More often than not, it's down to December...
This was it, the final trip of the year. Down to the wire. Again. How does this always happen? No matter, it was just as cold as I remembered only this time, we had many more cold days to acclimate to before I reached this point. I was as prepared as I would ever be. Except I wasn't. But that was planned! I knew this was a single night trip. I knew it was going to be cold. I packed light... really light. Just tent, sleeping bags, water, and clothes. Despite the lack of gear, I made do in making a fire with downed wood, something not encouraged by the Department of Natural Resources. Why is that you ask? Well, if allowed to gather downed wood, pretty soon you'll find "downed wood" all over the place as people rip trees apart not realizing that green wood won't burn... I do respect this rule and all I picked up were twigs and small branches laying around the campsite. Things that would be easy to ignite in a small burn. After all, I wasn't looking to stay up all night and watch it burn. Once it burned down enough, I would be freezing and ready to tuck myself away in the comfort of my sleeping bags, one inside of the other, to stay warm. When you don't have a heater, double up on sleeping bags if you get cold easily. Best way I, personally, have found to keep myself warm!
Sleep was easy to catch, morning came around, and it was time to convince myself to leave the warmth of my sleeping bags, get camp tore down, and back home. That was indeed the hard part. Once the sun started to peek above the trees, it did become a lot easier to motivate myself to move and pack. Before long, I was packed up and heading back home. Normally not a fan of a short stay, I was more than OK this time as it was rather cold and I wasn't looking to get sick. I was also a bit disappointed the trip was too short to bring the Explorer trailer but at the same time, I was happy to have back what little fuel economy I carry with my truck and gear alone and a chance to make a short effort in loading and unloading without the trailer.
In the end, the trip to Dr Edmund A Babler Memorial State Park was exactly what I needed to end the 2019 camping season!
Span of 2 days; Approximately 1 hours and 10 minutes of cumulative driving; Approximately 45.5 miles; No fuel economy stats were recorded during this brief trip.
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