camping | Change Is Hard

September 18, 2025
by dawnkinster 24 Comments

Camping continued

Well! Following those interruptions, let me show you how we spent our last day camping at Cloudland Canyon State Park in northern Georgia.

We’d been noticing signs for Lookout Mountain, pointing north from the road our campground was on. We pictured a big mountain with wonderful views and figured that could be interesting.

So on our last day of adventuring we decided to find it. I put “Lookout Mountain” in my gps and off we went. Along the way we saw very large homes perched on the edge of the canyon and we wondered what would happen if you happened to be playing catch on the deck or your basketball took a bad bounce.

Somewhere down there, we were sure, were a whole lot of lost balls.

Anyway, after about thirty minutes my gps said we were there. But where, exactly? The streets had become very narrow and curvy. The houses were large and likely built in the 30s or 40s. They were beautiful.

But where, exactly, was Lookout Mountain? More on that later.

We saw a sign for an Incline railroad going down to the valley floor, so we parked and went to investigate. It was a tram, of sorts, that ran on a rail way down into a town.

I’m not sure what town, but they said we could see downtown Chattanooga so maybe that’s where you ended up. The woman selling tickets said a very wealthy man who owned a bank down there, and a house at the top of the mountain didn’t like having to walk to work, so he had the incline built.

I tried to do some research and all I could find was something about a worker, building the incline in 1886, being killed. But at least that give us some idea of the era the original incline was built. I thought when I was there that there should be a whole display about the history of the area and the incline. But it’s just about impossible to find out anything.

We stood on the observation deck and watched one tram go down the steep incline and then the other tramp came up.

It looked kind of fun, but not $22.00 worth of fun, so we bought some fudge and wandered the neighborhood.

There was a big empty lot next to the Incline tram where obviously there used to be a home. What a view it must have had!

We were amused by a sign on a tree by the road that must have been there a long time. I guess it was the place to be if you wanted to picnic back in the day!

Wandering further down the street we enjoyed the fences….

….and gates along with the gardens.

Eventually, at the end of the street was another state park, this one dedicated to a battle during the Civil Warm. We went inside the park building and talked to the ranger who finally enlightened us about where Lookout Mountain was.

It was right there. We were standing on it. The entire ridge was Lookout Mountain and in fact our campground was on Lookout Mountain too! He pulled out a 3D topographical map and showed us how it all fit together.

And then we went into a big room which described the civil war battle that had been waged there so many years ago. The huge painting was fasinating in it’s detail.

We explored more that day, looking for a local potter who’s sign we had also seen on the main road. After making a couple wrong starts (and almost ending up in a private home accidently) we headed down a beautiful shaded road…

…which took us to a corner with another sign pointing the way.

Unfortunately the potter wasn’t around when we first arrived, so we explored the outside of his studio where there was plenty of interesting stuff.

Lots and lots of interesting stuff.

More stuff outside than what was inside we learned, when the potter arrived. He hadn’t been making anything for awhile, so we just explored the outside a bit more and then moseyed along.

We ended up at a local diner for lunch/dinner. I think people have misconceptions about camping. Yes you can bring all your food with you, and get ice for your cooler every day, or have a camper with a fridge…but you can also go out some of the time…which we have done on previous trips too. It’s a nice break and you often meet interesting people.

Our four day Georgia mountain adventure had come to a close. In the morning we packed up, glad that it hadn’t rained at all and everything was dry.

We stuffed it back into our vehicles and said goodbye at our now empty site. It’s always a little sad to wrap up a good camping trip. But for me, well, I had two days of driving through farm country ahead.

And you know what that means!

Stay tuned.

September 13, 2025
by dawnkinster 24 Comments

Still camping

In case you’re wondering what people do when they’re camping but not hiking up and down mountain ravines, let me show you!

*We had a fire nearly every night. Here Beth is taking a picture of the engineering of the fire pit.*

You might decide that you’d like to take a stab at a camping weekend somewhere beautiful near you. We’d love to be the inspiration if you decide to make the leap.

*This is your typical bundle of firewood purchased from the park. $7.00*

Or you might already be a camping sort of person and just want a new place to visit. If that’s the case, we’re your girls!

