Here we are in April and almost at the end of our winter camping season for 2017! March is over now and it was an awesome month with a lot of time camping at Valens! This winter we didn’t have any long weekends to spend at Valens due to my work schedule, so we kind of made our own long weekend during the middle of March. In total, we had three weekends at Valens and some extra days this past month.

The weather really wasn’t too bad considering it was March the month of unpredictability for weather. I watched Spring progress slowly over the course of the month and by early April, the moss was green, pussy willows were budding, frogs were croaking and the first wildflowers were sprouting in the forest. I spent a lot of time hiking during our trips to Valens and have some wonderful photos of the park to share!

The second weekend of March I spent a few extra days at Valens and Dave commuted. My beautiful friend of many, many years joined me for a few days and we had a blast. More hiking, lot’s of coffee and catching up on things! We enjoyed a campfire and headed into Freelton to the Antique Mall to peruse the merchandise. It was the first visit for both of us and we were surprised at the size of the place and the large assortment of items for sale. The prices didn’t seem to bad either. If you’re in the area, I’d make it a point to visit. Here’s a link to their website: http://freeltonantiquemall.com/ We also visited a little bakery in Freelton as well, but their supply of freshly baked goods was quite low by the time we got there in mid-afternoon. I can say the rye bread I bought was exceptionally tasty, but that was all I tried. A visit earlier in the day might offer a little more variety. They don’t have a website, but they are on Facebook. Look up “Bakers Corner” if you’re interested.

Our time together seemed to go so fast and it wasn’t long before Cindy had to leave. Dave and I had a quiet weekend together and enjoyed the almost Spring like weather! Here are some photos of our hikes and yes, there was snow on the ground!

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Our final weekend of March was as usual also a wonderful time out. The weather didn’t look too promising with rain most of the day Saturday, but it turned out not so bad. We were the only ones at the campground likely due to the weather. Campfires were a no go because of the rain, but we still had a great time away. The best part of this weekend was that we FINALLY got our fresh water system working! We found the issues and fixed them on our own. Yay to showers and hot water!!! 🙂 🙂 As usual, I spent a lot of time hiking around the park. The snow had been washed away by all the rain and Spring was starting to peak through the woods!