A Mom and Daughter Camping Adventure: The Departure

Exploring the rocky bank of Wild River

I woke up suddenly, from what I thought was a dream. A dream that something was rustling through our camp site while we slept. It was dark, and I reached over in the stillness of our tent to feel that Mia was snuggled safely into her sleeping bag. I reached above my head to grab my cell phone out of the tent pocket to check the time. The light of the screen was bright when I clicked it on, and as soon as the tent was illuminated by it’s bright blue glow, I heard something outside of the tent bustle into the bushes.

Was it a deer, or maybe just a nosey raccoon? I wasn’t sure. The only thing that I was sure of was that my “dream” was actually my protective momma bear sense working, as always, in high gear. It’s doubtful that the animal would have bothered our tent anyways, so the fact that it had happened upon us (whatever it was) bothered me very little.

I looked at my phone again to actually look at the clock this time, to find that it was merely two o’clock in the morning. I put the phone back in the tent pocket, and rolled over snuggling in close to my little girl. She moved slightly as I wrapped my arm around her, and soon I was back in a deep, comfortable sleep.

When daylight broke, Mia was in a great and smiling mood. She was again in no hurry to get out of the tent. Instead, she wanted me to play funny faces with her. She laughed so hard and so loudly, that I think our nearby camping neighbors could hear her. Mia was, as she had been all weekend, happy to be here.

Soon we were out of the tent, and I was getting breakfast prepared. Pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon were on the menu. As I got the the materials ready to prepare our feast, Mia made friends with a little boy from a couple of campsites down. He had ridden his bicycle down from his site, to see if he could play with Mia. She and him were the only kids in the Hastings Campground this weekend. It struck me as odd that there were no other kids here. After all, camping was introduced to me as a kid, and always as a family affair. 



Mia was giggling at him with her flirty smirk, and kept running up to him to make eye contact with him. Her way of interacting. I watched as he rode around talking to her, showing her the different parts of his bike, and ringing his bell at her. She ran around with him and watched intently his every move. It was so nice to see this level of interaction from Mia. This was the kid, who not long ago, seemed to be unaware of anyone’s presence. Let alone that of another child. And here she was, attempting to be social despite her lack of verbal language. The boy didn’t seem to mind that Mia had not said a word to him, and kept Mia company until breakfast was ready.

Mia found a coyote track! 

After we ate, we cleaned up our cook wear, packed up the sleeping bags, tent, chairs and more, and bid Mia’s new friend goodbye. It was the final day of our camping adventure, and though I was sad to see our time out here come to an end, I was glad that we got to experience this adventure together.

Before we left the White Mountain National Forest, I brought Mia down to the river to show her the ropes of fly fishing. I knew of a section that offered a sandy beach, with rocks that would be safe for Mia to climb on. In the happenstance that she didn’t want to fish anymore, I always look for opportunities that can further her outdoor time.

As we walked through the woods to get to the river, we crossed a small brook that was just slightly wet. Barely wet enough to offer us some mud to play in. Mia noticed this in an instant and quickly started kicking the mud in my direction, laughing at the same time. Again, another initiation of not only social interaction, but play as well!

When we got to the sand bar, I looked at the ground as I walked in hopes that I might see a track or two. Mia had walked to another spot in the stand, and was standing there, looking at the ground. I thought maybe she had come across a bug of some sort that had caught her eye. But instead, I found that she was looking at a track! Over the years, Mia has seen me stop to look at different tracks on our ventures through the woods, and I’m thinking that this is a sign that she had indeed been noticing them as I pointed them out to her.

I set up the fly rod, tied on a fly, and introduced Mia to this fun way of fishing. Mia watched as the fly rod moved back and forth above her head. She kept her hand on the rod as I helped her cast the fly out. When we let the fly land on the water, she lost sight of it, and let go of the rod. So I brought it back up out of the water to entice her again with the motion of casting. She was immersed in the sight of our bright green line flying about, and we cast like this for at least fifteen minutes before she wanted to climb amongst the rocks.

After we finished our track sighting, and fly casting morning, Mia and I headed back into the normal of daily life. We had a great weekend together out in the wild, sharing quality time and making these memories! I am elated at how well Mia did all weekend here. Just another sure sign that she is making progress in finding her way “out of the woods” of Autism!