I think Ill call this story; STUPID CAMPING TRICKS ! Quite a few years ago when I was old enough to know better, but too young to resist, I used to bring with me on camping trips a small metal flask of spirits. On one trip, I was blessed with a great campsite and nice weather, and the clear night skies were filled with shooting Stars and magnificent Aurora Borealis. A drawback was my campsite being located on the northern shore of the lake meant that the trees hid from me these great vistas. One night I climbed the hill in back of my camp with the idea that I could finally get a clear view of the nighttime festivities, but the trees still blocked my view. The next night sitting at my campfire while sipping from the flask, I occurred to me that all I had to do was get in my canoe and go out a little way from shore and I would have a perfect view. Finishing the flask, I gathered my sleeping bag and jacket into the canoe, and in ten minutes I was snugly enjoying the Milky Way , sprinkled with shooting stars and the Aurora growing in the northern sky. The next thing I knew I was being tickled on my face with something, perhaps a bug. As I brushed it away, I realized it was a branch if a tree. I had fallen asleep watching the night sky, and now here I was, drifted into shore. Stiff, sore, chilled and covered in dew, I quickly moved to get back to camp. Now I became aware of the thick heavy fog all around me. Gone was the Milky Way, and the night had no moon. Which way camp? I pushed out into the lake looking for my campfire that had probably gone out hours before. The shoreline disappeared alarmingly fast, and I paddled in closer.. Alarm changed to anger at myself for getting myself into this predicament, but I realized how important it was to remain cool. The breeze had been out of the west earlier, so my guess was I was to the east of my camp. I paddled along the shore slowly, looking for a familiar land mark, and as the daylight insinuated itself into the fog, I could see where I was, and made my way back to camp, where I rekindled the fire and made breakfast. To be continued ....
Posted on: Tue, 22 Apr 2014 15:48:23 +0000
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