When you camp during the week you avoid all those people that can’t help but bring their obnoxious modern life to the wilderness.
We went to Oscar Scherer State Park last Wednesday for 3 days, 2 nights, just before a different crowd flooded in for the weekend. It’s a good thing, too, because our last trip to Wekiva Springs overlapped a Friday night, where we noticed a big change in the campers. The main point of contention is the need some mid-30s people have to play their radios at their campsites. You know, the type that opens up their car doors to do so. I don’t want to hear your bad radio rock, nor your good indie post-folk alt-country. I’m here to get away from it all, especially you talking on your cell phone.
So don’t be an asshole. Don’t play music at your campsite.
Ok, now more about our trip. Scrub and sugar sand, be damned! That’s a joke. I’m not advocating the leveling of the scrub and the planting of housing communities in it’s stead. Some people find the scrub beautiful. Apparently it’s a good place to bird-watch. Instead, give me tall trees, greenery, and rich, dark soil. I’ve seen scrub all my life. It’s no fun to walk in. You feel like you’re in a palmetto desert. And though burrowing wolf spiders are cool, they’re creepy as hell.
Regardless, many of the trails at Oscar Scherer were beautiful. Our camp site was small, cozy, and right by the river. We heard plenty of raccoons and other animals crunching leaves and sniffing around during the night (1am and later). Apparently, they don’t eat fish scales.
Some squirrels, cardinals, doves and other birds tried to be our friends but we told them to go away by not giving them any food. The most important thing is that I didn’t think about my day job at all. But there was one time I thought about Greaterscope for about an hour in the middle of the night. Sometimes I can’t help myself.
