June 28, 2015 - Preparing to Leave Big Creek

I could not figure out what the emergency rescue was that was going on this morning. There was an extraordinary amount of talk on the radio for that hour.

We ate half of the cantaloupe that Boss Larry brought us yesterday. It was cantaloupe perfection. Andy raved about how it tasted like cantaloupe to him. He was thrilled and talked about it the rest of the morning. I guess taste buds do gradually recover from radiation. Thanks again Larry.

The morning campground walk went well. People were looking for sites and the campground was full before we left. I don’t think dispatch heard me when I gave the morning vacancy report.

We did a lot of talking with campers, but I was anxious to get back to the motorhome to prepare for leaving tomorrow. Andy packed up all the exterior things, except the folding chairs. I did laundry all day, including all the park shirts and fleece jackets.

We ate our meal earlier than normal and then I started making a batch of pecan praline cookies. I’ve made this same stupid mistake before, but was in a hurry and did it again. I toasted my pecans in the oven, but did not let them cool before adding them to the cookie dough. The hot pecans melted the butter and made the dough too soft. I suppose I could have put the dough in the fridge to firm up, but was in a big hurry. The cookies were flat and crispy. They were also delicious.

Spence and Linda arrived with a trailer carrying a Gator from Cosby. I hope that means they will take Spence’s Gator back to Cosby with them to get a new muffler. They used it to clean the ashes from the fire rings in the campground. With Spence spending so much time in Cosby this week, the fire rings were quite full. He is supposed to clean them out when the campsites are empty, however, the sites are only empty for a short time before new campers come in. They enjoyed some cookies before they left.

I packed up my camp host office and put everything into the car to take to the ranger station. Then I packed all my nature books (birds, trees, mushrooms, wildflowers) and park books (waterfalls, day hike, trails) back into the cabinet.

Rangers Heath and Will were supposed to come here to pick up money envelopes, but Will got diverted to the ongoing crisis. Heath came alone and told us the rescue on the radio all day was a girl, who is a classmate of his oldest son. Yesterday, she decided to climb up (I think Alum Cave) bluffs and, at some point, could not go up or down. She spent the night stuck up there. They got her off with a helicopter today. We had a nice campfire going even though it took us forever to get it started with the damp wood. Andy made a fire starter with some cotton balls and petroleum jelly wrapped in a paper towel.

We had heard Heath on the radio before he arrived. Some hikers had called the park to report that a horse, without a rider, had followed them off the trail. Dispatch called Heath to respond. Horse and rider were eventually reunited and then Heath called into say he was transporting some hikers to the Big Creek parking lot. We knew we would see him soon.

Andy and Heath went to the campground to get the money envelopes out of the iron ranger while I tended the campfire. Then we had coffee and cookies around the fire.