That Saturday, he arrived at about 5:20 on campus. I grabbed my backpack and walked out to his car. We got food at a fantastic restaurant on High Street in Columbus called Ali Baba's. This was near my friends Nneka and Laura's apartment, so I popped in and said hi.
Robby and I ate our platters (I had the veggie platter and he the lamb) as we drove on the highway to our destination. It became dark very quickly (it already was dusk when we departed). That drive was quite memorable and enjoyable; there was a great feeling of excitement and joy, and the food was delicious, and we just talked passionately about society.
We talked about things like dancing and inhibition, and how being around people who are willing to dance with you make it so much easier to disinhibit yourself. We talked about how for us, the biggest worries in life were being anxious about being yelled at or judged. I thought of how, if everyone had what they needed to survive, and nobody was judgmental, and more people were connected to their humanity, everyone could be so happy.
At one point as we drove, we took a detour at an intersection simply to explore and see what there was. There wasn't much, but it was worth it to check, haha. I believe we saw some sign that sounded interesting.
Finally, we arrived. We peed in a forest near the visitor's center, and then started to register ourselves to a campsite. We stopped and drove to look for a campsite, and saw the old primitive sites that we had stayed at during our first visit to Hocking Hills.
These sites were closed, however, so we went back to the registration site to reorient ourselves and figure out where the non-electric sites were. When we got back to the visitor's center, a park ranger pulled up in his truck and came out to talk to us. He helped us figure out where to go, and was extremely fun. Once again, I am impressed at how unintimidating and friendly park rangers are, especially for being authority figures. This is how all authority should be. I wonder if all that nature just gets to their souls and makes them absolutely open and happy.
The ranger also told us that we had missed the big annual winter hike (I had heard about it before online), and that they had about I believe he said 3,500 or maybe 350 people. Either way, a very impressive number. It is good information for the future.
We thanked the ranger and made our way to the campsites, which we realized were the same we had used during our spring trip. Well, we saw two other groups camping, which was quite good to know; we told ourselves we HAD to talk to other people who were around, and were looking forward to it. One had two people who were already in the tent, shining their lights around. Another was chattery and lively, and had a good fire going. So we walked over to say hi to them.
They were very friendly, and many were from Columbus, and others from some place in Indiana. One worked at a bike shop called Bare (Baer?) Wheels (which he told us the next morning). Anyhow, we sat down wtih them by the fire and introduced ourselves. They told us about themselves as well, and pointed out one of the girls who had not been camping often. We were impressed that she was winter camping on her second trip only. They offered us ale, but we didn't want any. We did, however, have some cold s'mores they gave us, which were delicious. My pants were getting soaked a bit, so one gave me a perfect sitting log. They were a bit tipsy, and one had actually commented that she had never gone camping and stayed sober. Which was sorta shocking to me. I can certainly see the appeal of drunken camping, but to not be sober in nature ever is quite a shame. But we finished talking and departed.
We walked to the resevoir (Lake Rogers) to sit around. We passed by a small ampitheater (I remember seeing it last time), and did some shadow puppets on the screen. For some reason, we have this fascination with ampitheaters. I guess just the strangeness that they are always at nature parks, and the appeal of the idea of everybody gathering round to watch a good old fashioned performance or speech. And, perhaps, also our love of performing ourselves.We continued on, past the bathrooms, and past a large encampment of boyscouts. They were mostly in this picnic structure, though some were by a fire. We said hello but they said nothing.
The path was icy and we had to do what we called the "Pow-wow walk" to prevent ourselves from walking too hastily and slipping. We just stomped hard with each step. We also joked that "Two white men by the fire is worth one Indian slipping in the ice."
Well, we finally got to the resevoir, and walked down the steep, slippery hill to the actual shore. It was beautiful. There were thick winter clouds above, and the lake was frozen over with varying patterns of ice and powdery snow.
We simply gazed out at the lake, and then lied down and stared at the moving clouds, which were beautifully eerie and strangely nostalgic. We crossed the small bridge and looked at the forest, which, despite the darkness, was strangely unimposing and clear due to the blanket of snow and the bare broad-leaf trees. We hiked for a short while on trails that went along the lake shore, talking about how it was quite scary, and then turned back and returned to the campsite.
We got back to the campsite and started setting up the tent. I believe we saw our friends from the other campsite while we did this. The tent finally got up, and we took all these blankets from Robby's car and put them in there. It was quite a cozy setup.
We then snacked on some cold, fluffy pancakes he had made previously. He said they didn't taste good, but when we ate them, they were absolutely wonderful. They hit the spot perfectly, especially when combined with that cool, fresh water. We also ate a piece of chocolate bar that Robby had accidentally pilfered from the people we met.
As I wrote in my journal and read, Robby played some Alan Watts on the good old portable speakers. Perfect example of how nature and technology blend wonderfully when done right. Finally I "went to bed" at ten. At midnight, my mom had called, but I did not answer. At the time I didn't know who was calling, I just knew I did not want to answer.
It was strange. All throughout the night, I was not sure if I had fallen asleep or not. I was very aware of being awake it seemed, and every time I "woke up" I wondered if I had actually been asleep at all. I even had a dream that I was in a cold tent (albeit a very big, festival-esque one), trying to stay warm, and that Bryan was all sarco-mummied up (which Robby was in real life). At one point, our friend Derek came in and was wearing only a T-shirt and shorts, which Robby and I both felt seemed like something he would do in real life.
At around 4:00am, I awoke, again unsure if I had been asleep. I went out to pee, because my need to pee was making it harder to fall asleep. Robby did too, and when he did it (I didn't have my glasses on at first), he gasped at the fact that the sky had cleared, and there were stars. How strange and magical that they would be out at this opportune time.
