It was freezing this morning when i emerged from the tent at Craters of the Moon at 7. Frost covered everything. In those cases, i have two options, move quickly, or move slowly. I opted for the latter, and am no worse off for having done so. I figure that over my 10 hours in the sleeping bag, i got about eight good hours of sleep. Since i have to be well rested during the day's drive, if by 11 i am not sleeping soundly, i call on St Ambien to lull me to sleep. I dare not do that after 11 because of the lingering effects with that method.
The drive of almost 365 miles today was pretty east. For the most part, a straight shot with no traffic through absolutely beautiful terrain.
Since the weather was great, i was afraid that Emigrant Springs State Park would be full, it is such a great camp. (I have nightmares about showing up at a target camp and finding either a "camp full," "camp closed," or "no dogs" sign, even though i probably only encountered that maybe six times over my ten trips.) So, about 100 miles before reaching Emigrant, i started looking for other nearby camps. I found Hilgard Junction State Park about 18 miles closer. Since i would not arrive at Emigrant until 53O or so, and i would lose sun at about 615, i decided to bivouac at Hilgard. If that was full, or not interesting, or both, i would drive on to Emigrant and take my chances. If that was full, i would drive back to Hilgard in the dark if there were spots there. One of them had to have at least one spot open. I got to Hilgard at 515. It was totally empty and even more totally uninteresting, so i drove on to Emigrant. At least i knew where Hilgard was and the camp layout if Emigrant was full. I arrived at Emigrant at 545 and while it was crowded, mostly with tenters, there were sites free. In fact, i got the same great site A-15 i had last year. Donner felt right at home.
Setting up the tent tonight was a snap. A 10, so to speak. Not a single misstep. Of course, wouldn't you know that as i was setting up the tent, Donner spotted another dog nearby and made it clear he wanted to meet him. Priorities are priorities, so i ignored him, but made up for it later.
All of the chores and dinner were over with by 715, almost record time, as usuable daylight disappeared about an hour after sundown. Life on the road does not get any better than that.
Just after I settled into the tent, one of my nearby neighbors decided to demonstrate his prowess in playing God Awful music so that all his neighbors could enjoy his taste in music. (Why is there usually one at every camp?) Fortunately, he just shut if off at 930. Why people like that even bother to venture into the woods just to recreate their habits at home, i do not know.
I think tomorrow we will try for a lovely camp (Memaloose) on the Hood River in the shadows of Mt. Rainer, an easy 167 mile drive. I am sure it was crowded tonight, which is why i delayed a day at Craters of the Moon.
It is ten pm. Time for lights out.
Ed and Donner, from the road at lovely Emigrant Springs State Park.
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