Camping at Pocahontas State Park-I Regret Some Life Choices

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Camping at Pocahontas State Park

Pocahontas State Park

6/7 stars for Pocahontas State Park

We visited Pocahontas State Park for a smol weekend getaway in May, mainly to continue getting Mabel used to camping. Mabel is pretty much scared of everything, so camping ultimately may not be a good fit for her, but we are giving it the ol' college try, anyway. Since this park was, on paper, not too far from the house, we chose it as Mabel's 3rd Great Camping Adventure (Smallwood State Park in Maryland being the first and Big Run State Park being the 2nd.)

As every person in the state of Virginia learns as soon as they move here, though, anytime the GPS says that something is "1.5 hours south on 95," it actually means: "This trip will take 3 hours, sucker." So, sure enough, our drive down to Chesterfield, VA on Saturday morning was a 2-hour-and-40-minute hot, trafficky affair. I was towing the Aliner with the 4Runner and had Porter and Gussie in my backseat, and Chris was in his car with Cheeze and Mabel, serving as the caboose to our caravan. (We can't all fit in the 4Runner, so any family trip at this point requires two cars. If anyone wants to give me a free Sequoia, my phone number is 5-1-6....)

The boys on their Yeti blanket

BUT, as it usually goes, we felt a lot better about the traffic when we pulled into the park. As you can see in the picture above (Cheeze and Porter), we lucked out with a cool spot next to a field with no neighbors behind us, next to us (no shows), or across from us (woods). This was completely on accident as my way of picking campsites is just to book whatever is open at the last minute when I decide that NOW I WOULD LIKE TO GO CAMPING.

Once we got the camper backed in and set up, we took a walk to get a lay of the land. The hiking trailhead was just a few camps down from us and the path was wide and flat (ish) with lots of room for us to bail off the trail if we needed to make room for other dogs coming our way. We explored a kayaking area, a bridge, a field and lots of trees before bedding down for our afternoon siesta. Happy. Happy. Happy.

Everyone loading into the camper to get ready for siesta time.

In the evening, we took them on a walk around the campground so that the dogs could smell some different smells and so that we could be nosy and look at everyone's RV setups.

At night, we all sat around the fire in our camp chairs and enjoyed the stars. Mabel was feeling tired and, along with Porter, put herself back in the camper, as she had been doing on and off for the evening.

Mabel put herself in the camper.

By the next morning, I was feeling pretty good and not stressed out, unlike our past few camping attempts with the 4th dog. In mid-2023, we had just been getting the hang of camping with three dogs--like we were jusssssssssssst on the verge of the trips tipping from stressful to fun as the dogs understood what camping was and how to behave--but now, we had a 4th oops baby that we had picked up off street. She was scared of the world and our two previous camping trips with her had not gone well. Even the one trip where we tried to leave her home and had not gone well. (She was upset and stressed and diarrhea-d all over her crate to the chagrin of the roommate who had volunteered to watch her.)

So here we were with this pack of 4 dogs that kind of made it so that I was dreading each excursion. But I also knew that if we wanted our trips to get better, we had to get out there and keep practicing. Our goals were (and are) to continue to build up Mabel's confidence, and to continue building up our pack management skills so that camping is fun again.

All of this to say: This is is why I had been feeling good that Sunday morning. We had made it almost 24-hours without incident. No one woke us up with diarrhea in the middle of the night. No one barked incessantly. The trailer battery did not die. None of the dogs had a meltdown when another dog walked by our campsite. We all actually slept. I was feeling hopeful, like mayyybeeee we CAN camp and travel with all these dogs and see new things and get outside together and it won't always be a disaster.

