Summer Camping Trip in Kettle Moraine North
B and I had not gotten a chance to camp all summer, so when we both had a weekend off in August I jumped on one of the only available campsites in all of eastern Wisconsin so that we could spend some time in the great outdoors. The campsite was at Kettle Moraine North, which includes the areas around Mauthe Lake and Long Lake. Our campsite was at Long Lake.
There are a fair amount of dog-friendly campsites at Kettle Moraine North. In the area where we stayed, I would say there were 3-5 other sites with dogs.
For more on our camping weekend, check out my Instagram and look under the "WI" highlight :)
My packing hack: Eagle Creek Everything
Neither B nor I have luggage that's camping-appropriate (cuz who wants to drag their rolling suitcase* with them through dirt?) so I bought us each Eagle Creek Gear Warrior 45L Convertible Duffel* bags. I got the Coral Sunset color and B got black. they can be a duffel, hand carry, or backpack. Plus everything Eagle Creek makes is insanely durable and I'm sure we will have these for years to come.
I packed up all my clothing, toiletries, and hiking gear into Eagle Creek Packing Cubes* because organization and compartmentalization makes my heart happy. I was able to fit everything very comfortably with plenty of room to spare and the bag wasn't even that heavy.
Weekend Reading - all about Ani Weiss' adventure getting her FKT on the Ice Age Trail
Since I knew that we were going to do a hike on part of the Ice Age Trail, I brought my copy of See You At The Terminus* with me. Ani Weiss is a badass ultra runner who is very well known in the Milwaukee running community and recently completed a Fastest Known Time on the Ice Age Trail - as in, she ran THE WHOLE DAMN THING! Her husband had blogged their adventure and turned it into a book so of course I had to pick up a copy. I had actually contacted Ani through Instagram to get my copy and she and Brian signed it for me!
Arthur making himself right at home.
This was only the second time that we have taken Arthur camping, the first being two years ago when we camped at Devil's Lake while I was running Dances with Dirt. We take his long tie-out with us as well as lots of toys and a place for him to lay down. He behaved really well with very minimal barking and he even slept better than I thought he would. Our tent is a two-room tent* that can sleep 6 people easily, so when it's just the two of us we use one side of it to put out our food and then the air mattress is on the other side. I bought a pet cot* for Arthur and put a blanket on it so that if he got too hot on the air mattress he could go lay down on that.
Living his best life hiking part of the Ice Age Trail
Most of the trails around our campground were close to picnic areas or the lake so we couldn't take Arthur on them. After researching the area around Long Lake, we found Butler Lake Flynn's Spring, which has a section of the Ice Age Trail that intersects it. This area is only a 5 minute drive from the Long Lake campground. We ended up doing about 3 miles of hiking through this area - amateur move, we forgot bug spray! as you can imagine, hiking in August in Wisconsin meant that by the end of those 3 miles, we were both covered in mosquito bites. But this area is so beautiful and the Ice Age Trail section of the hike is so peaceful and has some nice views of Flynn's Spring.
Arthur did those 3 miles like a champ and was so excited to be traipsing through the woods.
Made a new friend.
Our campsite had lots of little friends, including some beautiful butterflies and dragonflies that consistently hung around.
So exhausted from living his best life.
For meals, I made scrambled eggs and Polish sausage for breakfast on our little propane stove and brewed up some Hiker's Brew Coffee* in our camping French press. Lunches were always snacks - veggies, fresh fruit, chips and pretzels with dip. B made really delicious steaks for dinner over the open fire with corn on the cob and grill packs that had potatoes and mushrooms in them.
Gorgeous evening sky.
While at times it can be hard to disconnect from everything that we are all bombarded with in our normal lives, being able to relax next to the fire after a morning of hiking and enjoy a great book, some delicious beer, and snacks was a great way to spend a weekend. The only downside (in my opinion) is the whole having to set up and take down a tent. B and I are considering getting a camper in the next few years to make the whole experience a little easier (and I also want a real toilet to use lol).