We had a decently warm week here in Indiana. Almost too warm for the tail end of February. We will take it with no complaints. With that being said, I decided to take full advantage of the weather and head down to the Bloodroot Trail on the Salamonie Reservoir.

    I have completed this roughly 13-mile trail three times on previous occasions. This time, I aimed for the parking area near the 5-mile mark. From here it was just under a 2-mile walk to campsite #5. As I drove to the trailhead my thought was to do at least half of the trail starting at the interpretive center. When I arrived at the trailhead to pay for the campsite there was an accumulation of people waiting for some kind of eagle watch expedition. I decided to quickly get away from all that noise and hustle. A walk sounded great, but I really just wanted to get out in the woods for a night of peace.

    The trail was pretty muddy most of the way in; due to all the snow melting during the warm week. Knowing the trail would be sloppy this time of year; I wore my trail runners anyway. I wanted my feet to feel light in the mud and was welcoming them to get a little wet. It’s funny the odd things you miss being cooped up inside on long winter days. You can get away with certain things when you live so close to a good overnight spot. Had I been going on a trip up North, things would have been slightly different.

    One main thing I would have done differently was my choice of shelter. As I packed my bag that morning, I had a genius thought to try out my solo tent in somewhat wintry conditions. Usually, my choice of shelter this time of year is my Warbonnet tarp and hammock setup. I mostly use tents in the summer months to hide from the swarms of bugs trying to eat me alive. Lately, I have been curious to experiment with some tent camping in slightly worse conditions. This seemed like a great idea and I felt confident enough in my equipment to commence with the plan. Here soon, I will explain what I did wrong and set myself up for a slightly crappy morning.

    When I arrived at campsite #5 I sat admiring the beauty of the Reservoir for a few moments. It truly is a unique place here in this part of Indiana. The Reservoir is pretty low this time of year, but you can still fish it from this campsite if you wanted to venture down a snow/mud-covered, fairly steep, hill that can be sketchy even in the summer. Don’t get me wrong, folks, I would have taken the challenge had I brought my fishing gear along with me. I suppose I should have.

    I began the camp chores with the fire. I brought those precooked cheese brats to wrap in a tortilla and a tube of potato chips for my dinner, so a fire was of importance to get going right away. I like to eat. It wasn’t too bad of a fight to get it going. Luckily, I noticed a fallen tree on my way into camp that had dry splinters jutting out of the stump that made excellent kindling. I didn’t have much trouble finding decently dry stuff to burn; it hadn’t rained or snowed in a week. I put some water in my pot for a cup of coffee while I set up my tent.

After I had the fire going well enough to leave it, I started looking for a tent spot. Looking around the site, I noticed the site itself was on a slight incline, which made it difficult to find a good spot for the tent. I finally made a stubborn decision to set it up so I could look out over the Reservoir when I woke up in the morning. It worked out, for the most part, we are still getting to that, patience.

The next step in this endeavor was to simply enjoy the surrounding nature while the brats cooked over the fire. I went on a few hunts for more firewood until I had a suitable amount for the remainder of the night. I took time to feel the light cool breeze through my fleece and thankful for the warmth of the sun on my face. No reason in the existence of the world to rush; or feel even a small tinge of the unnerving hustle of it all. Simplified at its best.

I stayed up late watching the moon rise through the trees. Two packs of coyotes spoke to each other across the Reservoir. The geese came in honking for hours, it seemed. In the distance, I could hear something splashing in the water, but I couldn’t see what it was. All the comforting sounds of the nightlife except, of course, the dull hum of the road nearby causing only a slight annoyance until it slowed to a periodic occurrence. Last I looked, it was nearing one in the morning before I crawled into the tent to stretch and rest my head. I curled up in my 0° quilt and quickly warmed to a cozy sleep.

When I awoke the next morning my peaceful state was murdered by a rain shower and stakes I didn’t have in the ground all the way. And here we are folks, to that almighty screw up in my shelter selection and set up decision. If you study the above picture of my tent; you will see the issue when the rain shower hit around five in the morning. My stakes had not penetrated the ground well enough below the snow causing my tent to collapse on me around seven in the morning. Naturally, I was now up in a state of panic and anger. I will also add that the location I chose proved to be a horrible idea when the rain washed the snow out from under me and made a pool inside the tent. I obviously wasn’t going back to sleep at this point. I took no pictures of this event because, well, I was a bit cranky about it.

It was still lightly raining by the time I had my sleep system and tent put away; so my quilt and pad didn’t get completely soaked. I left out my pot to make coffee because all of this morning madness took place before I could even make a cup. Thankfully, the fire pit still had coals from the night before. Now, of course, all the dry sticks I had ready for morning coffee were wet. I gathered more of the kindling I found yesterday and fiddled with it for about an hour. Finally, I had it going well enough to get that water heated.

I drank my coffee while I packed up the rest of my gear. I had planned on hanging out in the woods until around noon, but the events of the morning and the chilly fog changed my mind on that idea.

With my coffee finished and cup put away I tossed some remaining snow on the fire and began the short walk back to the car.