Sunday April 18th continues

After jumping the fence we found the trail blaze almost immediately. Back on the NCT. It wasn't exactly done on purpose but doesn't the Lord say somewhere in the Bible that the road less taken brings its own reward's? I know that isn't an exact quote but forgive me for taking a little artistic license.

Today TJ's family is supposed to meet us and take me to a hotel in Hastings. This would seriously hamper my ability to say that I hiked the entire length of the NCT in Lower Michigan in one season. I know that is a little thing but it is kind of a guiding principal of my quest.

The problem is that there are no hotels or campgrounds anywhere in the area and to be honest I am quite nervous about a first attempt at "Commando Camping". Commando Camping is the unauthorized, actually the owners of the land or the state have no idea, camping by individuals in areas not designated or approved for camping.

I knew that if I was going to complete my quest I would have to do this at least 5 times or that I would have to cover more than 15 miles in a day to reach authorized areas. The only campground I could have used tonight was still closed until May 1. I decided tonight was as good as any for my first experience at commando camping.

The trail map showed us that the rest of the trail or that day and a lot of the next is over the road. We are heading in the direction of Hickory Corners. When we had about three miles to go I asked TJ to call his mother to come pick him up. It was my intention to take them out to eat at the Hickory Inn when they arrived.

We reached the corner of Hickory Corner Rd and Kelly Road and sat down to wait for Sarah. TJ called her and found out she was at least an half hour away. I left TJ and my gear and headed down Kelly in search of a potential campsite. About a mile and a half down the road I found a candidate. I marked the entry point and headed back.

After I had gone about a mile I saw their car approach. Sarah, TJ, Amanda and Zach all came to get me. We went to Hickory Inn and found out that like a lot of other little town businesses they had closed at 2 p.m. that Sunday. We were told by some locals about a restaurant in Delton that we went to for dinner.

After dinner I was driven back to my campsite and off into the woods I went. I was quite apprehensive. Commando camping my first time.

I set up camp and crawled into what has turned into my most prize possession, Mr. Sleeping Bag. He is so important to me that I had to name him. I fell asleep quite early.

About 2:00 p.m. two events took place at the same time. I was awoken by the very loud sounds of nature and the extreme need to urinate. As I was laying there thinking about how cold it would be once I crawled out of Mr. Sleeping Bag I heard what sounded like a very large Buck close to my tent. He was snorting and pawing the ground very loudly. I think he was calling his girlfriends. This method never worked very well for me but each species has it's own techniques.

After awhile he left and I did my business. It was just as cold as I thought it would be. I slept peacefully with all the sounds of nature until early morning.