I woke up before day break and just stayed in bed. I didn’t exit my tent until 7am. The sun was just tipping over the mountain
and it took another two hours before it reached my tent. It was a bright summer sun at 88
degrees. 
I drove ten plus miles on 30 mph mountain road to Thunder Knob Trail at the north end of Colonial Creek. I had thought of staying here the first night or last two nights. When I drove by, the overwhelming energy of weary fatigue in the aura at the entrance kept me moving on. Today I had a good look at the campground. My initial feeling that made me move on was right on. Those who have used the place really unloaded a lot of toxins. Nature has yet to recycle it all. So the place feels crummy with beautiful potential. There are a few sites off the creek and off the lake beaches. The lake itself like the other ones has a dam. The dam is an interruption of the flow and is overworked. The clean glacial water is a good presence. The lake looks a little worn out too. I had a peek at it on my way in and I didn’t stop for it. This campground is off i20 and so the road traffic is loud.
I strolled around the Trail of Cedars. I really enjoyed this short trail, it was beautiful. I had this thought while on the trail, an impulse to get up middle of the night and paint the sky .
I returned at noon to start a fire for cooking. I used the Ponderosa Pine and chopped it into smaller pieces. Pieces of wood were flying everywhere. It was a bit dangerous. I felt great chopping wood. It’s a skill I am working on. I used the wood to start the charcoal and this was a fast process, better than newspaper. I laid on the hammock and ate corn while I waited for the rest of the food to be cooked. What a nice way to spend the rest of the day. I am burned in three different places, adding to my cooking scars. I looked up while laying on the hammock and noticed the belly of the black bird with cream stripes who had a cream belly.
I was on the verge of falling off the bench seat when I
caught myself and hung onto the table and sank down where the knee
clamped. Those monkey bar early
childhood days muscle memories really kicked in as if it was yesterday. I really would have seriously hit my head,
hurt my neck and back if I hadn’t caught myself.
My wrist is still swollen and both my feet hurt today. Even my left arm hurts. I hope to be in better health tomorrow. Why am I in so much pain? Even my tail bone hurts. My ankle burned tonight.
So quiet and calm here, I found it ideal and
beautiful. If not for the ten months of
downpour rain, I could live here and be content. I really like this area of campsites. Energy moves, and things heal, recover, and
regenerate. I don’t feel the same about
loop A or C. The sun sets behind me at
7pm, it is beautiful each time.
A part of me wants to just chill and do art, stroll
around. The other part of me thinks I
can exercise at camp. Then there is
another part that screams, “Screw this injury!
Just hike all day every day.”
I met two men from Boston tonight. They make this their annual trip. They said anything above a tree line you need
an ice ax. The ice ax is used when you
slip through a crevasse or the ice. When
you are on a breakaway, it is used to step the fall or climb yourself up. Well, then that takes some things off my list here since I don't have an ice ax and won't know how to use one even if I had one.
At 9:20pm the sky turned grey brown and the wind rolled
in. It was suddenly chilly. I had to put on long sleeves. It was dark a whole half hour earlier than
usual. I also felt phantom hunger.
