Dreamy Anticipation

Have I written about this before?  My love of anticipation?  How I think it is the most under-rated emotion?  Joy, like Hate are spontaneous emotions.  Anticipation, like Compassion, only gets better with time.

So it was with great anticipation that I packed up Beagle; I “knew” my campground was on Hume Lake; I was day-dreaming like crazy about how I would swim in the lake every day after walking the Noses around the three mile lakeside trail (planning to do it twice with Opus.)  I packed two bathing suits, my serious, let’s get some exercise one-piece suit and my serious, let’s get some sun, bikini.  Walking, swimming, reading (there is no cell service at the lake), writing.  Three nights, maybe four, of discovering what my mind will do when left completely to its own devices.  

And then it was with great consternation that, when Google said, “Take the next right onto Highway 245”, leading me away from Hume Lake, that I replied, “I certainly will not.”  I figured Google had it wrong, you know, because that happens every day.

Eventually I pulled over and realized my mistake; while making the reservation for Hume Lake, Eshom Campground popped up as having availability for my dates.  I just assumed that Eshom was the name of the campground at the lake.  Such a rookie mistake, I can hardly believe it.

Not wanting to give up on my lovely daydreams, I still drove to Hume Lake.  It was packed.  I mean packed!  Kids everywhere, multiple tents in a single campsite; all the reasons I do not usually camp this time of year.  I drove through and pulled off Hume Lake Road to study some maps—having arrived at the aforementioned cellular dead zone.  By now it was getting close to three.  I could see from the map that getting back to Eshom would take some time and also realized that it would involve a twisting, narrow, perhaps not even paved road—too much to take on right then.  I needed a Plan B for the night.

I drove up Highway 180 to a private campground and the manager showed me the sites available.  It was basically a field off of the highway although (and I give him great credit for this) he was serving ice cream.  I told him my tale and asked about the roads to Eshom.  “Your rig might make it…maybe…going the back way.  You will have better luck going back down to Highway 245.”   Three words you never want to hear when someone is telling you how to get to a campground:  Might, Maybe and Luck.  Turns out I needed two out of three but that is tomorrow’s story.

It was too hot and dry to stay in his sunny meadow so I hopped in the car and turned back toward Hume Lake.  I had seen a couple of pull off areas in which I could stash myself for the night but as luck would have it, just off of Highway 180 I saw a beautiful boondocking spot nestled among the giant trees.  I pulled over, walked back to the site, saw how I could get Beagle down and, more importantly, back up, returned to Beagle and backed her in. 

It was a great site:  Quiet, with only the occasional car passing by on the highway and after dark I counted only two until I drifted off to sleep.  Across the street was a Forest Service road which the Noses and I enjoyed for an evening walk.  We repeated it the following morning during which we paused to wonder at a giant bear print.  Wonder, not like, “wow, nature” but more like “hmmm, why are we out here without our pepper spray?”

Opus and I felt like we were just getting started after returning River to Beagle so we left her in the cool, shadowed car and set off down the still deserted highway.  After half a mile or so I noticed a creek running alongside the road, about thirty yards below.  And then the Deal Maker, a large, flat, sun-filled rock just at its edge.  We headed down through the rocks and brush.

Once at the rock, a small pool revealed itself; the creek gurgling over the rocks and fallen trees, splashing into a clear, shallow pool.  It was a mini oasis completely hidden from the road.  Time for a mini swim. 

Have you noticed that sometimes you are fortunate enough to have people in your life that enhance it whether you are with them or not?  I am fortunate right now to have three such people:  Whether together or not, one keeps me sane by reminding me to laugh at myself and life’s foibles; one keeps me exploring new sides of myself; and one constantly reminds me of what I truly want in life.  So it was with a nod to TWGPT that I stripped down to the suit you are never without, waded into the pool and dunked myself under; he had just done so on the other side of the Sierra’s.

It was cold, I could only dunk under twice before making my way back out to that sunny, flat rock.   As the sun dried the droplets from my skin, I gazed down the valley, grateful to have spent so much time day-dreaming about Hume Lake and savoring the delicious tangibility of the here and now.

-K