8-31-2008 - Waterbury, VT. - Little River State Park is a beautiful place to enjoy the outdoors. Located on the Waterbury Reservoir, a man made lake resulting from the damming of the Little River, the park offers a hundred campsites, swimming, boating, and hiking. Originally the settled in the 1700's by subsistance farmers, the remains of former homesteads and sawmills are visible from several of the hiking trails.

I stayed the last week in August there with my family and we greatly enjoyed our time. Nightly low temperatures ranged from 45 degrees the first night to 55 degrees the last. Every night was clear except one, when we had a little rain. We simply moved our tent into the lean-to (pic at right) so even the tent stayed dry.

One of the things that we found most pleasing about the park was the restrooms. Of course, tent camping out AND having a hot shower every day might not be exactly "roughing it", but for us it made the experience that much more comfortable.

I had more than one occasion to make a wee hours wee wee trip to this bathroom. Since we enjoyed nearly perfect weather, I was treated to a breath taking sky full of stars. The Milky Way was plainly visible.

Once on the way back an owl screeched at me from a nearby tree - a startling sound at 330am, let me tell you!

Of course, one of the highlights of any trip to the bathroom in the campground at night might entail an encounter with one of these critters - good old daddy longlegs. I thought this specimen particularly resplendant as he hung out in a most relaxed manner on the tile wall. They also like to hang out on your tent and make a bee line for the door every time you zipper it open, so watch out. I think they would make an uncomfortable bed partner.

Given the number of them one sees in the bathroom or on the tent, there must be thousands of them, but you never really see them until they are on a contrasting surface.

Cute, isn't he?

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