Solo Camping

A few years ago a friend of mine mentioned solo camping and I have had it on my to-do list ever since. Now, I'm not talking about hiking in and camping all alone in the woods; these are baby steps I'm taking! The first thing on the agenda is just having the courage to camp alone in a park with others nearby. You know, this shouldn't be something that is scary but the media hypes every case of every woman that has gone hiking alone and something tragic has happened. So when this weekend came around I decided to finally put some fears behind me and bite the bullet. And you know what, it wasn't scary at all. I would describe the experience as tranquil and calm but that could have to do with my camping location, the Florida Keys.

My little campsite was snug in a grove of Sea Grapes. I camped in the Sandspur area of Bahia Honda State Park. This is a great campsite. Almost every site has an ocean view (mine is seen below) and since it's non-electric you don't have to worry about RVs. There is also a height restriction due to the vegetation so the 20 or so campsites are mostly tents and only one car is allowed at each site. The weather was perfect, just enough breeze to keep the no-see-ums (sand gnats) and mosquitoes away but not so much that I worried about pegging the tent down. The lows of the night hit the 70s so it was comfortable and cool as I easily drifted off to sleep under my tent's screened roof with a beautiful starry sky overhead.

Tomorrow I will re-cap the highlights of the whole Keys experience including my great life birds. Needless to say, my solo camping experience was a success but I still prefer camping with my friends. There's nothing like sitting around a campfire and swapping stories of the day or debating world issues. Who knows, this may not be my last solo camping but if it is, it was a great one.