I was looking to cut my drive in half today. So I found a shaded side road, and was careful not to pull the trailer further into this unknown road, since I wasn't certain about turning around.
Surprisingly a sign said this was the official Lewis and Clark Trail. My maps didn't even say that there was one. Nearby, a nice (walkable) bridge crossed a tributary stream. And there was another official sign.
In grade school, everybody heard about the Lewis and Clark Voyage of Discovery. I don't remember it seeming very interesting. But it should have been. Think how little support and infrastructure they had to lean on! It isn't surprising that a school kid couldn't put himself in Lewis and Clark's shoes.
Along the dirt road, there was a cluster of gigantic trees, over 2 feet in diameter, with remarkable bark. These were the best trees of the summer, for me.
How old is a tree of this diameter? Was it alive 220 years ago, in Lewis and Clark's time?
Walking along the road, I got a peek-a-boo glimpse of some brightness coming from close to the tributary stream. The surrounding forest was dark and dense. In fact it took a couple passes by this spot before I realized it was a campsite, for tenters or trekkers.
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| The perfect campsite, in the very center. No wonder I almost missed it. |
Looking into this more closely I saw how perfect this campsite was, so hidden, cool, shaded, and with water nearby! Never fond of tent camping, I had never appreciated this type of campsite before, perhaps because I was unwilling to put myself in others' shoes. You could say the same thing about most outdoors sports, other than my own. It is possible this is a general syndrome.
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