by Tom&Shelly » Mon Jan 01, 2018 12:08 pm
Spent the two weeks after Labor Day 2013 (tent) camping at State Forest State Park, on a lake. There was a bald eagle nesting on the other side. Had a moose walk up to within 50 feet of me on one hike. Found some wild blueberries, fire weed, and rose hips. I'd read about the latter two in wilderness survival guides and tried them in some meals--not bad.
Since it was after Labor Day, the family campers were gone and it was all hunters and fishermen. No one asked where I worked (as it happens, I worked for the federal government and was on a mandated furlough they'd had that year, since Congress couldn't agree on a budget), so it was a great time to forget work, and a time for reflection.
A friend owns a radio weather service in Wyoming and the only familiar voice the whole trip was his, with the daily weather forecast. It had rained a bit (which I enjoy, even when camping), especially the second week, and I remember him saying "my we've had a lot of rain!" one day. The hunters warned me the road from Ft Collins had been closed due to flooding, but I really didn't have the whole story until later: The authorities also closed Rocky Mountain NP (just on the other side of the Never Summer Mountains), and used the park's through road as an emergency route for Estes Park and other places on the Eastern side of the mountains. I'd hiked to some of the reservoirs for Ft Collins, and was perhaps the only one who saw them that week. If I'd known, I could have given them reports on the overflow. The flooding even made national news. On my drive home (leaving to the West) someone texted asking if I was okay. Why wouldn't I be, I wondered?
That was my last camping trip as a single person. Met Shelly that Christmas break, and we were married in November 2014 (me, at the young age of 52). Not saying self reflection during the trip had anything to do with that, per se, but it was a wonderful culmination to the portion of my life as a loner.
State Forest State Park is a wonderful place to camp, hike, practice camping skills (including survival skills, if you choose), and enjoy other related activities that don't involve the touristy sights or crowds of the National Parks.
Tom
Tom