[at-l] Trip Report

[bcalkins@disaster-relief.net (Bruce Calkins)]

Friday;  I left a day earlier than originally planed.  With a stop at the
outfitters in Great Barrington to keep the "local" economy moving.  My
first night was at the Plateau Campsite approximately .2 miles north of the
route 41 crossing north of Salisbury CT.  I arrived in camp to find that
the spring was barely seeping.  It would have taken more than a hour per
quart to obtain water here.  So I walked back to the car and emptied the
reserve drinking water there.  I then returned to the campsite and set up
the 10 by 12 foot syl-nylon tarp as a inverted V with near stand-up head
room.  For my supper I boiled water over the photon style alcohol stove and
enjoyed freeze-dried cuisine.  Some rain fell over night, enough to wake up
to but not enough to keep me awake.

Saturday;  I slept as late as I could.  By 10:00 I had dried out the tarp,
boiled water for breakfast, packed up and made my way out to the car.  At
some point in the morning I decided to do Bulls Bridge/Ten Mile River
Campsite next.  I took my sweet time going south, stopping at many tag
sales and the Outfitters in Kent in their new location.  After parking at
the trail head for the blue trail I had a lunch and replenished the food
bags. (I keep the dog food for Sam in a separate bag to reduce his
familiarity with "people" food)  We were checking out the Shelter at Ten
Mile River by 2:30 in the afternoon.  To kill time I pulled out my Palm™
Computer and discovered it had crashed.  I made several attempts to restore
with a soft reset before going to a hard reset which lost all of my data.
(The backup device functioned well,  that is the data was there, but the
program to restore the data was lost to the Palm™ device) As the evening
approached I set up camp in the camping area and boiled more water for
supper with the alcohol stove.  This night was dry but cool, I should have
worn more to bed as I was not quite warm enough to sleep well.

Sunday;  Again sleeping as late as I could I found myself killing time long
before 10:00.  I Took Sam into Ten Mile River for a dip.  Two years ago I
was surprised to find that He is afraid of water.  I hope to acclimatize
him some what, with out traumatizing him.  I had never imagined that a
Golden Retriever even could be afraid of a little water.  After our
refreshing dip we headed out to the car.  I had buried the data backup
device in the windscreen and thinking that the POWER LINE was to blame for
the crash I checked it after crossing under them.  The power lines were not
as noisy this morning as yesterday afternoon, so I am still 98.9% certain
that they are to blame.  (Someone else on the list had their Visor™ crash
near here too, so I really do suspect the power lines at high load.)
(Faraday cages anyone?)  Returning to the car Sam and I moved north to Fall
Village. There we parked the car and restocked the food bags before setting
off to Belter Campsite.  Picking site number 4 for it's warmer positioning
on the hillside I set up camp.  Shortly after completing the tarp pitch I
discovered a THREE FOOT PLUS Rattle Snake Trying to figure a safe passage
through the campsite and around Sam.  Sam who had wrapped his lead up was
unable to rush over to "rub" noses with the snake.  I found a long stick
and separated the to by a much more comfortable margin.  I then called out
to the Princeton outing club group setting up in the valley below site
number 1 and a pair of passing day hikers.  All told a even dozen persons
were able to view the snake before it moved off in to the brush "en route"
to Belter's Bump.  I presumed that it was headed to a warm place for the
night and did not move my camp.  "Dressed" up for the night with the tarp
pitched low on three sides I almost slept to warm this night.  Altho My
many forays to "water" bushes were with the liberal use of the Pulsar ll™
LED flashlight.  Even the 2:00 A.M. visit to the "chum" (A "privy"
consisting of a box with a seat and lid on the top.)  I was delighted to
find that the reflective tacks I moved from woods near Sharon Mt. Campsite
two years ago were still in place from the spring to the chum.

Monday;  I dragged out the camp chores and visited with neighbors and still
found myself out to the car long before I was mentally ready.  

Recap;  My knee did disturb my sleep more than at home from the increased
use.  I would expect that it will eventually heal to the point that I can
"ignore" it for most activities, but it is apparent that that is some time
in the future.  Syl-nylon tarp was great but 10 by 12 is much more than
ample for one person and a dog.  The Pulsar ll™ style LED flashlights are
the future in camp lighting.  Alcohol stoves are great for the boil water
type meal systems.  I am still planning on the small white gas stove for my
longer trips and colder weather forays.

Weights;	Leaving		return

My pack	16 lbs		13 ½ lbs
Fanny pack	2  lbs		 2 ½ lbs
Sam's pack	 9 ½ lbs	 8 ¾ lbs
Clothing	 3 ¾ lbs	 3 lbs
In car food
/gear bag	10 ½ lbs	 5 lbs
Trekking poles	 1 ½ lbs

Luxuries included;  Therm-a-rest'r lite™, Epko Sleep screen™, Ray Jardine's
book, Beyond Backpacking, Palm™ hand held computer, Two clothing items
"proved" surplus and a few other trinkets turned out to be unnecessary.
(as long as a dog accompanies me I will carry a small pair of pliers, and
hope that the quill pig encounters don't need them.)  Even with the limited
mileage I feel much restored by the foray and will be looking forward to
and planing the next, using this data to further refine the system.

Thanks all, for the encouragements, I finely am beginning to feel like I am
on the way back into the woods.

Black Wolfe