11-11-2025 Hikes

Woke up around 5:30 and eventually got up around 6:00. I went for an early morning hike down to Doane Pond and then around the campground. Was nice and quiet, although our neighbors also got up the same time as I did. I had some bread and jam, then made some toast while listening to an old episode of This American Life. Ann was still in the tent at 8:30 when I roused her for breakfast. I made a bunch of steel cut oats and coffee, and we finished off the dessert from the previous evening. Cleaned up the campsite, then we went for a hike up the fire road. It was nice and shady for the most part but slippery with leaves in spots. I would get ahead of Ann and then stop to wait for her. After a little over a mile we turned around and walked back down, then over to Doane Pond again before heading to the campsite. All of our neighbors were gone by the time we got back and it was a very different vibe. Ate PB&J sandwiches for lunch, then I read in the tent and had a nice nap. Ann came in and napped a little too, after which we chopped the vegetables for dinner and set them to marinade in Italian dressing. I took the shade cover down, turns out we didn't really need it. The flies were annoying for a time on Monday afternoon (as well as on my ride up) and during the Tuesday morning hike, but they largely disappeared when the temperature cooled down. Ann made frozen lemon drops with her battery-powered blender, and we drank them in the afternoon. We grilled the vegetables, vegetarian sausage, and chicken over charcoal in the dark, it turned out pretty well. I had been cleaning the dishes along the way, so after-dinner clean-up was easier. Packed stuff back into the car and again got into the tent early, around 7:20. But I was still tired and went to sleep fairly quickly. I finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's Service Model, a dystopian story about a service robot and a human who go in search of answers to find meaning in their lives. It was decent, not great.