*We roasted the obligitory marshmellows.*

Personally, I like campgrounds where there’s some space between sites. Preferably some trees and shurbs that give you some illusion of privacy. Because let’s be real, when you’re camping you just don’t have much privacy at all.

I’m OK with that. I have no problem sitting in my chair next to my fire reading a book as people walk by with their dogs, waving hello.

My experience has been that most people that camp are really nice.

*Our next door neighbor. 4 kids and two parents.*

And there’s always something close by to explore. Just get in your car and drive and see what you find.

We were camping at this park in the hopes it had a dark sky at night so that I could try to do a little photography. We ended up with one cloudless night, and we headed out to the park’s disc golf course to see what we could find.

*Comfy on a chair, working on the settings to catch the stars.*

There wasn’t much in the way of a foreground there, so I mostly focused on the stars and didn’t worry about it.

*Even with the light polution you can see the Milky Way.*

But then I thought maybe I should at least try to put the truck in the shot.

*The adventure truck beneath the Milky Way.*

I think I need more work on that sort of image, but it was fun. A cool night, but not cold. No bugs to speak of. No scary noises, nobody else around to worry about.

And we were back in our tents shortly after midnight!

Can’t go wrong when you get to sit out under the stars!

I still have to show you what we found when we went out exploring. Guess there’s one more post in this series of photos!

September 12, 2025
by dawnkinster 21 Comments

Camping memories

Way back in August, before the US Labor Day holiday when campgrounds across our country are filled to capacity, I met my sister at a Georgia State Park to camp for four nights. It took me two days to drive there from my home in Michigan and along the way there were, of course, barns.

It was a last minute decision where to camp when we realized we didn’t have time to drive all the way to South Dakota like we had planned. For her, driving two days to my house and then two days to SD just didn’t work.

We are determined to do a better job of planning next summer.

*The main view from Cloudland Canyon State Park.*

Anyway, she found this state park in northern Georgia, right at the Tennessee state line. In fact we weren’t far from Chattanooga. But you wouldn’t know it when you were in Cloudland Canyon State Park.

We had a great campsite, big enough for two tents, with a whole other space housing the firepit. We had a fire almost every night, toasting the obligitory marshmellow and enjoying the warmth as the evenings were just a little cool.

This park sits on the top of Stone Mountain, a high ridge, part of the Appalachian Mountains, with a wide valley that overlooked part of Tennessee. And there were plenty of hiking trails with overlooks.

*People way over there on a trail looking at us way over here.*

The ranger at the park store where we checked in told us to do the yellow trail. It was a four mile loop that, he said, we could pick up right from our campsite. He said it had the best views of any of the trails and we’d see the two waterfalls that everyone comes to visit when they’re in the park.

Well. The first evening, though both of us had driven all day, we headed right out on the yellow trail. We figured we’d see at least one of the waterfalls and have a nice walk.

Turns out the trail was full of tree roots and we never saw any part of a river though sometimes we could hear it. After awhile it was getting dark and we decided to turn around and figure it out tomorrow.

In the morning we drove to the ‘main overlook’ which was technically closed due to hurricane damage. But we could still see the amazing view, for which the park was named. And at one end of the parking lot was a sign for the falls. So off we went.

The trail moved down, down, down into the canyon. It wasn’t smooth, there were roots and rocks and holes and some railings that had seen better days.

*This rock is holding up the stairs we climbed.*

There were lots of stairways, curling around and around and down and further down too. We saw lots of pretty things, and as we finally got down close to the bottom of the canyone we could hear the waterfall.

The waterfall was beautiful and we stayed there quite a long time. It was well worth the walk down. (And in the back of our mind we were already contemplating the walk back up!)

*A beautiful place to sit and contemplate.*

Then we walked back along the path to where it joined with another trail to go to the second waterfall. Nothing easy about that walk either!

We met several people along the way down into the canyon and everyone said the same thing: “Nobody told us this trail was this strenous!” We looked at the trail map and on the back was a small paragraph that waid it was a difficult trail. But seriously this was a really difficult trail! We were glad we brought water!

Anyway, down more steps, along more cliffs, and we finally got to a deck overlooking waterfall #2. Also beautiful.

And it had a bench to sit on while we enjoyed the peaceful spot. I even ate half of the now smushed banana I had in my pocket.

