I've been camping! Yes, I grabbed my gear and set off to Clark State Forest, for a SOLO CAMPING TRIP!
For some reason, I have a high solitude need. I don't do anything spectacular, it's not a big spiritual thing, I get no profound insights. I just need to be alone sometimes--I get grouchy when there is too long a stretch with other people. I wish I could say I did great and spiritual things out there, but I don't. It's not some kind of venture into the Eremetical Life, it's closer to pure selfishness.
I can't really even account for the time I spend like that. It's mostly just a time to get my head centered and take a deep psychological breath. I do read, but usually it's just simple cheap fiction. No big deal.
This trip was nice (I got back Saturday afternoon) with some interesting natural phenomena to observe and experience. I'll share with you.
The first part of the trip was very warm, hot really, for March, with highs in the mid 80s. Lots of sunshine. The woods were greening up nicely, about a month early, with the redbuds in full bloom, the understory leafing out and wildflowers sprouting everywhere. Bird life was abundant, as they return from their wintering grounds. I saw everything from non-descript little tweeting birds to a heron. I saw hawks and heard owls. The whippoorwills aren't out yet. The pilated Woodpeckers have started their territorial drumming, and I even heard a scarlet eyed viriol--about two months early!
Yes the bird life was something I experienced. Actually, I experienced it in a very personal way, as I made coffee Thursday Morning, and a high flying perching bird--species not determined--crapped on my head. The bird was high enough that at first I thought I had been hit by a late dropping acorn, until I put my fingers to the point of impact. Not an Acorn.
But the weather was the kind that makes for good memorable camping trips. In the 80s for a couple of days, with bright sunshine, and cool nights, so that the sleeping bag was a welcome comfort, and the breeze through the mesh of my tent was somehow luxurious as I slept. This area was hit hard by the storms and tornadoes of 2 March, so fire wood was abundant in the form of dead fall and storm downed trees.
That made for great "Campers TV"--where you sit reflectively by the fire, watching it burn down, timing bed time with the moment when the last of the flames flicker out and the fire becomes a softly glowing bed of coals in the night. Being out of town also made the stars so beautiful! With the loom of Louisville extending over our house, we see only a few stars, the very brightest, but in the woods one can see all of them, so lovely, like jewels across the sky.
Except for Thursday. Every camping trip needs an element of adventure, and I got one on Thursday night. I was watching Camper TV, having noticed the stars recede then disappear from view by the agency of growing cloud cover. I felt a few drops. Rain doesn't really bother me, and I will simply sit by my fire, build it up some and enjoy it if it's not a heavy rain. I ended up fleeing to my tent. It ended up with about 18 hours of heavy rain with five thunderstorms that I counted in a twenty-four hour period.
My tent has never leaked before, but the seams failed to keep the rain out this time. Time to re-treat them, I guess. I pitched my camp on high ground, that was in fact higher than anything around it, so it was merely sodden, not flooded. The rain didn't let up though, so instead of having nice meals in the woods--one of the joys of camping--I ended up eating cold corned beef hash from a can. Never again! Friday I'm going to spend my allowance for a screened in kitchen shelter so I can cook in the rain. Even heavy rain.
Friday there was a sucker hole. The sky cleared, the sun came out, the temps were lovely, high 60s, the humidity was low and it was beautiful. By this time the ice in the cooler had melted, so after I gathered firewood for the evening program, I fried up the last of my bacon, and boiled the eggs so i could eat them in the morning. I got the fire laid, relaxed and enjoyed the wild life. I lit my fire, then fled to my tent as another round of thunder storms came in. I make good fires, and was able to watch it through the screen window of my tent, through the first two thunder storms, until the third put it out. Friday, after I fell into the sucker hole, I dumped about two inches of rain water out of a container I left out. That's not important, what is important is that I dumped it into the skillet I used to cook my bacon, along with some detergent, to soak and get easy to clean. Well, Saturday morning when I woke up, it had rained hard enough that the detergent/water/bacon grease mixture had splattered. It has splattered all over my water jugs, hygiene basin, and such, until everything had the most interesting and artistic patterns of bacon grease lumps all over it. But at least I was outdoors and got to see some wildlife.
The Wildlife! I got to view the actions and behaviors of spring wildlife up close on this trip. Why, watching the smallest animals come out in the spring was a treat! Like noticing that scores of ticks were cambering over my tent, in their earliest quest for nutrition to continue there complex, perilous and rarely successful life cycle. Nutrition, of course, meaning me. But there were other types of wildlife to view as well. The wasps are out early this year, looking for new places to build their nests, sheltered from sun and rain. Like the underside of my tent fly. And I must say there was a spectacular outbreak of winged ants! Very impressive. I'm not an entomologist, but this particular species had an affinity for the color blue--like my coffee cup (1/2 in layer in the morning), my cooler (another layer), my camp chair (I was getting tired of brushing ants away) and my shirt (let's not discuss that).
Well, I've almost got everything cleaned up and dried out--the tent has been sponge cleaned and is hanging from a tree in the back yard to dry, etc.
You know what? I'm ready to go out again! The worst camping trip--that doesn't kill you--is better than the best day in town. I hope to go again in the second week of April. This time I'm taking the big tent, so that if I get stuck inside during a prolonged rain I can at least stand up. And I hope to do more fishing next time as well. I LOVE CAMPING!!!
