The morning of May 28, I awoke to pouring down rain in
I also had an e-mail from my dad regarding my car registration. Naturally, the title didn’t come before I left
With the car packed and my car paperwork taken care of, I headed out, or rather, tried to head out. The direction I had me trying to take 64 west, but it was closed. Scott had told me about this issue already, but I had forgotten. Coming across the barriers quickly jogged my memory, so I headed to 44 west instead. A few extra mile and a few extra minutes and I was finally on my way. It rained for the first couple of hours of my drive, so I was starting to wonder if I had made the right decision, but once I was finally able to see the skies clearing up a bit ahead of me I felt better.
It took me about 3 hours to get to Kaiser. I stopped at a grocery store and bought some sausages and ice for the cooler (I had already stocked my smores supplies). I was bound and determined to have a camp fire for cooking dinner. I was going on pure determination that I would actually be able to start a fire. With all of the rain that had occurred over the last couple of days, I was a bit concerned that the wood would be damp, compounding the fact that I hadn’t started a fire on my own since my Girl Scout days.
I got to the camp site around 2 and picked out my spot. It was in the back with a view of the lake. Most of the campers already at the park were back in this area as well, so it felt like there were a lot of people around. After I set up my tent (well, Scott’s tent) and ate lunch, I set off in search of kindling to help start my fire later that evening. I gathered up what I thought was a decent amount and laid it out on the bench of my picnic table with the hopes that it would dry out a bit more before I needed it. I had purchased a couple of bundles of wood from the camp store on my way in and had been pleased to see that they were stored in a shed. Surely, they must be dry.
I decided to spend my afternoon hiking on a trail that had a crossing near my campsite. It was called the Lake View Bend trail. Whatever, it was a really nice hike. I took my time on my way out enjoying nature and taking a bunch of photographs. I was startled by a deer that I had apparently startled. She (at least I think it was a she) was nearly as curious about me as I was about her, so she didn’t stray all that far from me. We stared at each other for a while, and I tried to take pictures of her. It was a bit dark where we were at, so they didn’t come out all that well. I eventually came across another the trail, the Fawn’s Ridge trail, so I started following it. It was only okay, a lot of it was close enough to the main road back into the park that I could see the traffic when it came by. It was also handicap accessible, so it was wide, flat, and had gravel neatly placed on it. When I came across a fork in the road, I opted to leave that path and take the road less traveled. Also, it was marked as a connector trail back to the Lake View Bend trail, so it served the dual purpose of getting me back to my campsite.
My return was much quicker than the way out and I wasn’t quite ready to start my attempts at making fire, so I decided to explore the camp grounds a bit to see what all was around. I found a couple of shower houses and a beach with a roped off swimming area. While the beach wasn’t anything spectacular, the swimming area was large. The road cordoning it off from the rest of te lake was a decent distance from the shore to give me hope that the depth was sufficient for swimming and it ran for a good 150-200 yards. I was very glad I had purchased swim gear while I was in
The deer that I startled and in turn startled me. It's eyes look kind of creepy in this photo.
When I returned to my campsite, I met one of the occupants of a nearby site, Jason. We got to chatting – it turns out he his riding his motorcycle around the country – and I invited him over to share my campfire that evening. Thankfully he returned while I was trying to get the fire started. My recollections from Girls Scouts were not very good and I was having some issues. I’d like to believe they were due more so to the fact that the fire wood I had purchased was wet (so much for the storage shed) as opposed to my actual fire making abilities. I’m going to keep telling my self that. I was able to get the kindling lit, but the logs were not catching fire very well. The supply of kindling I had collected earlier in the day was quickly being depleted, so it was great to have Jason around to help gather more. I think having two people on the job is the only thing that was able to keep things going. I think it took us an hour to finally having a fire going that wasn’t going to go out on us. Dinner was spared! And more importantly, there would be smores! Our fire never got to the roaring stage, Jason called it a Charlie Brown fire, but it did its job. Being the “fire” that it was, it was pretty much out by 9:30, but the darkness gave us a great view of the stars. It’s amazing what darkness and no electricity can do because by 10:00 I was yawning. Jason and I said goodnight, and I headed off to bed.
