Today into Weaverville and north into the Trinity Lake Wilderness area. Old town Weaverville is like a 19th century gold-rush time capsule. The museum downtown is packed with artifacts from this era and without an admission and a mere $2 suggested donation a real bargain. i felt bad that i had no small bills while i was there, so after getting some change a the coffee shop down the street i returned to put $5 in the jar. Any visit to the area should include a stop there, its really something. a corner of the upper level had a huge exhibit of period hunting rifles:
The museum also had two preserved jail cells in the basement that had been in use as late as the 1940s. Each cell still had their original pencil-graffiti drawn by the inmates:
I left town and headed north towards Trinity Center, then across the bridge and through the woods on a very primitive road to Jackass Spring, where i thought i was going to camp for the night. Once i finally got there i was so spooked out by the remoteness of it and the stinkeye from the hunters there that i was compelled to leave and retrace my path back to the highway...
Once back on the paved highway, i continued north to Trinity River campground and Eagle Creek, but they were both full. What i didn't know was that it was the first day of hunting season, and every campground was overflowing with camo-clad rednecks. while stopped at Trinity River campground, the host approached me and offered a spot to camp just outside the 'grounds, alongside the river, for free. i immediately accepted and marched down the trail to it, a secluded area 20 yards or so from the nearest site. The ground was all sand, a few feet from the river, and totally isolated from the rest of the park. i would have gladly paid for it had it been offered, but instead it was a freebie, and more private and safe than any pay-site...
Later that night i wandered over to the nearby campsite to share their fire and met Eddie and his band of hunters. There were nearly ten in their group, four of them were young boys. Two dads, one grandfather, four sons, and two or three family friends. everyone had a full camo wardrobe, their own ATV/quad, and they had an enormous trailer/RV with a full kitchen, bathroom, entertainment system, carpet, etc. Hanging alongside the trailer were the carcasses of the deer they had hunted, covered by a kind of sheet. As i approached them all sitting around their campfire, no one looked up or said hello, but they all just kept talking to each other. I said hello, and for a couple seconds there wasn't any response from anyone, and i thought that i may have made a big mistake invading their turf. Then a woman who was sitting there right next to me chirped "hi" and the camp host started introducing me to everyone around the fire. I was still a little uneasy so i just kept quiet and smiled at their jokes and gave simple answers. As the host got around to the woman next to me, he said, "and that sweet little thing over there is Lois". She turned to me and said "i'm crashing their party, too. i'm not with them, i'm camping over there," she explained, gesturing at the other side of the campground. At first, she was the only person there that talked to me, partly because i was kneeling right next to her. Eventually the rest of the group loosened up little by little, and soon i was a welcome guest, sharing their beer and my smokes. Lois, who looked to me (in the flickering campfire light) like an average 30-something eco-jock, was very friendly and polite towards me. I imagined her driving a Subaru and having a rock gym membership. it was kind of a relief considering the standoffishness of the rest of them.
Then Eddie, the owner of the trailer (and who appeared to be their fearless leader), served up the nights meal: freshly hunted venison, spaghetti, and salad. I've never had deer before, and i thought it would be rude to turn down his offers, so that night i ate part of the back of an animal that had been prancing around the woods only a couple hours before. It wasn't bad, actually. It was a lot like steak. But different.
After dinner is when things started to get a little...strange. Lois, who had been getting more and more friendly with Eddy, followed me out of the trailer where we had been eating and back to the fire where i was going to have a smoke (i was the only smoker). she asked to bum one from me, and when i held it out for her to take, she kind of took part of my hand with it. not a grab, just a touch, then coyly waited to be lit with it resting on her lips... [WTF?] i handed her my lighter, then sat down on the bench. a moment later, Eddy came out and they sat next to each other, being very chatty and calling each other "honey". Lois started giving him a back rub, and most of the others started going off to bed. first the host, then grandpa, and so on until it was down to me, Lois, and the two 40-something dads. By this time Lois and Eddy were getting very cozy with each other, but he was also kind of bossing her around..."get me a beer", or "take that pot off the grill". She went around cleaning up after everyone, taking dishes, empties, fetching beers, and even offering to clean up the whole trailer like it was her life's ambition.
Who was this person? traveling and camping alone, inserting herself into a crowd of strangers in the site next to hers and just slutting around with them? It was like she had known them all for years, but she had said they had just met...whatever it was, it weirded me out, and when my can was empty i escaped back to my sandy beach and crawled into bed. The campground host's introduction kept running through my mind, "...that sweet little thing over there..." The next morning, with a less-drunk mindset i decided i was probably jumping to conclusions, but nonetheless it was an experience that left a strange taste in my mouth.
I wish i had taken just a couple pictures. I left it back at my tent and didn't think it would have gone over too well for some dude to wander over to their camp and start taking pictures. Yet another situation perfect for my spy-camera fantasy. 100% candidness. the only problem with a button-camera is you cant frame your shot, just point your chest and find out later what you got..
i rose very early again to try my hand at more moonlight pics...
At about 6AM Eddy's crew tore out of the camp headed for the mountains and the days kill. A caravan of ATVs rumbled past me and up into the forest. As i drank my tea and packed up i could here their thumpers all around me in the distance. Once it was light enough to see without lamps, the gunshots started. Within 30 minutes i could hear a quad speeding towards camp on the highway: first kill of the day. I was mounting my bags and suiting up in my gear when he rolled in. It was one of the kids, with his first buck strapped to the front of his ATV, bleeding all over the place, a huge proud grin on his face. As i pulled my helmet on and got ready to get on the bike i heard an F350 Diesel monster truck coming around behind me. It was Eddy, on his way into town, and he pulled over to wish me a safe journey and gave me a big handshake; the kind where the outstretched hand is opened up like a fan and coming down from above around yours and grasped like you would the haft of an axe...the bro 'shake.
