Campground Review: Poopy Water and Good Times at the Walk-in Sites

We've stayed several times at Battle Ground State Park before in their regular camp sites, but this is the first time we've ever tried out the walk-ins, which were all-in-all pretty fun. Just $12/night including parking, we showed up at about 3 pm on a Sunday in the middle of the summer to find four open camp sites. Once we selected our spot, we paid in the main office and started making multiple trips back and forth to our site (we way over packed). Camp sites varied greatly. Some were level, some had slight views of the lake, while others were tiny and back in the woods with crazy slopes. Definitely worth it to check out the sites in person if possible. Our site (#44) was definitely one of the good ones. The furthest site back from the parking lot is .4 miles, and we were about 4 1/2 minutes from the parking lot, so honestly not too bad if you're taking 2-4 trips.

When we arrived we were notified that the lake wasn't closed, but was under a beach warning for elevated levels of bacteria (poopy water). We decided to go swimming anyway along with 100 or so other people. I've heard this happens often in August , so if you don't want to swim in fecal matter, definitely call first since there were no warnings listed on the website.

Pros:

Tiny beach, nice swimming area, beautiful water and tree-filled camp sites

Cons (besides the poopy water):

We had some loud, annoying neighbors several sites over and there didn't seem to be anyone at night keeping people quiet, but they eventually went to sleep.

Gear Review: Gregory Maven 35

As part of the dyrt ranger program, I was super excited to pick out a Gregory backpack to review, so when my new Gregory Maven 35 showed up on a Thursday, we decided to take it for a spin that weekend. We're normally car campers with way too much stuff, but with the Maven 35 I wanted to test its capacity and comfort on the walk-in sites at Battle Ground State Park. While the site was just 4/10 of a mile or so from the parking lot, we had to make so many trips back and forth that we covered 7 miles total in 24 hours with the pack stuffed full of all kinds of random food, clothes, and camping gear.

First Impressions:

I chose the Maven 35 because it's small enough to do double duty as an airplane carry-on, but large enough for a 1-3 day hiking/camping trip. But when the bag first arrived I was worried that it wouldn't hold very much. There's one main compartment with access from top and bottom, plus two zip pockets on top and a stuff sack on the outside (plus spaces for water bottles, sun glasses, hip pockets, etc.), but in general at first glace it looked too small to hold enough for a multi-day trip. Some of the adjustable features threw me for a loop as well. For example, you can move the pack up and down for back size, but the adjustment seemed way too easy (with velcro) and I was dubious it would really fit correctly.

Seven Miles Later:

Man I love this pack! All my worries quickly went away as soon as I started actually using it. We hauled absolutely everything strapped on all kinds of crazy ways and shoved in every possible space, and the Gregory Maven held up. Most trips I averaged 30 or so pounds of gear and it felt like nothing. I slept well that night and did it all again the next day with no worries or complaints. It holds way more than I ever thought it would (see the video with this review) and the various straps add even more to the capacity.

Room for Improvement:

Overall this is an amazing backpack. I plan to take it out several more times in the next month and will write up further impressions, but so far, it has exceeded all my expectations. There's a few things I'm still getting used to. For example, the pinch/pull straps where you tighten the top of the bag are so far super-easy to close but I struggle with easily opening them. I also am not so sure about the separate rain cover that comes with the bag. It seems like it takes up a lot of room, but I'm also excited to test it out and see how it works. These are fairly tiny questions though that are mostly about getting used to the pack. So far, it's pretty perfect.