Uravan Ballpark Campground

We came off the Rimrocker trail and spent a night here. The river was high and fast, but we still managed to enjoy ourselves in it, with caution! This campground is amazing! They're slowly working on making it a spot that is comfortable and welcoming. New shade trees have been planted, tons of space. Limited spots right along the river, but they were great. Some had shade shelters with tables, some were simply shades by trees. Fire pits and wood were provided. There were outhouses available and they were hands down, some of the cleanest that I had ever experienced. They are really making an effort. It's voluntary donation, instead of required camp fees. Donate! Night was amazing. Wide open skies, bats flitting around, stars covering the sky, and fireflies flickering all around us. I will definitely try to make it back to this spot. The camp hosts were very friendly and informative, and at the kiosk, there are a plethora of informational pamphlets available for the surrounding areas and sights to see.

**Campground Review: **

We wanted to give this campground another shot and we are glad we did. I decided to ride my bike to the campground to give a go of a little tour training. So I rolled in early afternoon and I only saw one other camper. It was otherwise very empty which meant pick of sites was available. The entire campground is free and it used to be an old ball park back in the day. I decided to set up camp in a different spot this time, right on the river, which is flowing really fast right now. It's been a bit more developed since our last stay. Almost every site either has trees as shade or a shade shelter. Which is nice because it does get hot. Even though we had a cool evening, the afternoon sun was lovely! 

Our tent was still very wet from our previous nights stay someplace else so the sun did quick work to dry off the fly. While our site was shaded, there was still sun to be had if you wanted the warmth or maybe a little vitamin D. I also set our tent up in the sun to let it warm up a little and to ensure it was dry for our evenings stay, which it was. 

Right off our site were some little stairs that led right down to the river, so I imagine if you wanted to launch a boat from there you certainly could. But you may want to anchor it down first as the river is moving so fast, I imagine you boat could be gone before you know it! There was a lovely bench that was carved out of a tree, nice little addition to the view of the river. You could sit and enjoy the scenery. Most sites had some sort of a bench that allowed you to sit and watch the river, I imagine if you wanted to fish from them you could do that too.

Overall, our second stay, about a year later, was a better visit and we enjoyed it a lot more. This one is worth checking out.

Product Review:

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time - today I am testing Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier. So I've always been a little skeptical of these types of products as an athlete. We get pitched a lot of different products that are supposed to improve our performance or reduce recovery time or make you more flexible. I've heard it all. Liquid I.V. says that drinking one bottle of water with this in it is the same as drinking three bottles of water. This sounds amazing, especially for my son who struggles to drink a single bottle of water and gets horribly sick when dehydrated. First things first, taste, I got the multi pack which had three flavors and the only flavor I really couldn't get down was the lemon lime. The others both tasted great and were easy to drink. I did find that I prefer them in 20 oz of water rather then 16 oz. I like the flavor better a little more diluted. So except for the lemon lime, taste gets a thumbs up. Ease of use, the packages can be a little tricky. They do have a perforated edge to help get them open but it only goes halfway and I've had a few troubles getting the rest off, so I just pull out my pocket knife to get the job done. The package is the perfect size to pour in to the water bottle without making a mess. As far as the hydration side, I think I'd have to do a more lengthy test with it, which often involves a blind taste test, which would be tricky due to flavor. I know my headache I had after biking went away fairly quickly, for now I'll chalk it up to the Liquid I.V. I put in. I have not been able to get my son to finish a bottle of it yet to really see if it improves his issues or not. Nutritionally, there's a bit of sugar, which probably contributes to the taste, although it states there aren't any artificial sweeteners in it. There is actually a considerably larger amount of sodium in it but when exerting energy in the heat, you often need sodium to help replenish what's been lost. It isn't' something you would want to drink just as a drink, but should work great when exercising. I look forward to more testing with Liquid I.V. to really see if the technology works.

At first glance this place looks nice. Pull in to a flag pole overlooking a big field, where there used to be a ballpark. Short drive down and you find a number of dispersed camp sites. Two immaculate pit toilets. All the sites had picnic tables and fire pits along with grills. Ample trees for hammocks and plenty of space for tents. A huge field that looked great to play ball or throw a frisbee....

The field was crawling with ants, our dogs were getting eaten alive and they were crawling up our legs. It was insane. We retreated back to our campsite where there were fewer ants but they still existed. We built our fire and ate dinner but headed to the tents fairly early to avoid the bugs.

We did come back out to view the amazing night sky. Lightning throughout the valley and stars galore. The flag pole is lit at night so that is pretty cool too.

There is the road that is just at the top of the hill but typically it doesn't see a lot of traffic, there were maybe one or two cars every hour or so. Not bothersome but while doing night photography, the light did throw some pictures off a bit.

Maybe when it's cooler, the ants will be fewer, might try again during a different season.