This is an entry from Monday, January 16th; a day off of
school in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.
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The
pitter-patter of rain on the tarp reminds me of dreary days, when my sisters
and I would get out of the house and go play in the barn. The rain on that metal roof of the barn was
loud; sounding like a torrential downpour even when it wasn’t. Today is nasty; cold, wet, cloudy, and full
of perpetual rain. I am hiking out in it
anyways; probably to say I did, and probably because I wanted to see if I could
set up a little “Day Camp” to match the picture I had set in my mind’s eye.
Luckily
I had stacked some dry wood in the garage yesterday in case I went out today; a
pile of little sticks from our front yard included as kindling. I placed all of this into an old plastic dog
food bag, lashed it to an old sled (after drilling holes in its sides for the
rope that held the bag down), and hiked back into this bottom-land, old growth
forest. I cut a ridge pole for a tarp
that I brought, and four skinny sticks that I am using to hold up its corners. It’s not a perfect set up, but it’s on relatively
high ground and with the resources I have it’s the best that I can do. I’ll learn what works, and what needs to be
tweaked so I can improve upon it the next time that I hike and cookout in
inclement weather.
My
dog Kora is wet and shivering now, and puddles are forming in the low spots on
the frozen ground. Luckily the wood that
I brought is dry, because it’s hard to keep the fire going. In fact, I have to continue blowing on the
embers to keep it cooking my potatoes and eggs.
I did manage to get the fire going with one small piece of char cloth
and a little nest of material from a splayed section of twine, since no dried
grasses were available for the spark from my flint and steel. It was nothing less than a miracle.
Laying
out a flannel lined ground cloth under the tarp we had as a roof, allowed Kora
to curl up on it and begin warming up. I
gave her some remnants of my meal after I had eaten what I wanted. I am sitting next to Kora now as I watch the
fire (after laying an extra jacket over the top of her), and then I pull out my journal to write for a while. Due to the fact that the air is chilled, it’s
hard to sit for long and write, think, or meditate without getting up to move
around, readjust while sitting on the ground, or tend to the fire. Water from the rain and melting snow is also
soaking up through the ground cloth that Kora and I are sharing, and I am starting
to get wet.
Since
I first parked the Jeep and started this adventure, it’s been over four hours. It’s time now to break down the camp, repack
everything onto my sled, and begin the hike back. Since I’ve burned all of the wood I brought in,
this time I’ll fill the large plastic bag with both my back and hip packs so I
don’t have to carry them out. I will pull them instead. It will give
me a bit of a break. Although far from
pleasant for most people, it’s been perfect; having the droning of the rain in
the woods to myself.
See
you along The Way…
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