear to have campgrounds designed for RVs, not tents.

Anyone have any suggestions for tent camping, where we’re not having to backpack stuff in a mile, but we’re also not right on a road or right next to someone’s portable apartment?

I sound bitchy, and I don’t mean to complain so much. Overall I enjoyed our weekend. It was a nice getaway with the family, and we all enjoyed our time together. I don’t know that I’d drive seven hours roundtrip for it again though. I’d like to find a nice place for camping under the trees closer to home. I wonder if such a place exists?

Entry Filed under: life