Click for a better look!
And so we just lied in the tent for a bit, doors open, and stared at the stars. They were so bright, so refreshing to see, so beautiful...
We started talking about/in the Native American accent that we had been using. We laughed hysterically, I remember, about a variety of things, but mostly the accent and the fact that we were using it. It was a great mid-night happening.
I fell asleep again, this time dreaming that we were at Lake Rogers (though it seemed more like a swimming pool), and Robby was impressing a crowd by walking across water (he was at the place where the ground is right where the water is, forming an illusion). I was acting surprised, but then went to do it myself, but for some reason it did not work and I ended up swimming in the water.
Well, we awoke at 7:00 and hiked over to Lake Rogers. We wanted to watch the sunrise, and we hiked around a bit through the forest trails. It seemed it was too cloudy to see the sunrise.But as we were making our way back to the campsite, we could see the glowing disc of the sun through the trees. It was beautiful, and the colors cast themselves across the sky.
We packed up our tent and put everything in the car, and then headed off to find a grocery store for breakfast.
We ended up finding a local, small supply store that had everything we needed. There was an old woman, Pat, and an old man, we think Everett, working there. We bought flour, bacon, eggs, a can of chilly beans, a block of pepperjack cheese, oil, wood, and firestarter.
We came back to the campsite and began preparing for the breakfast feast. We lit up a fire, and Robby got his newly bought iron skillet out. We oiled it up after it got hot and Robby cooked six eggs on it. I then took flour and water and a bit of oil and mixed it all with a chopstick in Robby's new camping cup (a gift from Sun-Jan). The cup was PERFECT for stirring dough. Robby put the eggs into a different cup of the same camping set, and cooked up the bacon. After cooking the bacon, we used the bacon grease for our flatbread/frybread. It was so fun to press that dough into the perfect discs, and then cook them up. Definitely becoming a camping tradition.
It was all so delicious, and we feasted indeed. Finally, we cooked up those chilly beans, which we both thought an odd choice (but when I had seen they had "medium sauce" flavor, I thought they might be good). They proved to be delicious, like miniature potatoes in a tobasco-esque sauce. We also cracked one egg into the skillet to mix it up a bit.
It should perhaps be noted that I am usually vegetarian, but temporarily abstained from my abstinence for this trip.
The Morning.
We also had offered food to the group we met the previous night, but they were heading off to bob evans. I found this funny considering we had gone there during the previous 2 Hocking Hills trips with more than 2 people.
Well, we said goodbye to them, and then warmed ourselves by the dying fire before heading out. The fire felt extremely good on my cold hands.
We packed up all our trash and stuff and made our way to the trails. But first, we had to find a gas station. We drove all around, and finally made our way to the town Logan. I drove to the station because Robby wanted to look at the map. We filled up, and Robby's inner fat man kicked in, so we stopped by walmart to get some softee donuts, some cheese dip, some townhouse crackers, and bananas.
Shameful. Also, that dog.
We then made our way to Cedar Falls. We stopped first at a bridge and walked over it and met a friendly old couple. We talked to them about the falls as we realized we were going the wrong way.
We drove over to a different trailhead and did a short hike to the falls. But first, we saw a large rock wall.
We got to the falls, and there was a huge group of hikers who were on the trail as well. That didn't stop us from climbing up on the rocks and sliding carefully across the frozen waters. Icicles were hanging from the overhang above, and the waterfall was partially frozen, with water trickling beneath the translucent ice.
We messed around for a while and took pictures. I could have sat on that rock for hours just taking in the scenery and the air. It was quite beautiful.
As I clamored over the rocks to make it back to the main trail, I saw a disgusting sight: someone had stuck a food can underneath one of the rocks, and it had mold growing all over it. Robby also saw caution tape, though that may have been tied there on purpose. But it was also an eyesore, completely disrupting the natural beauty.
So we took the trash, hiked out, and threw it away. We then drove a while to good old Rock House. It was so beautiful and it still impressed me at how massive the "house" was, despite my having been there before.
We looked around in awe, and then we had to climb down and go down the Rock Slide.
At the end of the slide was a huge, icy waterfall. It was incredible, and we watched it for a while, just lying in the snow. The different layers if icicles, the drips of water like evidence of life from a once lively creature, now in hibernation...
We hiked back to the parking lot and just sat in the snow for a while, taking in the winter atmosphere.
After this, we went to a place up north we had both not been to called Cantwell Cliffs. We hiked on a trail surrounded by huge rocks and went through a tight place called "Fat Woman's Squeeze." We hiked around until we saw a massive mound of ice in the center of a large, ampitheater-like cavernous structure. Icicles hung down from its walls.
This is not the Fat Woman's Squeeze. That was actually even narrower.
We walked carefully until we were able to climb down and get next to the ice structure. It was very precarious because of all the ice-covered ground.
It really was like an amphitheater, by the way. Here's the proof:
I wonder if Native Americans once used it as such. They were known to roam around in this park.
We ran into a few people and talked. One of them seemed like he was from Somalia or that general region. He probably lived in Ohio, but it made me wonder how well known this state park is around the world. We asked where he had hiked to, and he told us he saw another waterfall the opposite way of the big ice mound.
So we went through the Squeeze again and hiked a short distance until we saw it. It was grand, but after seeing the mound of ice, we didn't want to keep hiking.
So after that, we headed out.
We got back to the familiar Powell and got some Greek food (Mediterranian again!) from Greek Express. Then we met up with Bryan at the condo and just hung around in peace after laughing hysterically while using Native American accents.Good times, good times.
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