|
To help end the drought in Kentucky, Zac and I decided to go backpacking. We took every opportunity to NOT prepare for rain, hoping to ensure that it would, in fact, rain. We did not take any rain coats, extra clothes, change of boots, or pack covers. We did not even bring the rain fly for our tent (which only has mesh netting at the top). We invited it to rain. We challenged mother nature. Here is our story. |
|
| We prepared for our trip by carefully packing only the essentials. At the last minute, we decided not to take the three laundry baskets or the entire bag of animal crackers. | |
| We started our hike at the Buckskin Connector, which took us to the Buckskin trail. It was a little before 10am, and the sky was partly cloudy. Maybe it would rain… | |
| The clouds went away, the sun came out, and we hiked merrily along dusty trails. | |
| We took our first break of the morning at the water’s edge. | |
| Zac contemplates the significance of water. | |
| On our hike, we crossed over dozens of completely dry river beds. | |
| We ate our lunch in one of the many dry river beds. Still no sign of rain. | |
| We continued our dusty hike on into the afternoon. Our backpacks were becoming heavier and heavier… | |
| We stopped along this beautiful beach for an afternoon rest.
|
|
| We filtered some of the lake water to drink. Yum yum.
|
|
| This is still the same beach. We were reluctant to get up and keep walking. | |
| As the afternoon drug on, I frequently stopped to “check the map” and “drink water.” It had absolutely nothing to do with my being completely exhausted.
|
|
| We chose this beautiful spot to be our campsite for the evening. |
|
| The sky is still perfectly clear and blue. | |
| Absolutely no sign of rain… | |
| …despite the fact that we did not bring the rain cover for our tent. See the screens on the top? Rain can come right in. Would mother nature accept the challenge? | |
| The best part about finally stopping for the evening was we could finally take off our dusty boots and let our feet relax. | |
| For dinner, we had boiled moth larvae and maggots. (Ramen Noodles) We went to bed as soon as it got dark because we were just a little tired. |
|
| Alas, mother nature did not accept her challenge. We awoke to see a beautiful blue sky through the top of our tent. | |
| I had instant oatmeal for breakfast. Delicious.
|
|
| I began the day with a meditation on the nature of the world. Then it was back to hiking. |
|
| We finally made it to the Sheltowee Trace trail. Our final destination was the fish hatchery, near the Dam. However, we didn’t want to walk 5.5 more miles, so we took a shortcut–that actually was shorter. | |
| Near the end of our hike, Zac stopped to model how one ought to eat an apple. | |
|
There are no more pictures from the hike because we were just trying to get it over with. In the end, we had to ford a river, climb up a rocky embankment, and then we were at the fish hatchery. We sat down for a while. So it didn’t rain. But I think we at least alerted mother nature to the problem. A couple of days later, while on an early morning fishing expedition, it finally rained. But that did not dissuade the muskie. |
|
| The 31 inch muskie Zac caught (and released) in Cave Run Lake. Zac’s grandpa was our fishing guide for the morning. | |
| After our “vacation” it was back to work. | |