Ok so first let me say there are no pictures to go along with this TR. Not because I didn't have a functioning camera with me, but because I was just too darn lazy to pull it out.
I found myself with one of those perfect opportunities to go camping and I took it. I headed out to Eno River SP with pack loaded and started down the trail. Now the quickest way to the campground is a 1 mile hike with fairly easy terrain, when it hasn't been raining for 24 hours making everything either sticky, slippery, or both. But I decided that since i was using this opportunity to shake down my gear and myself for the up coming gathering of the Gorge rats I'd take the long way around. After crossing the 50 foot suspension bridge leading to the campground and trails, I headed up the Cox Mountain trail (actually just a steep hill) for a 3+ mile loop with some fairly steep, for the area, ascents and descents. This trail also takes you along the banks of the Eno River for a flat mile before turning back into the woods with some more short lived climbing.
I reached my designated camp site for the night and was happy to find a pair of trees, that while a bit far apart would allow me to pitch my tarp in the proper direction against the wind and rain. Oh yes, I headed out for a night with projected lows in the 40s along with the wind and rain. Setting up camp with rain coming down wasn't a problem, I've practiced doing this many time in my backyard. The problem was the ground had become so saturated that my pegs would tear straight through the dirt. Well I collected about a dozen or so large rocks and tied off to them instead. Pitched my tarp down on all sides as the rain was being a bit bipolar in deciding which direction it wanted to fall despite the wind coming predominately from the north. Once camp was set I fired up my stove and let my Chop Suey (Thanks SamyK, was delicious) re-hydrate while I went to toss my bear bag. Now I don't really have to bear bag my food, as we don't commonly have bears in the area, but I do like to keep the varmints (Racoons, Opossums, Foxes, etc) out of my dinner, so I typically only hang it about 6 - 7 feet, but it makes good practice aiming for those 20-30 foot branches for when I do have to Bear bag.
After dinner called the wife to chat for a bit and found out that our neighbor had brought over a Strawberry pie for us. Its so nice to have good neighbors sometimes. Got off the phone with the wife and just laid in the hammock listening to the sound of rain pitter patter on the tarp. I'm fairly certain I was asleep before 8pm.
Awoke for my mid-night bladder voiding and could see the reflection of a pair of eyes off through the trees. Well they weren't high enough to be a deer and not low enough to be a racoon, so I yelled out at it. It stayed there looking at me for a moment, then started walking. It stopped and looked back at me. I yelled at it again. It walked off again and again it stopped and looked at me. Now I typically don't have much fear for wild animals, I've got foxes that cross in the yard of my home nightly, but I've never felt like I was being stalked before. This animal, whatever it was walked a complete circuit around my camp stopping every few steps to stare back at me. Well this unnerved me a bit. Here I am completely alone in the woods, in the dark and this beast is acting like I'm a BigMac and he just pulled up to the drive thru window. I grab my knife and hiking pole and proceed to let it know in no uncertain terms that if it thinks I'm a meal worth tasting that it will end up kabobbed on my hiking pole and roasting over a fire no matter how long it took me to get a fire started with soaked through wood. Several minutes of this went on before it turned walked away into the woods and I stood there looking around for any other reflections of eyes for a few minutes more. After seeing nothing I decided to head back to my hammock, now completely soaked from the rain and feeling more than a little uneasy. Of course at this point I start hearing Coyotes howling off in the distance. My knife became my teddy bear for the rest of the night. Just before I fell back asleep a Barred Owl lands near my camp and begins its call in the night.
I awoke to clear skies and temps in the low 40s, didn't want to get out from the warm downy goodness of my hammock but the bladder won the fight. The rain had thoroughly soaked everything, even seeping down into my hammock and UQ despite rigging a weather shield out of a poncho I had brought. So I stood there in the brisk cool air with a dilemma. Eat my dry breakfast I had packed and lollygag a bit, or pack up and head out to a hot breakfast and shower. Well let's just say that LNT is real easy when you only pack for an overnight trip.
This time I took the slightly longer than the shortest route back to the car, this time going directly to the river and following it's banks for the majority of the walk. The recent rains had caused the river to swell to the point that many rocks you can usually walk atop and be several feet above the water were completely swapped. Even the normally simple ford across the river (about 4 inches at the deepest) was a couple of feet deep with swift moving water. This river really takes on a whole new personality after the rain. The trail turned back into the woods before leading me back to the suspension bridge and towards civilization.
Things I learned:
- Need a proper weather shield, the rigged up poncho didn't help one bit.
- In cool weather with rain I only need 1 liter of water for a night out, even with re-hydrating a meal.
- Took too much food. I thought I would want to stop and relax on the side of the trail and have a snack, but the weather made me a man on a mission to get to camp.
- Shoudn't have left my fleece pants behind. Forgot them at home and had colder than I like legs from midnight on.
- I like a camp fire my first time in a place. I don't need one after the first time, but something about it makes things feel more familiar the next time.
- If you may need the Reflectix pad in the hammock, don't use it to sit on the muddy ground. Had my pad been usable my legs likely would have been warmer throughout the night.
- I really would love to lighten up my load as well. My gear is mostly bulletproof, but after the miles and the climbs it gets heavy as a tank.
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