I spent most of the weekend camping. I came home a day early to avoid being caught in storms with just a bivy, particularly considering that my friends had decided to camp so far away for the purposes of a bit of privacy. I arrived a day ahead of my friends, wanting to try a night alone in the woods. There was a gorgeous view and I enjoyed the night, and the butterflies soon vanished. I had expected that there would be little problem with spending the night, but there is always the tension involved in doing something for a first time. The last time I had camped thus in the woods was nearly a decade earlier and even then I was with a half-dozen of my peers. The night alone was wonderful, the view was gorgeous, and being able to drift asleep in my bivy sack while watching the silvery moon glide across the sky was something that I don't think I shall soon forget.
The arrival of my friends was late, and then we had to drag a cooler up the mountain. I assisted with that and enjoyed a boon of wine shared for my efforts. None of it was anything that I will rush out to purchase on my own, but it seems that everything tastes a bit better when you're camping. Of a related note, I will never attempt to eat the freeze-dried backpacking meals when I am not camping for fear that I will perish at the taste. If they're made better by the fact that I am camping, I can't fathom how terrible they truly would taste.
The night with my friends was fun. I stayed up later, which was great because it gave me another opportunity to watch the moon travel across the sky. The earlier portion of the night had seen the sky shrouded by clouds, but the longer we waited the fewer the clouds in the sky. My friends cooked and ate some steak, and shared a portion of the potato salad and pasta salad that I had helped them to lug up the rough trail. The fire burned low and we just watched the lights around Lake George, and more interestingly (though paling in comparison to the moon) were the lights of the few boats that yet traveled on the waters. One of those boats flashed some sort of spot-light up towards us on two occasions, no doubt intrigued by the presence of our head-lamps on this normally deserted mountainside. In time one of my friends gave in to his exhaustion, his girlfriend chose to follow him to their tent. I was left to walk back to my bivy, some distance away in the dark, but first I had to find the herd trail that my friends had strayed from. I soon discovered that I had overshot the trail and my attempts to back-track and located it weren't very successful at first. I called back to my friends and followed their voices back towards them, only to happen upon the trail. I thanked them, apologized for inconveniencing them, and made my way to my shelter. Upon reaching my bivy I felt my fatigue overtaking me. I crawled into the bivy, muttered a short prayer, marveled at the beauty of the night sky, and fell into a slumber that wasn't disturbed until the temperates fell low. Rather than unpack my sleeping back which I was using for a pillow, I chose to simply zip the bivy shut against the wind and any potential rain. I quickly warmed and don't remember stirring again until sunlight became evident.
On the third day I had decided to leave for home. I was tired from having sat in the sun atop this mountain waiting for my friends to arrive. They're damned lucky I had my mobile with me, else I would have given up on them and gone swimming that afternoon leaving them to lug the cooler themselves. Of course, that would likely have meant they would have been loathe to share so much of their wine and food with me. So, ultimately things worked out. On the third day, after I packed up, we all hiked to the trail head and went a popular local swimming and sightseeing location. A gorgeous waterfall with nearly ice-cold waters. We spent far more time than I had thought there, until we had our fill, and parted ways.
My friends must have gotten stuck in the storms last night, which reportedly were dropping hail in some areas. I wonder how the night went for them.
Now the weekend is nearly over, I'm watching the Senators and the Ducks in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Senators aren't doing as well as I had hoped they would, especially in this third period. :T Tied up 2-2 and the Ducks on on the powerplay with about 10 minutes left.
The arrival of my friends was late, and then we had to drag a cooler up the mountain. I assisted with that and enjoyed a boon of wine shared for my efforts. None of it was anything that I will rush out to purchase on my own, but it seems that everything tastes a bit better when you're camping. Of a related note, I will never attempt to eat the freeze-dried backpacking meals when I am not camping for fear that I will perish at the taste. If they're made better by the fact that I am camping, I can't fathom how terrible they truly would taste.
The night with my friends was fun. I stayed up later, which was great because it gave me another opportunity to watch the moon travel across the sky. The earlier portion of the night had seen the sky shrouded by clouds, but the longer we waited the fewer the clouds in the sky. My friends cooked and ate some steak, and shared a portion of the potato salad and pasta salad that I had helped them to lug up the rough trail. The fire burned low and we just watched the lights around Lake George, and more interestingly (though paling in comparison to the moon) were the lights of the few boats that yet traveled on the waters. One of those boats flashed some sort of spot-light up towards us on two occasions, no doubt intrigued by the presence of our head-lamps on this normally deserted mountainside. In time one of my friends gave in to his exhaustion, his girlfriend chose to follow him to their tent. I was left to walk back to my bivy, some distance away in the dark, but first I had to find the herd trail that my friends had strayed from. I soon discovered that I had overshot the trail and my attempts to back-track and located it weren't very successful at first. I called back to my friends and followed their voices back towards them, only to happen upon the trail. I thanked them, apologized for inconveniencing them, and made my way to my shelter. Upon reaching my bivy I felt my fatigue overtaking me. I crawled into the bivy, muttered a short prayer, marveled at the beauty of the night sky, and fell into a slumber that wasn't disturbed until the temperates fell low. Rather than unpack my sleeping back which I was using for a pillow, I chose to simply zip the bivy shut against the wind and any potential rain. I quickly warmed and don't remember stirring again until sunlight became evident.
On the third day I had decided to leave for home. I was tired from having sat in the sun atop this mountain waiting for my friends to arrive. They're damned lucky I had my mobile with me, else I would have given up on them and gone swimming that afternoon leaving them to lug the cooler themselves. Of course, that would likely have meant they would have been loathe to share so much of their wine and food with me. So, ultimately things worked out. On the third day, after I packed up, we all hiked to the trail head and went a popular local swimming and sightseeing location. A gorgeous waterfall with nearly ice-cold waters. We spent far more time than I had thought there, until we had our fill, and parted ways.
My friends must have gotten stuck in the storms last night, which reportedly were dropping hail in some areas. I wonder how the night went for them.
Now the weekend is nearly over, I'm watching the Senators and the Ducks in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Senators aren't doing as well as I had hoped they would, especially in this third period. :T Tied up 2-2 and the Ducks on on the powerplay with about 10 minutes left.