After we sat there for a good long time we faced the fact that the only way to go was up. And so we started.

*Beginning the long climb back to the top.*

My quad muscles were already sore from all the stairs down. And it turns out my calf muscles were too. Going up was slow, with lots of breaks to examine interesting things in the rock walls.

Or just to sit on a landing and talk to people going down. Everyone was so encouraging. Some people had their dogs with them. I never would have asked Penny to walk down all those stairs, which were made out of grating. I think they said there were over 600 steps.

Just think how uncomfortable that would be on their feet. And if they decided they weren’t going to go back up, then what? Are you going to carry your dog up 600 steps?

There was a couple with a very young girl too, on their way up when we were going down. She was already whining and they were negotiating how far she’d have to climb up before they’d carry her for awhile.

Nope, I would not advise bringing any aged children down into that canyon. No dogs, no kids, there should have been a sign at the top!

Anyway, we slowly climbed back up to the top, resting when we wanted to, stopping for interesting things, even stopping for uninteresting things. Just stopping.

*Even split rocks help hold up the wall.*

And it turned out it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared, though I was really glad to finish. At the top was a young couple, she clearly very pregnant, just starting down. We showed her pictures of the rock strewn trail, the seemingly endless miles of stairs. She smiled and said she thought she could do it even though she was 7 or 8 months along.

We told her the first waterfall was prettier than the 2nd and if she didn’t go to the second she wouldn’t be missing much. We told her it would be ok to decide to turn around, the trail was beautiful and she’d still have fun.

I bet they went all the way to the first fall, but I hope she turned around there. It was already afternoon and I sure wouldn’t want to do that trail with fading light.

*Luckily we didn’t see any falling rocks.*

We were glad we did it, but neither of us suggested doing any more trail hiking the next two days!

*There were lots of rhododendron, this would be beautiful in the spring.*

We did do a little exploring in the surrounding area the next few days but those pictures will have to wait for another post.

September 5, 2025
by dawnkinster 29 Comments

Teaser

My sister and I spent four nights camping somewhere not here, but not where we thought we’d be either.

It worked out well, and I have, of course, many photos to share of this place not here.

But Penny is demanding time with her mom so I’m off to do that. Which, I suppose, warrents a post too.

So much to do, so little time.

August 16, 2025
by dawnkinster 36 Comments

Camping objectives

Sometimes I go camping just to have a few days away from everyday responsibilities. Time to nap and read and snack and daydream.

Sometimes I go camping with a specific goal in mind. I’m hoping to get that perfect Milky Way image, or find a new bird to photograph, or see a part of the state I haven’t seen before.

Last week, at the last minute, I got to reserve 3 nights in my favorite campsite at the local state park. It’s a spot where Katie and I camped many times. This trip I hoped to introduce Penny to campground noises.

*“Did I hear something over there, mom?”*

She’d been there for a couple visits last year, but it was all overwhelming to her, and even with her dad and me right there she was pretty nervous about all the people and cars and noisy trucks with trailers driving by.

*“Hey! What’s my tent doing out here in the woods, mom?”*

This year she’s older and wiser and a little bit calmer. Though she still looked when noisy things including people with their dogs walked by, she didn’t automatically come undone.

She was only visiting me for a few hours each day, and while she was there we took plenty of walks around the campground, letting her sniff the vacant spots…

…and moving swiftly past those occupied.

*“Nothing to see here, just protecting my bikes.”*

She even got to walk past a couple of pitbulls and their flustered dad. She was a rockstar.

See them coming around the corner up there? Penny’s tail was already up in alarm and I didn’t notice them until they were much closer. She knew right away. She never barked, she just heeled with me right by them.

We spent about an hour on her second visit inside the tent as evening fell. I think she would have been fine spending the night in the tent if I had insisted. But she was a little restless after an hour and if I’m honest, I wasn’t looking forward to packing up in the morning with her on site.

*“I guess this is OK mom. But daddy has air conditioning and a **bed.** Just sayin.”*

It takes me an hour to pack up without the distraction of a curious dog. But next time, if she’s willing I think we’ll spend the night in the tent. Maybe she’ll begin to understand it’s all an adventure and mom’s got her back.

