Eagle Creek, 6/29/10

Before spending 10 days traveling with the fam from Cleveland to NYC, we squeezed in a quick backpacking trip for some fresh air, exercise and solitude. We chose Eagle Creek because it's close to town, and since it was mid-week, the very popular spot would be less crowded (we thought).
We hiked to our favorite camping spot with a private swimming hole but found it already full of tents. We passed more and more claimed spots, and I was beginning to get nervous. But then we arrived at the official 7 1/2-Mile Camp and saw several openings in the forest. We chose one and set up camp. Brad went down to the creek for water and came back excited that he'd found a better spot. So we picked up our already-set up tent and marched it through the woods, across a stream and up a small ravine to our new perfect spot.

I started reading and Brad went to experiment with his camera.
Rodents apparently found their way into our vestibule in the night and left some surprises for us. Something chewed up my Camelbak hose and pooped on my Nalgene bottle:
and pooped in my boot:
It (or they) also chewed on our water filter hose and the handle on Brad's trekking poles:
After recovering from the shock of our overnight visitors, we had breakfast, I finished my book and Brad took more photos.
It was a wonderful getaway before our East Coast road trip :)