A Cold Night in CONG

I have been wanting to get a group of people together for camping for a while.  We've had a hard time finding a weekend that worked for most of us, so we had not been able to get it going.  Monday I decided that there was no need to wait for the weekend!  I got a couple of people to agree to a Thursday night camping adventure in Congaree NP.  I would have to get back to campus for class by noon Friday, but no big deal.

Tuesday everyone backed out.  By Wednesday I had a couple of other people interested, and we made a go of it last night.  I picked up Toby after I got out of class and we made it in to the park about a quarter 'til five.  The campsite was great.  Pretty removed from the parking lot, but fairly well removed from the other sites as well.  I had driven down to the park that morning to pick up the camping permit.  

We got everything out to the site, pitched the tent, then headed into the forest to collect firewood.  In CONG you are not allowed to bring in outside wood due to the risk of invasive species, you must collect downed wood in the park.  In this case, I believe the invasive species are tree diseases that are released into the environment when infected wood is burned.  Finding wood was a bit of a chore, I will invest in a hatchet that will make things easier.  We had to pass on a number of decent logs that we could not break down into acceptable fire-pit size.  I picked up a decaying log and found a salamander underneath it.  I've never seen a wild salamander, and he was pretty cool.  I think it was a South Carolina Slimy Salamander, but it's hard to say.  Different online pictures of the same type of salamander can look very different.  He certainly fit the slimy secretion part of the description! I don't think Toby found it to be as interesting as I did. 

Wood collected.  We set up camp, sort of, and enjoyed the weather while Toby played the guitar.  I've decided that this should be the cover of his first solo albumn:

As the sun was starting to set, we got the fire started and I spent some time chopping up veggies for hobo sandwiches---best-thing-ever!  Another grad student, Matt, showed up around 8--he taught until 6:45--just in time for dinner.  Dan and Emily came by to hang out for a little while. 

Dan and Emily, Dan is NOT stoned.

Emily just accepted an offer to join the program next semester, so she will be moving to Columbia this summer.  I'm excited for the two of them, but for myself as well, she's a pretty cool chick.

Toby enjoying his semi-grilled squash (i.e., raw but slightly warm) and Matt's music.

Dan. Wood.  Fire.

We spent the evening enjoying the fire, the beer, and the occasional mathematical conversation.   I think my favorite was the heated Sasquatch debate!

By the time Matt and I headed into the tent where Toby seemed to be sound asleep (until I took the blanket that he had unwittingly ganked from Matt and replaced it with the extra one I was letting him borrow), it was pretty damned cold out. 

WE ALL FROZE!!!

When we headed out to the woods, Toby was under the impression that he would be fine sleeping in the clothes he was wearing.  I told him he could use my extra blanket.  Matt brought a decent blanket, but the floor of the tent was cold as ice.  I gave him my sleeping pad.  At least with the sleeping bag I had something separating me from the ground, I figured I could spare the pad. 

I don't think any of us really slept.  I woke up at some point in the wee hours of the morning and Matt was gone.  I immediately took my sleeping pad back!

When it was light out (though the moon had kept things pretty bright all night), we ventured out into the cold and were greeted by plenty of frost, and a cool-box that had iced over.  Our toes got the worst of it.  Toby and I collected some more wood and got a fire going enough to start the thaw out the tips of our toes.  I headed back to the parking lot to get a pan for boiling water for hot chocolate (and rum), and found Matt sitting in his car, engine running!  I was relieved to hear that he had just started the car and had not been funneling exhaust into the air of the national park all night. 

We made a variation of our supper hobo sandwiches for breakfast.  The raw veggies that were left over from the night before were perfectly frozen, and we met with foil wrapped success again.  We had planned to do some paddling, but instead just relaxed, never venturing far from the warm fire, until it was time to break camp and get to class.

Good trip.  Hopefully next time (a full weekend trip two weeks from today) we will be warmer, but I'm looking forward to it either way.