We drove up on Friday night, grabbing a quick dinner in West Bend on the way. Our site among the pines was beautiful, but it did not offer the privacy or quiet that we typically enjoy at other campsites. We heard road noise, loud music and people talking well into the night. The first night was pretty rough for the three of us, but the second night we slept a little better.

On Saturday, Billy’s cousin and her family joined us. After eating some subs for lunch, we hiked the easy 2-mile trail around Mauthe Lake. We spent the late afternoon at the beach while the kids played in the sand. We made pie iron pizzas for dinner and fruit pies for dessert. On Sunday we woke up to rain. After we started a fire, we made Pie Iron Breakfast Sandwiches.

Everett enjoyed playing with his second cousins, and they kept him entertained so Billy and I could relax a bit. We had a nice time and we’re really looking forward to camping with them again!

• Mauthe Lake
• Location: Campbellsport, WI 53010
• Reservations
• Camping fees
• Firewood available on-site for $5 a bundle.
• Things to know: Avoid sites by the County Road.

Marengo Ridge is just over 800 acres with five miles of hiking trails. Thomas Woods campground offers both car camping and hike in sites. On the early May weekend we camped there were only a handful of sites taken. We chose site 39, but there wasn’t a bad site in the campground.

We had a hard time keeping Everett on the blanket we laid out for him. At this age he just loves to explore and hates being confined (getting him into his car seat is a challenge). Everett spent a lot of time crawling around on the soft moss that covered the ground. He had a blast playing with the rocks, sticks and pinecones scattered about our site.

We took a couple hikes and spotted a good variety of early spring flowers. There were a few lookout points with sweeping views of the grasslands and surrounding farms.

Everett loves to raise his hands to show us that he’s “so big!” We brought along our clip-on high chair and tray, which worked well with the picnic bench at mealtimes.

To our surprise, Everett slept better in our tent than he does in his crib at home. I guess he liked being snuggled up between us in our double sleeping bag.

We packed light for this camping trip and managed to fit all our essentials plus our pup Lacy in my Jetta Sportwagen. We did bring our huge sleeping pads to make sure that Everett got a good night’s sleep. We kept our meals simple as well. We made veggie quesadillas in our pie iron for dinner and egg and cheese sandwiches for breakfast.

Judging by his smiles, I think Everett had a great time. We’re looking forward to our next family camping experience.

• Thomas Woods Campsite website
• Location: 3100 IL-23, Marengo, IL 60152
• Reservations: Call (815) 338-6223, ext. 1200 by 11 am on the Thursday before you camp, or register with the camp host when you arrive.
• Camping fees:
  Non-Electric Site: $10 Residents / $15 Non-Residents
  Electric RV Only Site: $20 Residents / $30 Non-Residents
  Holiday weekend surcharge: $2 Residents; $5 Non-Residents
• Firewood: No outside firewood permitted. Good quality firewood available on-site for $5 a bundle.
• Things to know: Dogs are welcome, though it is not mentioned on the website.

Our Place

115 Cricket Hollow Road, Cosby, TN 37722 (on 321)

Blink and you’ll miss it, but Our Place is definitely worth turning around for.

We stopped in for some coffee and books.

So many books! The selection was amazing. We bought a few field guides, a cookbook and some beautiful note cards from a local artist. It’s definitely worth a look around while you sip your coffee.

The Front Porch Restaurant

2912 Cosby Highway, Cosby, TN 37722

The owner of Our Place told us to stop into The Front Porch Restaurant for some great southern cooking. We decided to head over there on a Saturday night to hear the live music ( from 6-9 on Saturday nights).  After a long hike we were starving, and all the food was delicious.

I really liked their fried green tomatoes and Billy especially liked the cornbread. He said the cornbread was the best he’d ever had (sorry mom). We finished the meal off with some delicious pecan pie. We ordered a ton of food and our meal was only $30.

One woman we ran into said the restaurant sent food to her home when she was home bound for a period of time. Gotta love that.

