MLK Camp

The Adventurer, Vernon Wade

Vernon was born in the Pacific Northwest and still lives in the shadow of Mt. Hood, near the small town where he grew up. Vernon has spent decades wandering the hills, hunting mushrooms, camping and riding motorcycles into the remotest nooks and crannies to be found in the region.

1/20/25

Jason, Andy, Walter and I hauled into Plan B for an overnighter Sunday afternoon and came home Monday, MLK Day. It didn’t reach the predicted low of 17f (-8) but is was pretty chilly at 24f (-4). We managed to stay warm and had an enjoyable outing in the woods.

Andy got an outside fire started while Jason organized our gear and I pegged down the tipi.

It was convivial sitting there huddled around the warmth of that blaze as the shadows lengthened and the woods grew dark. We had venison taco things for dinner, roasted in foil, followed by hot toddies with Irish whiskey, Shanky’s and a slice of lemon.

Eventually, we took our cocktails and sat around the fire inside the tipi until we got tired.

Jason sat staring at the fire long after Andy and I had hit the sack, too mesmerized to go to bed.

I got up to piss a couple of times in the night. It was 24f at 1am It was still 24f at 7:30 and never really got any warmer for the duration of our stay.

I had planned to fry up some bison chorizo scramble for breakfast, but Andy forgot the the cast iron skillets. Fortunately we were able to salvage the foil from last night’s dinner so we had taco things again for breakfast, baked over the coals. Roasted bison chorizo, potato,cheese, onion and egg, folded in a tortilla, wrapped in foil and roasted on the fire.