CLEAR SPRINGS, HOMO CHITTO NATIONAL FOREST
September 26-28, 1997
This was a car camping weekend. I don't car camp very often because I go camping to get away from crowds and a crowded campground is just as bad as a crowded city street. Clear Springs campground in Homo Chitto National Forest is about one of the nicest campgrounds I've been in. Sixteen and a half miles of hilly hiking and biking trails, a thirteen acre lake, will kept and clean rest rooms and showers.
I got packed and loaded Friday morning, had a good lunch and a nap and got on the road at 2:30 PM with my little solo canoe on top and off road bike inside the car. I arrived at the campground at exactly 4 PM. Some of our group were already there so I chatted a while, got my tent set up, then I put my canoe in the water and practiced axles, posts, christies and bow jams for about a half hour then I had a light supper because I'd had a big lunch.
After supper we all gathered in one campsite for camping talk, tall tales, big lies, world shaking discussions, light jokes and what have you. The agenda for Saturday was to hike the ten and one half mile trail so by 9:30 just about everyone had gone off to bed.
Saturday morning was delightfully cool. Long sleeved shirt and long pants felt good. After breakfast everyone busied himself with washing breakfast dishes, fixing lunch and getting ready to hit the trail.
Precisely at 9:10 AM we stepped onto the trail. Of course right off there was a long uphill stretch. We were warmed up by the time we got to the top. The trail goes up and down steep little hills along ridge tops and along creek beds. The scenery varied. There were tall pines, big leaf magnolias, French mulberry with little purple berries. Some places had a lot of undergrowth others none. Cardinal flowers were blooming along the creeks. Most of the creeks were dry or had very little water indicating a dry August and September.
We ate lunch along the trail, exhausted our water supply and even though we enjoyed the scenic trail we were all glad to stagger into camp at about three. After a short rest and a snack I pulled my canoe into the water, practiced more strokes, took a swim and then showered and put on clean clothes and prepared to fix dinner.
I had been sort of lazy about cooking on camping trips lately going for dried foods that only needed boiling water added. This time I thought I would eat well. I grilled a sirloin steak, cooked some whole wheat pasta and put pesto sauce and Romano cheese on them. This along with Italian green beans took care of my hunger pretty well.
Mike Murphy had brought his mountain bike so he and I planned to ride the five mile trail Sunday morning. Most of the others planned to hike it. After breakfast -- cheese grits with baco-bits and cafe-o-lait -- we started out. The trail started with a long uphill stretch and since it is very difficult to mount a bike going uphill we walked up this first hill. After that we rode up all the hills, and there were quite a lot. After four miles of this I realized I was getting well past my recommended maximum heart rate on the hills and building up quite an oxygen debt so I walked the hills for the last mile and Mike did too.
We arrived back in camp about an hour and a half before the hikers so we both took a nap until they got back about noon. After lunch we started breaking camp. I got everything loaded, put the canoe on top, took a shower and put on clean clothes for the ride home. Great trip!
Hulin Robert