Pine Point County Park WI 6.15.17

While it had been weeks since we camped, it may have been a good thing. During this trip, Andy and Kathy planned a two day hike on the Ice Age Trail near Chippewa Falls, WI. They needed that time to check, double check, prepare, pack, re-pack, plan, converse...well, you get the idea. Anyway, HELLO, WISCONSIN!!

By now, you probably know I love, love, love visiting Wisconsin! It's a beautiful state with wonderfully friendly people, and they have cheese. Lots and lots of yummy cheese!

This was an extra-long weekend trip that began on a Thursday, and we were lucky to have found such a beautiful campground to call home. Welcome to Pine Point Campground in Chippewa County.

The campground is on Lake Holcombe, and several sites even have docks to access the water.

Look at those fancy new awnings! If you want to see the post about how Michelle and I made them, click here.

While Jeff and Kathy's campsite was adjacent to ours, you can see the trees made each site quite private. Their campsite had a large area around the firepit, so we set up home base at their site.

The B@r T@b all set up with the awning over the kitchen area, and our flamingo flock greeting visitors.

About every other campsite had its own trash can which was incredibly handy! I approve!

View of Lake Holcombe from the campsite across the way from ours. Nobody ever showed up to camp this site, even though it said it was reserved. Silly campers. You missed out!

Sunset!

Our campsite at dusk. We purchased solar rope lights that fit in the rail along the side of the T@b. Makes for nice ambient lighting!

See? It just slips right in.

Friday morning, I drove Kathy and Andy to the trailhead to embark on their two day hike. They both filled their packs with necessities.

Kathy trying to get her cute green backpack to have proper weight distribution.

There were signs and a map posted at the trail head to let hikers know the route and any info that would help them along the way.

For the most part, they just ask that you leave it like you found it. Carry out all trash, don't leave fires burning, etc. Things you would think would be common sense, but we all know how that works!

Ready or not! Here they are!

I think Kathy just experienced an OMG moment. TWO DAYS!!

At the trail head. The hike's official start!

There they go! Andy is leading so he can take care of any spider homes growing across the path before Kathy comes along. That's a good hiking buddy!

Bye guys! See you tomorrow!

As I drove back to the campground, I made a couple of stops in small towns to ask about a place to purchase cheese and stuff, and surprisingly, there wasn't much close by! Wisconsin, you disappointed me!

Anyway, headed back to camp where I found Jeff. We hung out by the fire for a while, got a call from the hikers when they reached their first check-in point. They were doing all right, but they said the trail was a bit of a sloppy mess. It had rained a lot there, and they were spending quite a bit of time going around yucky spots, then reconnecting with the trail. They were still in good spirits and said they'd check in about lunchtime.

Around noon, they called again and were a little less enthusiastic, but were fine. Apparently, there were many, many ticks in the tall grasses they were walking through. They both had several on their pants, and were annoyed and concerned. They said they'd call at the next check-in point, but were kinda thinking about cutting it short and just doing one day. I told them we would meet them wherever they needed us to, so we made plans to meet in two hours, and they'd send us the GPS coordinates.

Jeff decided it was nap time and retired to the Scamp while I went to the T@b to clean up our morning mess. I had just finished when I got a call. They had arrived somewhat early to the check-in spot. As in, an hour early. Jeff and I were at least a 45 minute drive, so I said they were going to have to stay put til we got there, and they said that was fine.

Woke Jeffo up, cleaned out the Jeep, and we punched in the GPS coordinates and were off to find them! We knew they'd be bummed about not getting to do the overnight, but we knew they made the right decision.

Our drive was fun, and we even got to see some wildlife! (Sorry about the language at the beginning...)

We laughed and wondered what kind of wildlife the hikers got to see that day.

We arrived at the GPS coordinates and found these two:

Exhausted, muddy, covered in ticks, and...wait. What are they drinking? Why do they look so happy?

HA! They had each packed a flask in their packs, and decided since they had to wait for us, they may as well have a picnic with beverages.

Our reaction.

So, we load their exhausted, muddy, tick-covered, sloshy butts into the Jeep and back to camp. Fun, huh?

We had a pretty easy night. They definitely needed showers and tick removal, so Jeff and I left them to it and ran to a nearby Walmart for supplies. We each purchased a 6 gallon water jug to keep in our campers, and they've been quite handy!

On the way home, we saw a bear on the side of the road! For the first time in our lives, Jeff and I were struck speechless! When we regained the ability to talk, we called our sleepy hikers to tell them about the bear and the deer, and asked what wildlife they saw on the hike. Their answer? Ticks.

Saturday was a lot of fun. We stayed in the campground all day, went for some walks, sat by the fire, cooked, and enjoyed each other's company.

Smoky fire plus tree-filtered sunlight makes for an excellent photo op!

As seen on my walk with Kathy... Shel Silverstein warned us about this!

Crane by the lake, barely annoyed we were there.

Took flight while we were there. His wingspan was huge!

Kathy capturing scenery with her fancy camera.

This fun little tent was purchased by my dad at a garage sale for $5. It's an outdoor shower tent, and he thought maybe we could use it with our camper. When I mentioned to him that Jeff and Kathy's camper didn't have a shower, he said to give it to them, so we did! It was a complete set, surprisingly, but had a broken pole. We were able to set it up though, and it worked really well. Jeff later purchased a replacement pole for about $3, so for $8, they had an outdoor shower! Not bad.

We went to dinner at a restaurant across the lake, and had a delightful meal with a gorgeous view.

Behind Andy you can see a giant Jenga set! This place was fun!

We went back to camp and spent the evening laughing and playing word games around the fire. We were up late, but nobody complained about the noise, so... we kept on!

Sunday morning marked Jeff and Kathy's departure, so we made a side trip to Chippewa Falls and the Leinenkugel's brewery. If you remember, right about a year ago, this was the B@r T@b's first stop! This time, Scamp got to visit!

We somehow majorly lucked out with parking!

The Leine Lodge was decked out for the brewery's 150th anniversary, and they had this awesome giant adirondack chair that made for great pics.

After the Scampers departed, Andy and I went back and hung out at our own campsite the rest of the day. We had a few visitors come ask to see the T@b and chat about it, and then we had some wildlife visitors, too!

It took us a long time to figure out what was hiding in this tree, but it turned out to be a nest of flying squirrels! OMG, they were adorable!

My view from our campfire.

Andy on the shore of Lake Holcombe during our walk.

Monday morning we packed up and headed home, stopping at cheese stores to stock up!

This is what grumpy campers look like as they have to finish their camping fun and go back to real life.

We did see a Scamp on our way home though!

It's like Jeff and Kathy's twin!

Happy camping!