I went on my first solo overnight trip. I headed out on Monday around 9:30am which would normally take about one and a half hours to arrive to where I was planning on going. But I took two stops on the way. One to see if there could be a quick breakfast biscuit waiting for me at my parents office and to leave them a note where I was going, and the other was to pick up a few items, fill my water bottle with ice cold water, and use the bathroom with amenities. And I was back on the road.
I checked the weather for the area before I left and it called for a 30% chance on Monday and 60% chance on Tuesday for thunderstorms. I figured it would be alright and I would probably leave before any rain struck my area. When I got into the mountains, I could tell by the road that it had just rained and thought that finding some smaller pieces of wood might be a little hard, but still doable. I arrived to the parking area a little after noon.
I parked my car, sprayed on a little insect repellent, saddled up my pack, and off I went to one of the three national forests that junction there. About half a mile in, I noticed where a campground is. It had around 10 spots, some of which could accommodate large crowds, that had bear proof trash receptacles, places to hang your food high, lantern posts, a couple of picnic tables, and a lone restroom. It would be a great spot to have a regional meet-up. Everyone would have to hike in as it is not accessible by motor vehicles, but would be smooth enough to roll coolers to. It wasn’t really what I was looking for so I ventured onward.
I came across a couple of other places where people had previously set up camp along the river but I kept going. When I would come up to an area I would have liked to check out, there were always a couple already there. So onward I ventured till I found an awesome spot quite aways from everyone else. I was tired by now, so I took off my pack and overshirt, and took a nice long drink of water. It looked like a nice spot on the ground, but now to look up. Nope! This place wasn’t it! All around were dead trees and widow makers. Previous campers had chopped on the trees, effectively killing them. Two or three would have fallen straight where I would have set up my hammock and tarp. I grabbed my water bottle, and hiked on a little further.
I came across two girls and one guy and they started talking to me and asked if I had passed by a certain waterfall. No, it was on my list to go to, but I hadn’t passed and markers or trails for it. I asked them if there were any nice camping spots from where they came from and they said not for about another three miles. Argh! I went about another half mile past where I spoke to them and didn’t find anything, so I came to go back to the campground or see if any of the others had left.
I got back to where I left my pack and could tell my feet was starting to get blisters so I took off my socks and shoes to air them out a bit and took out a book I brought along and read for about 15 minutes. While I was inspecting my feet and feeling my socks for dampness, a butterfly flew right up and landed on my hand. How neat! It walked up and stuck out it mouthpiece and prodded my sock. I guess it didn’t like what it tasted because it shot something out that looked like pee on it. Just my luck to get peed on by a butterfly!
A little rested, I put my pack on and start heading back towards the campground. I came across one of the spots that previously held some campers. I checked it out and again, no good. Chops around the trees and effectively made widow makers. On to the next one and I scoped it out. It still had dead trees, but not as bad as the others. Tired, hot, and with sore feet, I decided to make this my camp.
(Continued...)
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