Battle Ground Lake camping trip, 8-9 July 2018

It’s July, and I’ve only been camping (bike or otherwise) once in 2018. This is quite the drought for me, by now I’d usually have somewhere between four and six trips under my belt. The only way to remedy that is by camping! I had Sunday and Monday off, and so did Emee, so we decided to hit up something local: Battle Ground Lake State Park across the Columbia River in Clark County, Washington.

Battle Ground Lake is probably my favorite close by camping destination, and the amount of times I’ve been there over the years definitely proves it. There’s good reason: it’s 25 miles from my house, short enough to be an afternoon option, yet far enough that it feels like “a ride”. And I don’t even have to use light rail, unlike some of the other close/easy options. The ride is okay, there are services right before the park, the sites are in a shady forest, and there is a lake for swimming!

It was a brutal Saturday for me, so I didn’t end up packing for the trip until Sunday morning, which meant we didn’t leave until mid-afternoon. It was already pretty toasty (the high reached 87F/30C), so we made sure to take a good break about halfway to enjoy some tasty beer and pizza at Brothers Cascadia Brewing and pizza cart (La Sorrentino). The ride was pretty shady but it was still hot, so we felt pickled when we finally rolled into camp around six. The cold lake was tempting, but it was still teeming with children. And Emee promptly crashed for a bit. By the time she woke up, it was almost dark so we had a perfunctory dinner and went down to the lake to look at stars.

Monday morning started out the opposite of Sunday: cool and cloudy. It was even slightly drizzly, which was a surprise, especially since we decided to eschew the rain fly due to the warmth. (Thankfully, the thick tree canopy prevented the tent from getting wet.) We made some breakfast, and moseyed on back home, hitting up a brewery in Vancouver for lunch.

It was a good li’l trip, but it reminded me that I’m a bit out of shape when it comes to this bike camp/tour thing. I really need to do more, and soon. But for now, Battle Ground Lake provided a little taste…