Well, my adventure began early, on the way to this hang, and ended early. Still, it included a Friday night under the stars, surrounded by dear friends around the campfire. Beautiful clear skies, 70's daytime, 50's nighttime.
The adventure began with my car overheating after traveling 175 miles with only 25 to go. Parked on the shoulder of a 2-lane country road, I called O-boy, who I knew would be on the same route as me. After telling him where I broke down, to my delight, he said he was only 20 minutes behind me! He took me to buy coolant & by the time we returned to my car, the engine had cooled. With fresh coolant, O-boy followed me the hang, with no further problems.
My trip included only the first night, spent about a mile from the trailhead. I had gotten a head cold earlier in the week. Still recovering, I didn't want chance the long hike of Sat/Sun & get sick again.
But that one night with friends was more than worth the 400 mile round trip. And to think I almost didn't make it if it hadn't been for O-boy coming to my rescue.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Reply With Quote
We salvaged, what water was left and ate our lunch. As the others, were still eating, Birdiesgirl and I, began the last leg of the hike. We ended up at camp third and fourth, as emcee and jimj, had arrived ahead of us. The rest showed up, shortly after, minus Big_country. It seems, at a turn in the trail, he kept walking, down the road. The 5 gallon water stash, at the camp, was intact, even though there was propel, packed in with it too. However, with the large group, we thought it best, to go retrieve more water from Blue Sink pond. So, emcee,craigc,jimj and myself, set off for water duty. We made it a group effort, filling bags and sifting duck weed, from the water. The baby gators, were present, but no sign of momma gator. We have deduced, that she has already abandoned them. As we arrived back at camp, Big_country, had arrived, to complete the group. Saturday night, was spent around camp, in sort of mellow conversation, with a few laughs mixed in. We were all pretty tired and I think, we were all in the hammocks, by 10pm. Big_country and myself, decided we were going to try and hit the trail, at daylight, this morning. So, my clock was set for 5am. I had to water the bushes, at 4:15am, this morning and it was apparent, with the owls hollering, that I was not going to get another 45 minutes sleep. I sat in my hammock, just enjoying the sounds, for about 20 minutes. I decided, I would go ahead and pack up and get it out of the way. By 5am, I was all packed and headed for the picnic table, for my coffee. Big_country awoke at 5:30 and the two of us, sat there, enjoying our coffee and the stars. This is my favorite part of camping. That time of the morning, just before sunrise. The peacefulness of the woods, at that time, is food for my soul. Well, Big_country, Birdiesgirl and myself, headed off, down the trail, just before 8am. It was a beautiful hike and when we reached the last water cache, it was intact. We didn't need a lot, but topped off our bottles. We arrived at the fire tower around 10;30am and decided to hang out and wait for the others. We said goodbyes and another successful trip, was in the books. This group, has become very special. We are comfortable enough, with one another, that we can pick at each other and just laugh it off. You guys are some of the best people I know!
Bookmarks