I sure spoke too soon for all of that. Towards the end of our nice Sunday morning walk, where we had hiked up to a little corner where you could spot one the of the lakes in the park, an off-leash pit bull came sprinting down the path and straight into the pack of 3 dogs that I was walking. This dog was not leashed and was wearing an e-collar that was either not turned on or that she was fully ignoring. She also ignored her owner trying to recall her. None of my dogs like other dogs, so they immediately started barking and getting fired up and going totally nuts as she ran straight towards us at full speed. When she got to us, she ran around us in a circle barking. I got tangled in the leashes since my dogs were mirroring her circles. My ankles got tied up in the leashes and I fell as gracefully as I could, making sure to cover my head and hang on to all of my dogs' leashes. Finally, the dog's owner ran over and pancaked his dog to get her under control. Luckily, Chris was way behind me with Mabel (who is highly dog reactive), and the dog did not get to her.

No one was hurt in the tussle-it was mostly a lot of barking and showboating- but there went my confidence.

The trip was ruined after this, as Porter started drooling and stressing, and I was also shaken, as we were really trying to get Mabel out into the world while still giving her a lot of space from other dogs and this was a close call. And then the vibe just kind of crumbled from there.

To continue the downward streak, getting home was no easy feat. The Sunday traffic on 95 North was stop and go most of the way, and my air conditioning went out while we were in a dead stop. At this point, as Cheeze, Mabel, and I were just sitting there with no air-conditioning and no breeze, Cheeze expressed his anals so that I could have the added pleasure of wanting to throw up in the cloud the garbage fish smell that just came out of his ass. This was just what I needed as I was questioning my old car and my financial decisions and my life choices and my 600 dogs.

Still, once we finally made it home, I was glad that we had made a go for it...Just kidding. I was annoyed that we had spent almost as much time in traffic as we had at the campground, and I was wondering about how I was supposed to get Mabel to be calm about other dogs if, every time we tried take her out to observe the world, we were accosted by an off-leash dog that terrified her (even if the dog is friendly).

My thoughts spiraled downward and went straight into the trash for awhile until I got tired of my self-flagellation and ended the spiral with an emphatic "I am an idiot."

I had enough awareness to see that these thoughts were not helpful to keep circling through. What made me feel better was, instead, to think of any small, concrete step I could take next to reach my goal of taking my dogs on adventures with us, while also keeping everyone safe and happy.

After this trip, I realized that off-leash dogs were a fact of life and that I would have to armor Mabel against freaking out when faced with another dog running straight at her. She would have to be able to handle this reality if I wanted her to come out into the world with us. I cannot control anyone else and I cannot do anything about other people who have their dogs off leash. I am big target with 4 dogs, and other dogs will notice us. Other dogs will also run at us. These are just the facts I have to accept every time we talk out the front door with Mabel, and the things I need to focus on in her training. Period.

Moving forward, I do not really know if Mabel will be able to do too many outdoorsy things. It depends on how training goes. It also may be the case that we will just have to find her a nice babysitter and she will need to stay home while the rest of us venture. This is a sad thought for me but may ultimately be the best solution for her. Only time will tell.

Please follow along @spotsandbrindle if you would like to watch our progress (or lack thereof).

In sum, we did not have a great first trip with the dogs at Pocahontas State Park, but if/when I have the time, I'd like to give it another visit.

Pocahontas State Park: 6/7

	Car camping accessible
	Decent space at site
	6-8 ft. wide/emptyish walking trails accessible from campground.
	Rangers enforcing leash requirements.
	Site cleaned prior to arrival.
	Quiet/lack of busyness
	Fire pit on site

----------------Favorite Products From This Trip--------------

At least we had some fun, new toys to try for this trip.

Yeti Lowlands Blanket	YETI French Press
The dogs' aunt (who spoils them) bought them this luxury YETI Lowlands Blanket . At first we were like "we're not packing another thing," but after we saw that the dogs liked it and that the water and dirt rolled off of it, we decided that it had earned its space in the camper.	My husband bought this YETI French Press after years of powered coffee. Again, I was like "I'm not packing more stuff! What is wrong with powdered coffee?" Since taking two hours to drink our coffee is one of the best things about camping, though, he figured it would be a worthwhile investment and I changed my mind pretty quickly after the first sip.