This is the long-awaited fourth and final installment in the series of entries about the Chain o' Lakes State Park camping trip.
Part Four: Do You Feel Moist?
On Saturday, while Eric was unsuccessfully fishing some time after we got back from canoeing, I took a quick hike down one of the trails leading away from the fishing area. Twisting lazily alongside the main lake, the trail took me all the way to the bridge over the first inlet we had taken earlier that day. There I sat, enjoying the beautiful sunny day, the low whisper of the thick trees all around, and the occasional sound of a passing canoe. After a truly zen-like twenty minutes or so, I made my way along the short quarter-mile path back to where Eric was fishing. He hadn't caught anything in all that time, and was ready to head back to the campsite. As he packed up, a father and his three young boys walked up carrying their fishing gear.
"You guys caught anything over here?" he asked.
"No. Not a thing," Eric replied, shutting his tackle box with a snap.
"Well I guess we'll try anyway. Go ahead boys."
As Eric and I headed back to the car not a minute later, one of the boys let out a squeal, "DAD! I got one!"
That sound you heard was Eric, who had been fishing in that exact spot for nearly an hour, smacking his forehead. I, meanwhile, about died laughing.
Back at the campsite, I began thinking. The short 40 minutes I spent walking the trail gave me the idea to take one last hike before heading home on Sunday.
And that's what we did. Upon packing up all of our gear Sunday morning, we checked out of our campsite and headed over to the short one-mile trail around the last lake we had floated on the day before. It was a little more overgrown and a little more humid than the trail I walked the day before, but it began enjoyably enough. About a quarter of the way along the trail we noticed how cloudy and hazy it was getting. At about a third of the way, we started feeling small water droplets hitting our skin. By the halfway point, it was raining. In no time, the pelting rain had soaked the four of us all the way through. Eric ran ahead to open the cars while Tasha and Michael sang a chorus of .
All of us eventually made it back to the cars. Luckily I was able to change into my dry pajama shorts and a borrowed shirt for the ride home. However poor Tasha had to wait until we made it to a gas station 15 minutes down the road from the park. The ride the rest of the way home was uneventful. We managed to get lost at one point, but that just gave us a chance to see some scenic country highways.
I sincerely thank the three friends who made the trip. I hope you all enjoyed the dry portions as much as I did.