For some reason, I have a high solitude need. I don't do anything spectacular, it's not a big spiritual thing, I get no profound insights. I just need to be alone sometimes--I get grouchy when there is too long a stretch with other people. I wish I could say I did great and spiritual things out there, but I don't. It's not some kind of venture into the Eremetical Life, it's closer to pure selfishness.
I can't really even account for the time I spend like that. It's mostly just a time to get my head centered and take a deep psychological breath. I do read, but usually it's just simple cheap fiction. No big deal.
This trip was nice (I got back Saturday afternoon) with some interesting natural phenomena to observe and experience. I'll share with you.
The first part of the trip was very warm, hot really, for March, with highs in the mid 80s. Lots of sunshine. The woods were greening up nicely, about a month early, with the redbuds in full bloom, the understory leafing out and wildflowers sprouting everywhere. Bird life was abundant, as they return from their wintering grounds. I saw everything from non-descript little tweeting birds to a heron. I saw hawks and heard owls. The whippoorwills aren't out yet. The pilated Woodpeckers have started their territorial drumming, and I even heard a scarlet eyed viriol--about two months early!
Yes the bird life was something I experienced. Actually, I experienced it in a very personal way, as I made coffee Thursday Morning, and a high flying perching bird--species not determined--crapped on my head. The bird was high enough that at first I thought I had been hit by a late dropping acorn, until I put my fingers to the point of impact. Not an Acorn.
But the weather was the kind that makes for good memorable camping trips. In the 80s for a couple of days, with bright sunshine, and cool nights, so that the sleeping bag was a welcome comfort, and the breeze through the mesh of my tent was somehow luxurious as I slept. This area was hit hard by the storms and tornadoes of 2 March, so fire wood was abundant in the form of dead fall and storm downed trees.
That made for great "Campers TV"--where you sit reflectively by the fire, watching it burn down, timing bed time with the moment when the last of the flames flicker out and the fire becomes a softly glowing bed of coals in the night. Being out of town also made the stars so beautiful! With the loom of Louisville extending over our house, we see only a few stars, the very brightest, but in the woods one can see all of them, so lovely, like jewels across the sky.
Except for Thursday. Every camping trip needs an element of adventure, and I got one on Thursday night. I was watching Camper TV, having noticed the stars recede then disappear from view by the agency of growing cloud cover. I felt a few drops. Rain doesn't really bother me, and I will simply sit by my fire, build it up some and enjoy it if it's not a heavy rain. I ended up fleeing to my tent. It ended up with about 18 hours of heavy rain with five thunderstorms that I counted in a twenty-four hour period.
My tent has never leaked before, but the seams failed to keep the rain out this time. Time to re-treat them, I guess. I pitched my camp on high ground, that was in fact higher than anything around it, so it was merely sodden, not flooded. The rain didn't let up though, so instead of having nice meals in the woods--one of the joys of camping--I ended up eating cold corned beef hash from a can. Never again! Friday I'm going to spend my allowance for a screened in kitchen shelter so I can cook in the rain. Even heavy rain.
Friday there was a sucker hole. The sky cleared, the sun came out, the temps were lovely, high 60s, the humidity was low and it was beautiful. By this time the ice in the cooler had melted, so after I gathered firewood for the evening program, I fried up the last of my bacon, and boiled the eggs so i could eat them in the morning. I got the fire laid, relaxed and enjoyed the wild life. I lit my fire, then fled to my tent as another round of thunder storms came in. I make good fires, and was able to watch it through the screen window of my tent, through the first two thunder storms, until the third put it out. Friday, after I fell into the sucker hole, I dumped about two inches of rain water out of a container I left out. That's not important, what is important is that I dumped it into the skillet I used to cook my bacon, along with some detergent, to soak and get easy to clean. Well, Saturday morning when I woke up, it had rained hard enough that the detergent/water/bacon grease mixture had splattered. It has splattered all over my water jugs, hygiene basin, and such, until everything had the most interesting and artistic patterns of bacon grease lumps all over it. But at least I was outdoors and got to see some wildlife.
The Wildlife! I got to view the actions and behaviors of spring wildlife up close on this trip. Why, watching the smallest animals come out in the spring was a treat! Like noticing that scores of ticks were cambering over my tent, in their earliest quest for nutrition to continue there complex, perilous and rarely successful life cycle. Nutrition, of course, meaning me. But there were other types of wildlife to view as well. The wasps are out early this year, looking for new places to build their nests, sheltered from sun and rain. Like the underside of my tent fly. And I must say there was a spectacular outbreak of winged ants! Very impressive. I'm not an entomologist, but this particular species had an affinity for the color blue--like my coffee cup (1/2 in layer in the morning), my cooler (another layer), my camp chair (I was getting tired of brushing ants away) and my shirt (let's not discuss that).
Well, I've almost got everything cleaned up and dried out--the tent has been sponge cleaned and is hanging from a tree in the back yard to dry, etc.
You know what? I'm ready to go out again! The worst camping trip--that doesn't kill you--is better than the best day in town. I hope to go again in the second week of April. This time I'm taking the big tent, so that if I get stuck inside during a prolonged rain I can at least stand up. And I hope to do more fishing next time as well. I LOVE CAMPING!!!
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