Mysteries of Delight ~ Camping In An Ancient Forest

 Doesn't everyone love to go camping with family ? We do . Every year we camp with family, and sometimes friends, in Iron Creek Campground. This campground is in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest near the small town of Randall, WA . This campground is in a rain forest ( allowing us to have campfires in the midst of red alert fire danger throughout most of our state ) and offered a cool respite from the extreme high temps we've been experiencing at our place since May. Look at the size of the trees in the picture above. 2 of my grandchildren posed for me to offer a better perspective of the size of this trio of trees. These trees are babies compared to many of the trees in this ancient forest, many giants over 900 years old are still towering over the campgrounds and the Cispus River the campgrounds overlook.

 The stump in the middle of this picture is taller than an average man. Humbling to be in the midst of these ancient giants, and  awesome in the true definition of the word.

 My husband took a hike along the river paths with the grandchildren and they discovered this little fairy hidden in a tree. They took her out and found a note attached to her that said "read me".

 This is the note they unfolded and read. They then refolded and reattached the note to the fairy and hid her somewhere else. Wonder who was so creative to hide a simple plastic fairy with a special note for the enjoyment of people they will never meet. Wonder who will find her and what they will do ? A mystery.

 We arrived at the campgrounds early on a Thursday and discovered this campsite was inhabited by fairies ? Well, not fairies , but campers who seemed to have enjoyed a lot of time turning a very large stump into a miniature village. The picture does not do this little village justice, there were so many details in the many little shelters and dwellings showing a great deal of creativity and many hours of work. Do you think the people who built this little fairy village were the people who left the fairy hidden in the tree ? A mystery.

 Close-up of one tiny shelter on the stump.

 We were amazed and delighted to discover the river beach was awash in tiny and large stone towers.

 MANY stone towers and piles. At least a hundred stone towers and piles. Who made these ? One busy group of people, or many ? A mystery.

 Another picture to offer a bit of perspective.( Grandson did not build this , but he built a few tiny towers of his own .)

 I discovered as the days went by that every time we went to the beach we all built at least 1 stone tower and other campers did too. So I think someone ( or a few someones) built a few stone towers and pillars, then anyone visiting the beach felt the need to build their own. Just my theory, but this is still a mystery.

 Daughter's children dutifully posed for the obligatory picture by the river . Thank-you !

We don't know who hid the fairy, built the fairy village, or made the original stone piles on the river beach. But these are all mysteries of delight we will add to another year of family camping memories at Iron Creek Campground .