The Front Porch Restaurant is a BYOB, so don’t forget to pick up a beer on the way there.

Cosby Campground

471 Cosby Park Rd, Cosby, TN

We camped in the beautiful but little-used Cosby Campground in Smoky Mountain National Park. I’ve heard that it’s a lot less busy than other campgrounds in the park, but I don’t know for sure because there was so much traffic on the road to Cade’s cove that we turned around! You can read my review of Cosby Campground here.

Hiking 

There are three hikes nearby that I really liked. All of them start at Cosby Campground. You can see where each of these trails start on this map.

Hen Wallow Falls (4.4 miles roundtrip)

I really enjoyed this moderate hike through the forest and up to the falls.

Take Gabes Mountain Trail and watch for signs for Hen Wallow falls. More information here.

Sutton Ridge Overlook (3 miles roundtrip)

We took this short hike on the Lower Mount Cammerer Trail to a beautiful overlook.

{Sutton Ridge Overlook just before sunset}

To get to the overlook, hike for 1.4 miles on the Lower Mount Cammerer Trail. Turn right at the spur to hike up to the overlook.

Self Guided Nature Hike (1 mile round trip)

We went on the self guiding nature hike our last afternoon in Tennessee. It’s only a mile, but the guide (50 cents) was interesting and well written.

I will return, hopefully soon.

It was dark when we arrived at the campground. We selected site B67. It is located in the back of loop B (Cosby Campground map). These sites are among the best in the campground. They are elevated from the road and surrounded by woods.  The entire campground is wooded, but there isn’t a lot of undergrowth, so the sites are only semi-private. Each site has a picnic table, a fire ring with a nice cooking grate and a flat, crushed gravel pad for your tent.

We had just arrived and I was rolling out our sleeping pads in the tent when someone from a couple of sites over came over and told Billy that there was a bear nearby. She shined her flashlight into the woods and the bear was 20 feet from our tent – the tent that I was inside! I got out of the tent barefoot and walked quickly toward the car, not even bothering to zip the tent shut. Moments later the bear stuck his head inside our tent! He then circled around the tent and then slowly walked away. Our hearts still pounding, we drove over to the camp host’s trailer to let her know about the bear.

Our bear encounter was the talk of the town the following day. When we went to buy firewood, the shop owner exclaimed “that was you!?” We saw a couple more bears during our stay at Cosby, but we were careful not to leave food out so we didn’t run into any problems.

Cosby campground is very beautiful. It’s a clean and well maintained campground, including the bathrooms. The bathrooms don’t have soap, so don’t forget to bring some from home.

{us after five days, no showers}

There aren’t any showers at Cosby. I’m fine with not showering for five days, but if you are desperate for a shower, you can take one for $5 in the town of Cosby.

There are lots of hikes of varying difficulty that start at Cosby campground. We especially enjoyed the hike to Hen Wallow Falls and the self-guiding nature trail. Hiking and other things to do in the Cosby area >

Location: 471 Cosby Park Rd, Cosby, TN
Reservations: Only a handful of sites are reservable online. Most sites are first come, first serve. With the exception of holiday weekends, you should have no problem finding a site.
Camping fees: $14/night

Have you visited the Smoky Mountains? Where did you stay?

If you live in Illinois, you probably recognize Thomson for it’s prison, which was built but never occupied due to lack of budget. Thompson Causeway is a US Army Corps of Engineers campground located on the Mississippi River, 2.5 miles west of Chicago. It’s really set up for RV’s more than tent camping, mostly grass dotted with trees. The campground is located on the widest point of the Mississippi.

We visited Lock & Dam #13, which is about 20 minutes south of the campground. It was cool to see how it opened and closed to let boats through. If you’re camping at Thomson Causeway and see a Barge pass in the distance, you can hop in you car and drive down to the Lock & Dam to see it pass through. I was surprised to see pelicans on the Mississippi River. The American White Pelicans that we saw on the Mississippi are related to the Brown Pelicans that live by the ocean.

We also saw lots of frogs.

And turtles.

