July 9th Hammondsport

July 9, Hammondsport, NY

Gina and Drew drove me to where I stopped 2 days ago. On the way there, we saw the police car hiding in the woods at the end of a long down hill, it is where Pat got his ticket the other night. It was a classic speed trap of old. A 1 1/2 mile up hill after being dropped off, 85 degrees, high humidity, took me 2 hours to reach the top, and then had a 2-mile walk on a slanted path. Question: When you get into camp, how do you know the direction of the hill's slant? You are tilted 3 inches to the left or right. I decided to make camp early this afternoon, the next bivouac area was 4 miles away and it was 3 pm, 3pm is an early stop, but it had been a hard walk in the heat, so I chose to stop, the guide page said there was a reliable water source near by, I looked at a dry creek bed just before the turn off to the campsite, no water, had enough for the evening and morning. Set up camp, then the thunder and dark clouds started showing in the sky. Got everything ready for rain. At 5 pm it stormed, I went into the tent. My creative solution to the zipper leak, i.e. my little tarp and 4 clothes pins worked fine, but there were some leaks on the sides once the fabric got saturated. Kept my sleeping bag dry, one of the things you want to do with down. Eat a cold rice dinner; it was soaking while I was getting camp ready. Some close lightening strikes, or at least they seemed close. Figured, under the circumstances, I was a safe as I could be on my plastic blowup mattress. The tent is ok for a rain shower, but not a storm. For some reason, this afternoon, I began thinking about how the old Eskimo, pre modern, survived. Now there is a survival skill far beyond my comprehension. I have read about the old ways, the skills and mind set to survive and carry on the community are amazing from just what little I know.