Waptus River, page 25

Upon reaching the road, we immediately headed for the closed campground, searching for water.  Much to my utter despair, the creek behind the campground was bone dry! I tried a water faucet outside one of the many bathrooms, then another – nothing.

Both Mica and I needed water badly.  Mica had slurped dirty-looking water out of a slimy swamp puddle a few miles back up the trail, but I had nothing since Hour Glass Creek.

I kept trying the faucets placed between every other campsite and finally found one that was working. I was in heaven! Even if the water did have a heavy metal taste, it was still wet. This particular campground is huge! There are well over 100 sites.

We picked out a site towards the back where the Cooper River meets the dry creek bed, but didn't set up the tent, partially because I kept expecting a forest service truck to roar up and roust us out.

In an effort to save my last freeze-dried dinner, I had another non-dinner of hazelnuts, M&Ms, and an old Granola bar that I found in the very bottom of my food bag. Gee… I didn’t buy any granola bars for this trip; they must have been in the food bag for years! Oh, well … I suppose it's about as edible as the day I brought it home from the grocery store. What is the shelf-life of these things, anyhow?

Fortunately, Mica still has quite a bit of dog food left and doesn't seem to view my voracious appetite as any real threat to her Purina stash.

– Keep reading.