3/31/11
So it’s Thursday but the adventure actually starts Wednesday night. After taking an uneventful (but still exciting by merit of where I was headed) ride on the south shore electric train, I began venturing into the nearby campground. It was already night and the moon was near new. That in combination with the fact that there was nearly no ambient light since the nearest city is several miles away made everything pitch black with literally nothing but the stars to guide me.
The stars, while I’m on that, were gorgeous. The lack of other light sources and no clouds made more stars visible than I’ve ever seen in a single night thought there were too many trees around for me to pick out the constellations.
Sound too was as scarce as light. Except for the occasional passing train which only lasted moments, one could hear the most distant and faint sounds, that is, if there was even that. No cars on highways, no critters scuttling through leaf litter, no rustle of wings in the night, no insects buzzing (admittedly it’s early for this one)….nothing.
The lack of light, sound, and very little clue about where I actually was going made the prospect of pitching camping for the night a bit daunting frankly. None-the-less, I found a suitable enough clearing beneath a resinous Jack Pine, cleared away some loose branches, pitched my single person tent, and crashed. I slept rather soundly and well considering that I accidentally set myself up with my head down slope and was ill prepared for the cold that set in.
Even with all that negativity though, that same lack of light and sound is part of what makes the park so amazing. Those features are ones that a person can never experience in the city and while the park is leaving a comfort zone, even for myself, the forced reality of nothingness that is present makes way for an almost blissful state of calm that really is threatening only when narrow mindedness rules.
To Be Continued
To Be Continued
