Triplogs / Triplog#16-Day 1 / Day 2
Park Border(IN) - Wilkins - Wilkins - Wilkins - Park Border(OUT) - Lookout Trail - Ragged Falls
Day 2 - Wilkins Lake - Sitting Around
My sleep didn't last very long around 4:00 am, it started to rain. I noticed too that it was much colder. I got up and went outside. It wasn't really colder, it was the wind, it had shifted. The wind was now coming from a westerly direction. This sucked, because the treeline directly behind the site and my tent, was very thin, and beyond that was a pretty bare dry swamp. So the wind came thru the swamp, and kept on going past the treeline and into my tent. The rain was light, so I stayed up for half an hour or so, listening to the wind, while sitting beneath a big red pine. I was starting to get damp after a while, so I retired to my tent, stripped off my damp clothes and put on some fresh layers. I went back to sleep, but never did sleep well the rest of the morning.
Autumn colours under a rainy sky
It rained all morning, on and off. Using the back of the couch, I strung up a tarp, to do some cooking under. I made scrambled eggs(powdered eggs), oatmeal, and hot coffee.It's amazing, how a little bit of warm food, and hot coffee in your belly will do to one's morale. My mood quickly improved, and the rain soon lost it's power over me. After cleaning up my food mess and stringing the pack back up in the tree, I set off exploring the forest. Not much to say really...lots of decaying fallen timber, the odd pile of rabbit scat, and not much else. I found lots of fallen trees down by the shoreline. I cut up two of the fallen trees, as much as I could, and had enough firewood for the nite. Once back at camp, I stowed the wood under the couch. Mixed up some Crystal light and rum, and had a drink, to warm the blood some more. Around 11am, the wind died down a bit, but the rain started to pour down in buckets. I made a run for it. In the tent, I got out of my damp clothes quickly, and climbed into my sleeping bag, pulled out my novel, and read for the next 2hrs.
Around 1:30pm, the rained finally stopped. I stepped out of my tent and fired up the stove, to have some rehydrated 3 bean chili. By 2pm, I was finished and had my cookery washed. No what to do, I asked myself? The lake was still rough somewhat, and decided I would not go out in the canoe, so I snapped some pictures around my site, as the sun started to come out. I cursed the weatherman. Never fails, either the prediction is ass-backwards or completely wrong...rarely on the money.
Low clouds threatened more rain- as the sun struggled to emerge
Ahhh...Glorious sun!
After my photo shoot, I went around and gathered as much dry scrub, as I could find for firestarter, I also discovered a bit of a point farther north up the shoreline. I hung around awhile, enjoying the new view I had of the different surroundings. As I headed back to camp, the wind picked up again, and the sun disappeared behind more clouds. *sigh*...guess I was going to be able to finish my novel this weekend after all. Sitting on the couch was impossible, it was damp, and with only half of a back on it, my back was getting chilled pretty fast. Back into the tent I went, novel in hand. Around 7pm in near darkness, I emerged from my tent and got a fire going. Oh man it felt good to be warmed by that fire!
The couch - or at least half of it anyways
A ready made table
Tent & tarp setup - Note: the thinning tree foilage behind the tent
The wind finally died down after an hour or so, and I was able to enjoy the fire for a few hrs. I don't remember when I went to bed, but it was before midnight, in a dark and silent forest. It was very quiet, no wind or rain...it started to spook me a little, as I heard the odd crackle of leaves or the scurry of something furry thru the underbrush.
I finally fell asleep after what seemed like hrs, when I was wakened by big fat bears! No..just kidding! Big fat raindrops. It was raining again! Now I was really annoyed. These weather guys were really starting to tick me off. I bet I could apply for a job @ the weather office, and better predict the weather than they could. I went back to sleep.