Cold!
The Kia’s windshield after scraping
It’s cold here, the coldest camping weather we’ve had for some time. Tuesday night, Wednesday morning it got down to 24°F, according to our outside thermometer. Barnie’s water bowl outside had a thin layer of ice on it. I know this isn’t newsworthy to some, but remember, we’re from the Florida coast.
Wednesday morning I got up early to go hiking, planning to leave a little before sunrise. No camping trails at Starved Rock leave from the campground, so unless I want to walk about a mile along a highway, I needed to drive to the trailhead. I wore more layers of clothes than I’ve warn for a hike before. It was going to be the coldest hike I’ve done, at least as a flabby civilian. I chose the clothing well. I was fine; I even unzipped by fleece.
Before leaving for our hike, though, I had to overcome a bit of adversity: the Kia’s windshield was completely frosted over. I stared at it a moment: Well, now what? I remembered we bought a scraper in Vermont a couple years ago; now I was hoping I could find it. I did. I then commenced scraping. It took a bit but I got it, then we drove off. I still could barely see through the windshield, so I drove at a crawl through the campground while the defroster did its stuff.
The effort was worth it. Barnie and I got out to a popular hiking destination, LaSalle Canyon, before anyone else got there. It was a special place. I’m glad we got out there early enough to be alone there. On our way back, we passed by people going to the canyon. None seemed like people I’d want to share the moment with.
Last night it only got down to 27°F, but it sure felt as cold, if not colder when I went out to take some pictures at sunrise.
LaSalle Canyon, as seen from the waterfall area. No water was falling.
Barnie sits by a bridge on the way to LaSalle Canyon.