*“Umm, excuse me mother, let me be clear. I’m **not** taking a shower.”*

The other reason I jumped at a chance to camp at this site is the opportunity to photograph birds. Every time I’ve been at site 16 there have been birds flitting around. Their images are hard to capture, they’re not like Kensington birds, posing for treats.

*A really poor image of a cardinal that swooped in and then out.*

These birds are never happy when they stop by and you’re at their site. I sat for hours, still in my chair, camera ready, and didn’t catch a good look at one bird, though I heard redstarts and vireos and wrens all around me.

*Mostly I got bird imposters like these brown leaves.*

Then this guy bounced out of the underbrush.

After looking at me he hopped up on a vine with his back to me. In a moment, though, he turned his head to make sure I got the shot, and then he took off.

I smiled, at least I got one decent image of a bird!

And then I noticed this little red squirrel looking a bit worse for wear. She skittered around the campsite and then disappeared.

While I’m looking for her, tossing a few blueberries in the direction she ran, a opportunistic chipmunk showed up, very happy with the blueberry offering.

*“Hey lady! You got anything to spare?”*

Meanwhile Ms. red squirrel, apparently a tired mom, was up in a tree at the edge of the campsite, happily chowing down on a nut.

She was happy until she noticed the chipmunk was feasting on blueberries.

That seemed to make her very unhappy. She watched the chipmunk more carefully. I tossed a few more blueberries. She was conflicted.

*“Wait! Those blueberries were for ME!”*

And then she ran as fast as she could down that tree and back out into the site where she scored a blueberry of her own.

*“That chipmunk got one, but he’s not going to get the rest!”*

It all made me smile.

Camping generally makes me smile, even when it rains, which it inevitably does at least one day on every camping adventure. At least this time it was overnight. And in the morning the sun rose again.

Time to get packing and head home. A little fuzzy girl was waiting for me to provide her next adventure. She’s kind of demanding that way. I don’t mind.

Till next time, site 16. Thanks for the new memories.

July 11, 2025
by dawnkinster 21 Comments

But what about the pretty stuff up in Northport?

I know. It all seems quite a long time ago when I traveled over to the western side of the state to camp and watch for stars.

You all know the star thing didn’t work out. And that it rained a lot. And that my last day there I drove up to Northport to meet with friends about a new book.

*One of my favorites, I park up the road on a side street and walk back down busy M-22.*

But on the drive back to camp I did wander a bit, looking at pretty stuff. Of course.

*On a random backroad that I took to turn around for another barn..*

Because why be up there at all if you’re not enjoying all the pretty stuff!

Many of these barns you’ve seen before, but I’d have to say it was a long time ago.

*I hope to get the Milky Way over this barn someday.*

And some of you are newcomers so this will be your first glimpse of the beautiful rural landscape that sits along Lake Michigan in the upper part of our lower peninsula.

*I parked over by the house in a bike path access parking lot and walked the bike path to get this image.*

I feel like I’m jabbering too much. Maybe I should just show you a few of the pretties and let you decide for yourself if they were worth me stopping to grab the image.

*This is a famous barn on M 22. Lots of people have shot the Milky Way over it. Maybe someday I will too.*

I kind of think you’ll be in agreement with me that it was worth turning around and even driving around a really big block to capture some of these.

*Near the bike path parking lot. I liked the vintage car, the vintage house and the famous barn all together.*

Enjoy.

July 6, 2025
by dawnkinster 16 Comments

Looking for stars – part 2

Camping in the woods is fun, but it’s more fun if it doesn’t rain every single day and night. I guess I should count myself lucky that it didn’t rain all day every day.

I had plenty of time to get out in between rain showers and explore. Since it became obvious I wasn’t going to have any cloudless nights I deicded to use my time to find good Milky Way shoot posibilities. After all it’s a Bortle 2 up near Sleeping Bear (meaning really dark with less light pollution.) and you really don’t want to waste all that night sky by not being prepared.

*Just imagine the Milky Way shining above the trees!*

But by Wednesday I was tired of battling the incessant mosquitoes and I was happy to head an hour further north to meet a couple friends in the little town of Northport. That’s at the tip of Michigan’s little finger. Really. Look at the map of the lower portion of Michigan and notice the mitten shape…and at the far upper left of the mitten is the little finger! Then imagine how wonderful it would be to live there!

