STANDING STONE STATE PARK

For our annual Autumn Equinox camping trip this year, we decided to visit a new (to us) state park - Standing Stone State Park. We have hiked in the general area before, but we had never been to this state park. It is located in Hilham, TN, which is the North-East-ish portion of Middle Tennessee on the Cumberland Plateau - about a two hour drive from Nashville.

When camping with a toddler, you have to ponder many factors. Naman is in his wandering phase, so we chose Standing Stone because 1. No water nearby, and 2. The campground is a fairly contained loop. When deciding on our campsites, we chose the center of the loop to be away from poison ivy (our guy loves to chew on some leaves) and with a bit of open space to appease his wandering feet. We first chose Site 34. When we arrived, it was a lovely site - close to a gazebo area, plenty of area to wander and roam. However, on the drive in to the site, we saw a different site that looked much better (site 21) - closer to the bathrooms, HAD A SWING, and a bit further away from the volleyball sandpit than site 34. We checked with the campground office, and they allowed us to witch sites - woohoo!

Setting up a campsite with a toddler is not easy - phew! Divide and conquer was our motto. Vinay set up the tent on his own while I followed the little guy all over the campground. You may be thinking “Why didn’t you bring a playpen?” Naman wouldn’t be having that. He would live outside 100% of the time if he could, so putting him in a small fenced in area when we first arrived would not have worked - at least… not pleasantly.

For dinner - we knew we needed to do something low prep, so we packed Panera macaroni and cheese in aluminum containers to heat up over the fire, along with fresh fruit and vegetables. The next morning, we made another fire to heat up some cinnamon rolls, packed up the tent, and headed to the Standing Stone Lake Trail for a quick hike.

Standing Stone State Park is a great spot to camp with littles ones (or for newbie campers too)! The amenities are close by, there are playgrounds, and it’s just a lovely, cozy spot to visit!