November 2002
Clear Springs Dayhikes

This weekend, Crew members Jessica, Maegan, April, Shannon, Stacy, Perryn, Gram, and Gramps had a camping trip at Clear Springs in Mississippi. Leaving the A&P at 6 p.m. Friday evening, the group set out for their three dayhiking trip. Arriving at the camp site at about 9:30 p.m., we set up camp in the dark. About an hour later, Brooks and two of his adventure racing friends visited us and brought a pumpkin pie; the three would be spending all day Saturday mountain biking the trails. After a few hands of double solitaire, the group went to bed only to be woken up many times by the driving rain out side of the tents. Saturday morning, we woke up to cool temperatures and hot breakfasts. The girls and Shannon had sausage and eggs; Perryn had an omelet that consisted more of mushrooms, cheese, etc, than eggs; and Gram and Grams had bannock bread and other yummy stuff. At 9:30, we started our hike with day backs. We walked up the steep road leading to the trail head and proceeded to do the back part of the 12 mile trial. While on the trial, we ran into, and almost collided, with Brooks and his friends. After 2 hours, we stopped on the trial for lunch and watched several expert bike racers go by. By 1:00, we were back on the trail. Maegan, who had been plagued by the Lisa, was suddenly afflicted by the Chris. One minute she was up and the next minute she was down.

By 3:00, we had finished our 7 1/2 mile hike and returned to camp. While Gramps and Perryn gathered fuel for the fire, the rest of us went off in search of little stuff to burn. Soon there after, Shannon was teaching Jessica, April, and Maegan how to build a fire, while Stacy tried to saw the thicker wood Gramps and Perryn found. A little while later, we had a blazing fire going as well as dinner. And a disappointed Shannon and Perryn sat on their tree trunk that they dragged over to the firering only to watch it become a seat instead of firewood. After dinner, we all sat around the fire toasting marshmallows and eating smores. After desert, Shannon drove back home so that he could play with his high school's jazz band at a benefit brunch the next morning. To cold to stay up any more, we all headed to our nice, warm sleeping bags for the night. Sunday mooring we all woke up to 30* weather. Without using any matches, Gram started a fire by burning newspaper in the coals left from the night before (what an awesome women!!) (she's not a woman, she's Gram). After simple breakfasts and noncooked bannock bread, we decided to hike a 1+ mile trail that took the group around the lake. After finishing the hike, we came across a playground. The girls and Perryn swung, slid down slides, and climbed up small rock walls until Gram said it was time to go. We arrived back at camp and took it down. After a tiresome weekend, the group returned to New Orleans at about 2 in the afternoon.

 

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