Northport, way up there north of Traverse City, is beautiful and always fun to visit. I’m lucky I know a few people there so I have lots of excuses to go. This time I was going up specifically to buy a book at my favorite Independent bookstore.

I love to stop at Dog Ears Books when I’m in Northport, browse the books and chat with store owner Pamela Grath. And this trip was even more special because I was buying my friend, Karen’s, debut novel The Lost Woman. I’ve known Karen for a long time, and I’m so excited that her book has been published!

I’m ony on page 48, though I should find the time to sit down and just read. It’s so good. It’s almost like a very rich desert that you don’t want to gobble down too fast. You want it to last. But if I don’t find a bit of quiet to sit and enjoy the read it will likely be fall before I can tell you more about it!

*Author Karen and bookstore owner Pamela.*

Penny, like her sister Katie, is an anti-reading dog. No reading allowed mom!

Anyway…I meant for this post to show you all the pretty stuff I found up near Northport that day. But it’s really about good friends and good books…and that will have to suffice for now.

Because Penny is also an anti-typing dog.

And it’s time to go off on another adventure with her. More later, I suppose.

July 3, 2025
by dawnkinster 24 Comments

Searching for the stars. Again.

This time last week I was in northern Michigan at one of my favorite places (You may have noticed I have quite a few favorite places in northern Michigan) intent, once again, on getting the perfect Milky Way image.

I had a walk-in site at Platt River Campground, reserved weeks ago, and high hopes that at least one of the three nights would be clear.

The site was beautiful. I knew it would be because I’d camped there once before a few years ago. It’s at the end of a trail, about 1/4 mile into the woods. Along the way are three other campsites, but mine was the last one.

*This was my first camping trip of the season. It took me forever to get this tent up.*

The good thing about a walk-in site is that there are no RVs near you running their air conditioning all night. (Though I wouldn’t have minded having air, it was 98 F inside my tent most of the first night.) The bad thing about a walk-in site is that you have to carry everything in. So I stayed pretty minimal.

Anyway. I had high hopes for Monday night, thinking it should be clear. And it was hot and sunny when I first arrived.

Before I even went to the campsite to set up the tent I drove the Pierce Stocking drive that provides a number of opportunities to stop and explore.

*It’s almost mandatory that you take this image while you’re there.*

But gradually, by late afternoon, clouds had moved in and that evening there were no stars to be seen. It even rained late Monday night, which brought the temperatures down. I was conflicted, grateful for the temperature relief but disappointed that I wasn’t out under the stars with my camera.

*Looking toward Sleeping Bear dunes from Empire Beach on Tuesday.*

Tuesday I explored a few beaches looking for possible places to shoot the Milky Way, if the sky ever cleared. But it didn’t clear that day.

*Not very promising for star photography.*

So I did the next best thing. I hiked a loop through the woods where there was the possibility of lots of birds. You know how I love taking photographs of birds. I had high hopes again of capturing something special.

Because I was covered in bug spray this was a fun hike.

About 2.5 miles, the trail was supposed to be filled with song birds, particularly warblers.

*I took a close up picture of the map with my phone, and I’m glad I did. The trail wasn’t always obvious.*

I heard lots of birds, none of them identified by my Merlin app as warblers, but I only saw one bird for a slight second, hidden in the trees, and I have no idea what it was.

*I don’t suppose any of you know what this brownish bird is, hiding behind leaves and out of focus.*

Tuesday night it rained again. I don’t mind a little rain on the tent, but it meant there was no star shooting that night either.

Wednesday was predicted to be overcast as well, so I made plans to drive about an hour north and meet a couple friends in Northport, another of my happy places. It was time to spend a little bit of time in civilization.

*Scenic route through Pierce Stocking park.*

That was definitely fun and had a lower mosquito to human ratio, but it deserves it’s own post, so stay tuned.

*Taken Monday night, while standing in the rain.*

Wordless Wednesday Birthday Wishes

February 5, 2025 by dawnkinster 6 Comments

September 15, 2024
by dawnkinster 10 Comments

Night #2

My sister and I spent our days exploring Michigan’s eastern UP the last week of August, but we spent our nights looking for clear skies. We were on a mission to capture the Milky Way over interesting stuff, in particular over the Upper Falls at Tahquamenon State Park.

