I went to Gettysburg on a camping trip with my best friend when we were younger and one of my fondest memories from that trip was rock climbing around Devil’s Den. While my kids have no interest in history yet, I’ve wanted to take them to Gettysburg to share in the experience of the local rock climbing and playing on the boulders….hopefully they could also learn something while we were there (wishful parent thinking). Kristen wasn’t able to make this trip due to conflicts, but my mom is always happy to come along and it was nice having the extra help with the kids. This was another short camping trip as Gettysburg is only about 1.5 hours from our house and there was no highway driving. Did I mention I like short non-eventful towing experiences! This was also a quick weekend trip, we drove up Friday afternoon and were back home mid-day on Sunday. There are a ton of campgrounds around Gettysburg, some cater to higher end and more amenities, some accommodate horses, and some are only open during certain seasons. We settled on Gettysburg campground because it was close to Devil’s Den and very reasonably priced for a weekend in May.
After getting set-up on Friday we took our time exploring the campground and playing in the nearby stream. It was rainy Friday night so we stayed in for dinner and called it an early night. The kids did great with being stuck in the camper, they spent some time on tablets, coloring/crafts, and playing cards and board games. On Saturday morning we made pancakes on the griddle, I learned how sensitive the heat settings are and that I have to use more oil than in a pan. After only one burnt pancake we had success and I was able to get the rest of the pancakes and sausage cooked without issue. The kids also checked out the crafts available at the camping rec center; they got to design and color their own campers out of paper cut-outs (very cute craft that we still have hanging in the camper) and colored a picture that was entered into the campground coloring contest. In the afternoon we headed around Gettysburg to checkout some of the local historic sites and planned on spending a few hours climbing on the rocks at Devil’s Den.
After driving around to some battlefields and covered bridges, we climbed a lookout tower and I was able to explain some of the battles to the girls. While I know they weren’t really interested, they did a great job of pretending and humoring me. From the lookout tower we could see into MD (Catoctin Mountain) and some other nearby mountains.
Since I had been talking to Hope about being able to play on the rocks and climb through the crevices, I was a little concerned that it wouldn’t live up to my expectations. I was also worried that it would have been regulated more and maybe we wouldn’t be able to play on the rocks at all. My concerns turned out to be completely unfounded and the kids played on the rocks at Devil’s Den for several hours. They loved it so much that they asked to come back again Sunday morning before we checked out of the campground!
This is Hope talking and I enjoyed playing on the rocks so much. It was very fun climbing in all the cracks and exploring, there was one spot that I wanted to get to but didn’t know how to get there so I ended up climbing the side of the cliff to get up. it was a great experience over all and I liked the rock that was a natural slide, that was fun! I had so much fun and I want to go back.
After playing hard all afternoon, we decided on candy/ice cream in downtown Gettysburg, Goose Bros ice cream at Baltimore Hill Creamery was delicious…I got “Axle Grease” flavor and it did not disappoint! While we were walking around town we received a call from the campground, they wanted to let the girls know that they had won the coloring contest and they had goodie bags waiting for them in the camp store. I’m pretty sure everyone won something, but it was super cute and the girls enjoyed the extra little toys and candy. We ended the night with carryout from Clementina’s Pizzeria, building a campfire, and playing in the dirt 🙂