I woke up around 8 on Friday morning and took my time getting out of bed. The tent was starting to heat up, so I couldn’t go quite as slowly as I might have liked. I ate breakfast and hopped in the car in search of the caves that were supposedly located somewhere in the park. Yes, I drove, it’s a really big park. I searched the area that the campsites are located in, but didn’t see a single sign for the caverns, so I headed out of that section of the park. The ladies at the grocery store had told me that there were multiple entrances, so I though I’d give the other one they had told me about a go. I got into that section of the park, and the only things it contained were a beach and some boating stuff. Hmm, maybe I had missed something back in the part of the park the campsites were in, so I headed back that way. As I was re-entering this portion of the park, I saw a map and thought that perhaps it might be useful to take a look at it. Sure enough, I quickly located the caverns. There are apparently 3 distinct pieces of the park, all with separate entrances, and I had been to the two that the caverns were not in. There were a couple of ways it looked like I could get to the part with the caverns, one was via a dotted line that wasn’t too far from my current location and the other was via a solid line not any where near my current location. I wasn’t exactly sure what the difference was between the dotted and solid lines, so I opted for the closer one. As soon as I got there, it became clear, dotted meant dirt road. It looked to be in reasonably good shape, so I thought I’d venture down it a ways to see if it stayed that way. I should back up here and mention that the name of the road was Swaying Bridges Road or something like that, and sure enough a couple of miles in I came to a suspension bridge. It had a sign saying 15 ton maximum weight. I sat in my car and debated what my next move should be. I wasn’t very keen on the idea of driving across the bridge even though I was fairly certain that my car was under the weight limit. The bridge was short, so I was finally able to work up enough nerve to drive across it. I did not like it, nor did I like the idea that I now had to drive across it again to get back to the other side. But, now that I was on the other side, onward ho. It wasn’t long before I turned a corner and before me lay another suspension bridge, but this one was at least four times longer than the first one. That was it, no way. I was able to turn my car around and decided I would take the solid line route no matter how far away it was. After seeing that second bridge, getting back across the first one didn’t seem so bad.
It took me about another half an hour, but I finally made it to the caverns. I grabbed my camera and headed down to the visitor center to see about going inside of them. Denied! The two girls working at the visitor center quickly informed me that the caves were only open on the weekends until June, but I could come back Saturday if I wanted. Little did they know, I am heading back to
I headed back to the camping section of the park with the plan to eat lunch in a picnic area and hike another trail. My route back detoured through Andy’s Frozen Custard for a caramel sundae – yummy! With my appetite sufficiently spoiled, I stopped at a trailhead without a picnic area and headed out. I was met by a sign about a hundred yards in warning of a tick problem and advising me to wear insect repellent, so back to the car I went. I grabbed a granola bar as a just in case my appetite came back snack as well. I also locked my car, which I had forgotten to do the first time I set off. Thank you sign. I got a little farther down the trail this time and there was a fork. I opted for the route that went directly into the woods, instead of the wider, more open, trail I was currently on. I wasn’t on this trail for long though because it was incredibly muddy. I turned around with the hopes of better luck on the original trail. It was muddy too, so I headed for the trail across the street from where I parked. It was a swamp. Perhaps hiking was not in the cards for me. I drove a little farther into the park and stopped at a picnic area to have lunch. I played on the swings for a while. I can’t remember the time I played on swings, but they are quite fun and exhilarating. I’m so glad I stopped to do that for a bit. I then went in search of hiking trail off of the picnic area, but there wasn’t one, so I ended up back at the campsite. By this time it was 3 in the afternoon and it was very warm, about 80, so a swim sounded perfect. But before I did that, I wanted to get things prepared for the evening’s campfire. This time I took a bag with me to load up with kindling and dry leaves – I wasn’t messing around this time. I also set my logs for the evening out in the sun with the hopes that they would dry out.
I changed into my swimsuit inside of my tent. Not a good idea for so many reasons. It was sweltering in there, so I could barely get my suit on over my sticky, sweaty body, plus there isn’t a whole lot of space in there to maneuver. I’m glad no one could see me because I can assure you it was not a pretty site. Once I was in my suit and lathered with sunscreen, I headed off to the beach with my goggles, swim cap, and showering supplies for afterwards. The swim felt great but was a bit pitiful compared to what I am used to swimming. I haven’t swam at all since the end of February and I felt every bit of that 3 month hiatus. My arms were aching for the first out and back (I was swimming along the swimming area rope), so I stretched for a bit before attempting a second go at it. The second out and back felt better, but I could already tell I was getting tired. I decided I would do another, but by the end of that one my arms felt like Jell-O and I was done for the day. I used to be able to swim for an hour or more without even thinking about it, but now 20 minutes poops me out. I need regular access to a pool again soon.
My campsite
Fire making on Friday night went much smoother than the night before. Thank goodness because Jason was not around when I was trying to start it, so I was on my own. I think laying the logs out in the sun helped a lot, plus I had an over abundance of kindling to work with. I again had sausages for dinner and smores for dessert. I love campfire food. Jason returned and joined me for smores, and we sat up chatting until 11:00 when we said our goodbyes and headed to bed. I’m really glad I met him. I enjoyed the solitude of hiking and camping by myself, but it was really nice to have someone to communicate with a bit.
I woke around 8:00 Saturday morning and tore down my camp. I reached Scott’s place back in
1 comment:
Slept at 10PM!?! That's late! I recall in Annapurna I slept at around 8 or 8:30pm! Ozarks look pretty interesting. Are there snow-capped peaks?
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