An evening in the woods……..

I was reading trail journals yesterday evening and I got a bug up my butt. I just had to head to Waverly and go camping. It was in the spirit of hiking the Appalachian Trail. Reading the journals made me want to get into the woods.

I gathered all my gear and packed it up and put it in the car. I then drove by the grocery store and got provisions for supper. I wanted a campfire supper. I then drove the thirty minutes to God’s country or Waverly Alabama where my family owns some timber land on a dirt road.

It was a beautiful evening with hardly a cloud in the sky. I sat for a long time just leaned up against an enormous loblolly pine tree listening to the radio. I listened to NPR as all the talk AM stations had sports shows on. Nothing bores me more than AM sports talk.

I then got a roaring fire started and cooked some hotdogs. I skewered the wieners on some hard wood oak sticks that I had whittled off the bark. It was a simple supper but tasted good. You can’t beat Hebrew National franks.

After supper, I sat on the hill above the meadow and watched the sun slowly sink down below the horizon. At first, you think that it will never set and then things accelerate and the sun seems to jog towards its date with the edge of the earth. I hurriedly got ready for nightfall as the light decreased.

After dark, I laid in my tent a long time listening to the night time sounds as I read a book by candlelight. I have a little candle lantern that puts out a surprising amount of light. I am reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriett Beecher Stowe. It is a good book. It is just slow starting and sometimes hard to read because of the language.

During the night, I was awoken to the sound of deer mulling outside my tent. They heard me move and screeched, snorted, and bolted off into the forest. This always makes my heart race and scares me. I don’t care how many times this happens it always make me almost wet my pants.

I cooked a breakfast of sausage and eggs this morning over my camp stove and then packed up my tent and all my gear and headed home. I have just been taking it easy today. I am going to get out and work in the yard in just a bit. Take care and good day.