The Last Camp Trip?

I can't think of ways to get away, that I might afford, other than a camp trip.

So I reserved two nights at Shadow Bay camp ground up at Waldo Lake.

I should have known better given July is mosquito frenzy month in the mountains.  But...

It's been hot here, over 90 degrees for ten days or so and I just wanted away from the city streets that absorb or reflect the heat making it even more intense.

I get a discount on campsites with my Golden something pass, so two nights, with that, came to $34.00.

Last minute, a woman from another town said she'd like to come along.   This can make things easier or harder, you never know.

Loading up my stuff was hard enough  on my back.  I had to cut Cherry branches I took down a couple months ago, into logs to take for firewood.  They were not well seasoned.

There are some fire restrictions in place in Oregon but not many.  You can still have campfires most places.

In mosquito country a fire is virtually the only way to keep them from swarming you.

My friend drove her own car up and met me there.  Her extra car fees were dismissed by the camp host, who was very nice and immediately offered to move the reservation I'd made for one campsite, sight unseen, to another, of our choosing.   We chose site 68, in the loop closer to the water.

We set up our tents and I got the raft out and began to blow it up. 

It was a bit difficult getting it to the lake, but only involved about 50 feet carrying it.  The other two times I camped there, I simply left the raft on the lake beach but for some reason, this time, I didn't.  I also had taken the cart with wheels I strap to the back of it before, since I was going alone, which made getting the raft to the lake rather easy. So each day, we carried it down, then back up.  Not far, but far enough to worry my worn out back and shoulders.

I did all the cooking and all the fire building and most of the dish washing.  She didn't want to do these things or offer to help, although she did wash dishes twice.  I was somewhat resentful by the end. She'd gotten out of paying for her car at the campsite, and now wasn't even doing much to help.  I felt by the end it would have been a lot less work alone.  She did not want to row the raft either, when out on it, so I rowed her.  Clear to the island far side of the lake.   I love that little island.  On the flip side, at least she helped carry the raft to the lake and back.  It was nice to have someone to talk to also.  So oh well, it was what it was.  I think we were both glad to leave and get home.

But the hardest part of this trip was sleeping.  My sleeping bag zipper broke again and the bag then would not close.  The pads I'd found to bring for under it were pathetically inadequate, just pieces of foam I was going to make cat beds of and that moved apart and were impossible to stay on.  The first night I finally moved to the back of my car and tried to sleep there, but the ice chest and food bag were in the back and trying to move them to the front of the car, middle of the night, and not wake other campers, well, wasn't easy.  The back of my car is too short for my full length.  The night was difficult and I got little sleep.  I don't like the claustrophobia of an enclosed tent.  Mine does not have zip down windows.  At least from the car, I can see the stars through the windows.  I would sleep out, but the mosquito swarms were killer.

The mosquitoes swarmed mornings and evenings.  They were relentless and horrible.  I'd brought DEET cream 20%, which did nothing to discourage them.  Neither did the citronella candles we'd both brought.  Her 40% DEET spray would help for awhile.  The mosquitoes would try to get in our eyes, up our noses too.  It was not pleasant.  The campfire was the only thing that kept their numbers down, if it was smoking enough and fortunately, with the cherry tree logs unseasoned, still moist, they smoked.

Waldo Lake needs bats, lots of them, to get the mosquitoes.  There are swallows, but they swoop over the lake, not in the woods.  At least they get some of them.

However to avoid them, we would go to our tents both nights at dark or earlier.  Darkneess came at 8:30 or 9:00.  The second night I didn't even try to use my tent without any useful padding and with the sleeping bag that would no longer close.  I tried again to sleep in the car.   I did sleep a little better there the second night.  We were both ready to come home by noon yesterday.  I got home, cleaned liter boxes, went to feed the two colonies I feed, and went to bed.

The desire to camp is gone from my brain now.  I realize why people get trailers.

Camping is hard work and unpleasant the way I did it this time.  If I could have slept, things would have seemed much better.  Unless I get enough sleep, I don't enjoy much of anything.  If I ever go again, it won't be until I have a tested comfortable way to sleep.  That means a working sleeping bag or bedding, and adequate comfortable padding that I've tried out first, to be sure it really is comfortable.

Perhaps this was my last camp trip.

Because the last time I went, Golden Mantel Ground Squirrels swarmed the picnic table, after my food, this time I took a bag of sunflower seeds.  We named the squirrel Guido and he took the entire bag of seeds over the course of two days. I'd put handfulls by trees, but he also tore into the bag.   He filled his cheeks then hustled off to stash them for the winter.  Back he'd come to fill his cheeks again and eat a few.