*A view of the falls from along the path, taken during our morning research for the night time adventure.*

I’d seen images done by other photographers and I figured what the heck, how hard could it be. Right?

We’d made the recognizance trek back to the falls, and down the 94 steps to the viewing platform during the day. We’d check the position the Milky Way would likely be over the falls, using my hand dandy phone compass. We’d strategized how the whole even would go down, including talking to rangers ahead of time so they’d know where we were.

Still, as we parked in the giant, but empty, parking lot after dark that second night of clear skies I was worried, as I always am, about what could go wrong. As we sat there waiting for it to be dark enough headlights came up the long driveway toward us.

“DARN!” I said (well maybe not that exact word).

*These stairs are easier to maneuver in daylight.*

I’m never happy to have other people around when we start out on a night mission, unless I know who they are. The truck went on past us and parked in front of the bathrooms. The park rangers were there to clean up the facility after the day of tourism.

Now I was in another quandary. I didn’t want to walk up on them and startle them. So we waited until they were done, and on their way out they stopped to talk to us, wanting to know what we were doing. The lady ranger recognized me from our earlier discussion and told us to have fun and be careful.

*Yep lots of water falling off that ledge.*

So with an official blessing my sister and I packed up our gear and began the long walk back to the falls. It’s not really that difficult, given what most people have to do to get to scenic places, the trail is paved and pretty level as long as you watch for the occasional tree root.

*The path winds along the ridge above the falls, flat and wide.*

Still, by then it was pitch black. Do you know that noises are scientifically louder when heard in a dark woods vs. in your own driveway? It’s a fact. Anyway, we made it back to the long set of stairs and picked our way very carefully down to the viewing platform.

The first thing I noticed once we were down there, other than that the roar was very loud, was how much mist was blowing off the falls. And that it was blowing right at us.

*I had my sister turn on her flashlight so I could see how much mist was flying. Turns out it was a lot.*

But there was the Milky Way, exactly where we figured it would be, right above the falls. To our eyes it looked great. I could imagine just how it was going to look through my camera lens.

Except for this darn railing that is just about the same height as the top height my tripod will go. And I need to shoot in portrait (vertical) to get the Milky Way and the falls in a single shot. Which put the railing smack dab in the middle of the frame.

*Oh…and I forgot to turn off my red flashlight too.*

How annoying. I dabbed at the mist on my lens and considered that maybe I could shoot from a lower perspective, between the rails.

*I was struggling with the composition so much that I didn’t spend any time on focus.*

The noise from the falls and the waves of mist washed over me as I reconfigured the tripod and tried sitting down to shoot.

Seriously this was not going well. Then I tried holding the camera on the top railing manually, even though I knew that was ridiculous and there’s no way I could hold it steady for 20 seconds. In what felt like a monsoon.

I really needed a taller, more steady tripod. In fact at one point the whole tripod tipped over and somehow, some way, I managed to grab a leg in the dark before the whole thing fell over.

And I need to be there on a clear night when there is less mist. I wonder if that’s even possible?

*Maybe I should find a spot over the LOWER falls.*

And mostly I need to learn how to do panoramas, because if I could have shot the top of the Milky Way in landscape (horizontal) slices, down to the falls I could have stitched it all together into one really pretty image.

Or so I’m told. I haven’t done those segments of my class yet. I guess this is the winter to buckle down and learn that stuff while the Milky Way is resting, so that when she wakes back up next spring I’ll be ready.

*Eventually* *I had to focus on just the stars, and even then we were getting soggy from the mist.*

So ladies and gentlemen, I present to you zero great images of the Milky Way over the Upper Falls at Tahquamenon State Park. But don’t be discouraged. I plan to try again after I do more learning and more research.

I guess the Milky Way over the Upper Falls just wasn’t in the stars for me that night. (You see what I did there?)

But we will be back, if nothing else because walking into the dark woods and then walking out a little damp but none the worse for wear was a thrill in itself!

*You might find us just about anywhere!*

I hope you all come along with us on our next adventure!

Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: camping