Tits McGee was pretty excited to get into the mountains last night. When I got home from work, she had food ready to go for us, which we scarfed down rather quickly – delicious pasta and veggies in a vegan cheese sauce. We quickly loaded up our packs, grabbed our gear, and hit the road.
She wanted to try out her new water filter, so we went to an awesome spot that's flat, loaded with trees and shade, and right next to the river. The drive up was ok. My car is shaking a little now when I apply brakes, so I guess I just need to tie a noose and hang myself. I've changed my breaks before, and know how to do the rotors as well, but I'm a procrastinator and put things off constantly. I'm still annoyed with my car after the battery issue the other day. I need to sell my car and upgrade to a truck that would be better for all the adventuring I do.
The drive through the canyon was beautiful as always. You immediately feel the separation between the main city and society, and the welcome embrace of nature that says, “Welcome home, bitch.” We got to the location, which didn't seem to have too many cars. We were able to find a spot pretty quickly, which was odd, given how popular the area is. To get to the river, it's about a half mile hike down into the forest. It's a mostly flat walk, and you need to be on the lookout for bikers that are zipping down the mountain at fast speeds. But this time, there wasn't anyone. Even as we continued on towards the river, walking through the trees in a zig-zag pattern of the trail, there wasn't anyone there along the river. Usually there are several people set up with hammocks, teenagers causing all sorts of mischief, or people and kids just playing along the river. It was all empty. We wandered up and down the river a little to see where we wanted to set up. We finally found a father hanging out with a few of his kids that were playing in an easy flowing section of the river (most of it was still flowing very strongly and full of water from all the snow melt).
We found a lovely little area and set up our hammocks after measuring out the trees we wanted to use. You need a good distance between large, solid trees, that are able to handle your weight. Too close won't work. Too small of trees won't, either. But there were plenty of options around, so it was really a matter of how you wanted to lay: looking towards or against the river, or alongside it. I chose to lay in a way where I could view the area next to us, as I'm the security team, basically. If someone comes up, or an animal, I want to see it coming. Tits McGee set up right next to the river as close as she could get.
We lounged for a while and enjoyed the cool air, the shade, and the quiet, although the river was very loud. It was more difficult to talk between us, due to the river noise, so we mostly kept silent except for a few general comments here and there. I helped her get her new filter set up and ready to go. She loved it. We had a few drinks of cool river water and returned to our hammocks. There, we lounged for about an hour, just enjoying nature, enjoying thoughts, enjoying the solitude and the gentle breeze. I did some reading on my phone (The Hobbit), but mostly just enjoyed being in Nature. Great meditation time.
It was a wonderful evening. The sunset lit up the sky with a beautiful orange and reddish hue. And as the sun set further, the sky began to darken really quickly – the temperature began to drop quickly too. So, we packed up and made our way back to the car, and zipped home.
Most of the evening before passing out, I was marking up my Gaia Map app with areas we could possibly camp at. We want to get out again this weekend, and probably every weekend we can before winter hits. Winter is hibernation time and I just hide away for a few months.
More later...
/mg