On Saturday night, the DuPage Drifters had a Luau. Billy’s grandma made Blue Hawaiians, which were a big hit. Everyone dressed in Hawaiian shirts and leis. It was a lot of fun. I look forward to camping with them again.

Before we left on Sunday, we checked out the Windmill in Fulton. It was built in Holland, then shipped piece by piece to Fulton.

Thomson Causeway Recreation Area:

• Location: Lewis Ave. and Main St. Thomson, IL 61285
• Reservations: Recreation.gov
• Camping fees: $10-$18/day
• Area Attractions:
  Lock & Dam #13
  Fulton Windmill
  Ingersoll Center and the Sloan Marsh Overlook

The Wisconsin River is a wide, shallow river with a pretty strong current and lots of sandbars. The Lower Wisconsin Riverway is ideal for a multi-day paddling trip, especially because there are no dams in the 92.3 mile stretch from Prairie du Sac, WI to the Mississippi River.

We always try to take a weekend camping trip for my birthday. This year Billy planned a trip to Yatesville Lake State Park in Kentucky. We were going to camp at a boat-in site, so I dehydrated a bunch of meals in preparation for the trip. On the Thursday before our trip, I checked the weather. The forecast said rain, and flood warnings to boot. So we scrapped those plans and decided to kayak the Wisconsin River instead.

On Friday, we loaded up the car and headed out. I wasn’t able to find a campsite, most of the state parks in the area were booked up. We decided to try Tower Hill State Park, just outside of Spring Green. Tower Hill has a handful of sites, all of which are first come, first served. Luckily, we were able to get a nice campsite and set up camp.

We headed into Spring Green and had a great lunch at Freddy Valentine’s, a historic bank building that is now a bar restaurant. Then we drove around trying to find an outfitter that would be able to shuttle us and our kayaks. Wisconsin Canoe Company was able to help us out. They charged us about $60 to shuttle us and our kayaks from Peck’s Landing to Prairie du Sac. We planned to kayak 25 miles down the Wisconsin River and return to our car at Peck’s Landing.

We returned to camp and Billy figured out how to fit all our gear into the kayaks. Here’s a complete list of what we brought. Most of our food did not require a cooler. The only things in our small, soft-sided cooler were a few beers and some sharp cheddar  (American Cheese is a good alternative, since it does not require refrigeration).

This was our menu for the weekend:

• Friday Dinner: Tortellini with Dehydrated Tomato Basil Sauce
• Saturday Breakfast: Oatmeal with Dehydrated Peaches, Blueberries and Bananas
• Saturday Lunch: Dehydrated Chili, Pita Chips and Dehydrated Hummus
• Saturday Dinner: Broccoli Noodle Salad and Pie Iron Grilled Cheese
• Sunday Breakfast: AlpineAire Bandito Scramble, Cheddar and Dehydrated Hash Browns
• Sunday Lunch: Leftovers (I had planned a Dehydrated Feta Dip, but it didn’t turn out. I won’t be dehydrating feta again)

I’ll link to recipes as I post them. It’s not necessary to dehydrate foods for a trip like this, but I found it convenient since I didn’t have to worry about food spoiling. Dehydrating food does save some weight, but without a reliable source of water (see cow below), you have to pack water anyway. Canned food would work just as well.

On Saturday morning Amy from Wisconsin Canoe Company shuttled us up to Prairie du Sac. On the drive up, she gave us a lot of information about the river. We unloaded our gear, packed up our kayaks and we were off.

Right after we left Prairie du Sac, we started seeing wildlife.

We spotted a Bald Eagle flying, and then landing in a tree off in the distance. We’ve seen a few Bald Eagles this summer. It’s great that they have made such a comeback.

We knew we were in Wisconsin when we spotted this cow chillin’ in the river.

We stopped for lunch on a little island. The river is really shallow, only 5′ on average. Our kayaks bottomed out a few times trying to get to the island. By the end of the trip, we got better at avoiding shallow areas.

