My Backpacking Trip - Day 5

I was hoping I would get a chance to sleep in this morning since I was staying put for the remainder of my trip but a group of wild turkeys had other plans. I was (rudely) awakened by about a dozen turkeys clucking and gobbling and making this weird popping noise about 50 yards from my tent. I wanted to try to get some pictures of them but by the time I could get dressed in my tiny tent and then crawl outside they were gone.


Bluffs Backcountry Campsite Mammoth Cave National Park



I cooked breakfast and decided I would hike back to the car to unplug the cell phone charger so I would be able to drive home when my trip was over. I packed up some things I decided I no longer needed and hiked to the car. It was a little over three miles from the Bluffs campsite to the trailhead where I parked, so I had a nice six mile hike ahead of me. At the trailhead I sat at a picnic table, ate beef jerky for lunch, and called my kids. The cell phone signal was very weak at the trailhead and I couldn't get reception in the woods.


Some of the many hiking trails in the Mammoth Cave National Park


I hiked back to the campsite after my lunch, and since it was a warm day I decided to shower in the waterfall at my campsite. The water was absolutely freezing cold, like ice. I couldn't stand under the water for long because it was so cold, but it felt great to get clean. I cleaned my dirty laundry under the waterfall as well, spreading dirty clothes over the rocks that the water was beating onto where it fell.


My Own Private Waterfall


I spent the rest of the afternoon scouting around the campsite and dragging back any wood I could find for my campfire. After about an hour it was starting to get dark and I had an impressive pile of wood so I lit the fire. I sat roasting marshmallows and listening to music until after dark. Just after the sun went down the coyotes in the park became active.


Roasting Marshmallows



Being alone in the dark and hearing coyotes howling all around you is quite an experience for a city boy like me. I researched coyotes before I left for the trip and so I knew they were no threat to me; they eat mice and other small rodents, but it was still a little unnerving to hear so many coyotes all around me. Some were very close, at the top of the bluff above me and on the bluff next to mine, down the hill in front of me and up the next hill. Others were far off so they could barely be heard. At times I could hear a bunch of them snarling and growling and barking together, with the noises starting off quitely and working into a frenzy. I think they were hunting as a pack and would make lots of noise when they were making a kill. It could have been that the males were competing for females since it was early spring. At any rate, I had a good time sitting and listening to all the howling and snarling and being a little scared but knowing I had nothing to worry ab!
out.

The coyotes continued making noise long into the night, longer than I stayed awake. I retreated to my tent around 10pm and fell asleep to the sounds of growling, barking, snarling coyotes all around me.