7 months since my last outing and I finally got out. I drove 4 hrs south on a Thursday to Cove Hollow trailhead to start a roughly 6.5 mile hike to the natural spillway at little Cedar Lake.
This was a very beautiful hike with bluffs on one side and Cedar Lake on the other. The trail was in excellent shape with ferns, moss covered rocks, babbling streams that were flowing from recent rains, flowers everywhere and only 3 other people on trail. The weather was upper 60's with wind but only a soft breeze below the bluffs.
After about 3 hrs of hiking I arrived at the natural spillway. Since my feet were already wet from a ankle deep stream crossing earlier I went ahead and carefully crossed the very slippery spillway (another good reason to use trekking poles) to scope out a potential camp spot. Safely across I found the site already occupied with a couple tents. Very large tents so I assumed they were brought there by boat and later confirmed when I heard them motor back. Well that left one site but I had already passed it on the other side of the spillway. So death gripping my poles I carefully placed each step safely back and set up camp.
Camp setup I went back to spillway to soak my feet and enjoy a snack and sunset. Made the I'm safe and sound phone call and gathered my water for the evening in my 3 liter Cnoc water bag.
After using my sit pad to stoke the flames for quite sometime I was able to get my larger pieces of damp wood from recent rains to take a flame and hold it and I had a very pleasant fire. Ate a ho hum freeze dried Southwest chilli dinner and settled into my Chair Zero for a few nips of whiskey and hiker T.V.. While enjoying the fire I could no longer ignore the rustling behind me cause it didn't sound like the usual squirrel or rabbit and it was late. Upon investigation I discovered something I didn't know was in Illinois, Armadillow's! After the amusing discovery I was ready for hammock. I went to lake to gather water to put out the fire and enjoyed some stargazing. Wonderful day.
The early morning was low 40's and I awoke warm and very comfortable following one of my better night's rest in my hammock. I laid there and listened to the birds waking up before finally getting up to start the day and trek back to the Jeep. After making a cup of cowboy coffee, my first attempt at this and very successful, I slowly enjoyed it and watched the fog hover above the lake. Beautiful morning! Following that and a quick blueberry and oats meal I stuffed my gear back into my pack and got underway for another beautiful hike.
I took a little detour on the River to River trail along little Cedar Lake. I have a dream to through hike the 160 mile R2R someday and it was nice to do a very small section. I met back up with my trail and smiled all the way back.
My gear all worked great except 2 things. My Sawyer squeeze was clogged when I got it out of storage. I cleaned and back flushed after my last trip but I had to soak it and use vinager to get it flowing again It slowed way down while I was using it at camp. Calcium build up I guess. Luckily I got the water I needed but way to slow. The other semi fail was a new cheap frameless pack I bought off Amazon. I want to go frameless so I thought I would try a cheapy first. Not a complete fail cause my gear just fit and the pack held up. The fail was my shoulders were quite sore after. My total weight with food and water was 18lbs. There just wasn't enough, wasn't any really, padding on the straps. I think a higher quality cottage company pack and I'll be fine. The pack I used was the $20 Modase 40L backpack that weighed 17 oz.
Thanks for looking and I'd be happy to answer any questions about this trip. Happy trails
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Originally Posted by NOBOZax
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