I couldn’t go camping Friday night because I have a busy morning on Saturday so I pushed up the schedule and went camping Thursday night. The weather was perfect and my lady friend had a new sleeping bag she wanted to try out. It got down into the upper 50’s, I think (around 15C?). It was cool enough to employ a sleeping bag, but I kept mine mostly unzipped all night.
The hike to our campsite took 20-30 minutes. I’ve slept at that site a few times, in the past. There is usually a nice stream flowing by, but the all of the streams are mostly dried up after months of below normal rainfall in the forest.
A few days ago, my friend and I also took a hike up Holsten Creek so I could test a new lens I bought for the camera I carry on my outdoor adventures (Panasonic Lumix G100). The lens I recently purchased is a Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8 zoom. I absolutely love it. All of the photos on this post were taken with that lens.
Regarding the status of Holsten Creek, the photo on the left probably tells you more than I could with words. It was taken shortly after the recent rains (Sept 30). I was hoping to find more water in the creek, but it did have a nice flow. I suppose most of the rain just soaked into the dry ground and got sucked up by thirsty trees.
In case you haven’t explored Holsten Creek, the creek has a surprisingly rocky and/or sandy bottom and it is not tidal. The flow is dependent on water draining from the large, swampy region to the north east. When the creek is low, it’s a great time to explore the bottom. The photo on the right gives you a glimpse of what you might find.
The last photo was taken further upstream on Holsten Creek on Sept 30 as daylight was slipping away. I probably got lucky, but I am pretty impressed with Panasonic’s optical image stabilizer (there is a power OIS built into the 12-35, f2.8 lens). I had to drop my shutter speed to 1/10th of a second even though I pushed the ISO to 1600. It gets dark really fast when you’re under a thick canopy. The image is surprisingly sharp, given the slow shutter speed. I also used a tree to help stabilize my camera which would probably get me to 1/30th of a second without a stabilizer.
I suppose it’s also worth mentioning that Fred and I have been trying to make improvements to the unofficial sections of the Weetock Trail. Hopefully, you can now find your way through on the south side. Just be wary of hunters, as we are entering deer season as I write this.
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