Camp Out Kinda

So, the truth is that we did not end up pitching our tent in the lean-to and staying out in the wilderness. There are quite a few reasons for this turn of events. First, the extremely long time it took us to find the lean-to dampened our spirits a little. Second, as we swam in Crystal Lake and sat eating our snacks, it began to rain. Third, M. had never gone camping before and this level of roughing it may not have been the best first experience for her. And fourth, we were not, in any way, shape or form, efficient packers. While we had all the necessities for camping out, they were in dribs and drabs. Our bedding was not efficiently minimized -I had the comforter from my bed as padding, two pillows and a sleeping bag and M. had three blankets and a pillow similarly uncontained. For us to get all the necessary gear out to the lean-to would have taken at least two trips in the rain and we just weren't feeling it. What we were feeling was a little bit of shame. Many of the G. party seemed a bit skeptical about our ability to camp, well mainly A. seemed to not like the idea, and for us to return defeated did not sit well with us. So we went with a plan B that we hadn't even known we had: go to the Cranberry Lake Campground and don't tell the G.'s about it (which is a little troublesome since they very well might read this post and think less of us for not telling them that we did this...sorry, we were ashamed). After taking a drive around the camp sites with a map that let us know which sites were available, we decided that camp site 149 was the place for us, so we went back to the entrance, paid for the site and then bought a bundle of firewood from the side of the road.
We set up the tent first. I can't remember the last time it was used if it wasn't in Florida. Two years without a proper airing out and use is pretty sad. I think the tent missed me. I did, at one point, spend six consecutive weeks with it as my only home only to pack it up and bring it out oh so very sparingly ever after.
While I took the main responsibility for getting the tent up (M. helping of course), M. took the lead for getting the fire started. Unfortunately, just like our search for the lean-to and Crystal Lake, getting the fire started proved far more challenging than expected. Now look, M. and I have both started fires in our time. I grew up with a woodstove in my house for god's sake. But after the rain it became quite difficult to find kindling that wasn't damp. It took three, maybe four, attempts to get even a bit of fire going and then another hour or two of keen poking and prodding to keep that flame alight. M. named the fire Ferdinand.
And once Ferdinand starting behaving like more of a proper fire (you'd think the picture below would be the photographc evidence of this...but you'd be wrong, it took another half hour) M. commented that it sort of felt like she had given birth to the thing. I think.
M. and I played a game of scrabble while eating Feta cheese with a knife and our fingers. I won by almost 100 points, which is a marked difference from our games in high school, or during our trip to Europe, when, I'm pretty sure, M. won almost all the time.
Final thoughts: M. and I both commented that even though we had many troubles throughout the day, our spirits remained, on the whole, upbeat. This is saying something. I have been put in similar situations, in the woods or on streets, when neither I nor the people I am with really have a clue as to where they're going...and more often than not I get super grumpy, recalcitrant even. I don't like stomping around places without having a destination, unless it's a very pretty place, and sometimes even that won't improve my attitude. So, the fact that we hiked and hiked and backtracked and backtracked and, while I certainly wasn't singing a little song about how awesome it was, I didn't end up being a grumpy mcgrumperson, well, that I attribute to M.'s attitude and friendship. Similarly, there were a few moments there where we both felt in our bones that the fire was not ever going to light up, but instead of getting pissy about it, we perservered. I like this part of my friendship with M.

For dinner we stuck sausages in aluminum foil and placed them in the glowing, successful coals of Ferdinand. We also tried this approach with corn, but something went awry and we gave up. Oh and there were s'mores and extremely strong gin and tonics without ice or lime. The tent-sleeping went pretty well. It started to rain a bit at daybreak, but we were prepared with the tent's rainflap. The only downside was the fact that this sleeping on the ground without a lot of padding led to severe back pain on my part, which only really let up two days ago.