I sat on the beach and made lunch, while Billy hiked to the end of the island to check out a bird on the shoreline. It was an Osprey. We ate pita chips, hummus and veggie chili for lunch.

After lunch, we set back out. A little ways downriver, we stopped off at Ferry Bluff State Natural Area for a hike to a lookout point that Amy had recommended. She said that the hike would take about ten minutes, but the bugs were so bad I think we did it in five.

Bugs aside, the view was well worth it. Breathtaking!!

We hopped back in our kayaks. Shortly after, we came across Wisconsin’s only nude beach. Did you think I was going to get closer for a photo?

As the sun started to set, we found a nice little island with a sandy beach to set up camp. We had the whole island to ourselves!

Billy started a fire, and we got dinner started.

We had Broccoli Noodle Slaw and pie iron grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner.

After dinner we relaxed on a blanket by the fire. The sunset was gorgeous, and once it got dark, you wouldn’t believe how many stars were in the sky. I used the Sky Guide App on my iPhone to locate stars and constellations.

When we woke up the next morning, it was raining. We made some tea and coffee and hung out in the tent waiting for it to stop.

Around ten o’clock it cleared up, and we made a breakfast of freeze-dried eggs, hash browns & cheddar. It was cloudy with a chill in the air. It felt like fall day. We packed up and headed out to complete our last nine miles.

We paddled along the shoreline, checking out the wildlife on the shore. We stopped off at a few sandbars along the way.

Shortly after lunch, we saw Peck’s Landing and our journey was complete. I’ll definitely be back someday, and maybe I’ll even paddle all 92.3 miles of the free-flowing Lower Wisconsin Riverway.

Some tips if you’re headed out to the Lower Wisconsin Riverway:

• You can’t bring any glass – no glass containers, beer bottles, jars, etc.
• Bring 1 gallon of water per person, per day. You may want to bring more if it’s really hot.
• If you can fit a bundle of firewood in your kayak or canoe, bring it. By the end of the summer there isn’t much wood to collect for campfires.
• You can camp on islands and sandbars in the Wisconsin River for free, but you can’t camp on the shore.
• Select a sandbar that is 18″ above the river. A rainstorm upriver can quickly flood low lying areas.
• Mark the shoreline of your sandbar with a stick. That way, you’ll know if the water is rising.
• I don’t want to sound like your mom or anything, but wear your life jacket. Especially if you’re drinking.
• Check out our packing list from this trip.

Getting to your site can take a little time. There is a one-lane gravel road to the sites that permits two-way traffic. We often had to back up to let an oncoming car pass.

The sites are beside Bloody Lake and the backwaters of the Pecatonica river, so bring your boat. We camped on the shore of Bloody Lake.

Also, don’t forget your bug spray. Even though there are tons of bats at this park, mosquitos can still be a problem.

• Location: County Road Y near Argyle, WI
• Reservations: None, pay at box when you arrive and select your site
• Camping fees: $5/day during the week, $10/day on the weekends
• Firewood: Available on-site from 5PM-7PM daily
• Picnic tables: Most sites do not have picnic tables, so you may want to bring a fold-up table.

The area around Blackhawk Memorial is abundant with wildlife.

Blackhawk Memorial park is ideally situated for exploring other attractions in the area.

Cadiz Springs State Recreation Area
Fishing is a popular activity at Cadiz Springs. We hiked the one mile self-guided Zander Lake Nature Trail, and then we explored the unnamed trails.

Yellowstone Lake State Park
I highly recommend the wildlife loop trail near the park office. Just don’t forget your binoculars.

We were lucky enough to spot two bald eagles.

We saw a large variety of other birds as well.

New Glarus Woods
We visited New Glarus Woods and did the 4.2 mile Havenridge nature trail. It took us through beautiful forests and prairies. I’d definitely recommend a hike at New Glarus Woods followed up by a beer at New Glarus Brewery.

We ran into several people who were collecting Morel mushrooms. One couple told us they collected over 600 morels this year!

I’m happy to help you plan your camping trip! Please leave your questions in the comments, and I will do my best to respond.