Backpacking Russell Brook

Backpacking Russell Brook.

Always loved the sound of my bike. But to hear it growling on the open road as I snaked my way north along 17A, towards Russell Brook Camp Ground is especially haunting. I am heading for one of my long weekend getaways. When a three day weekend comes along I like to go up into the woods and backpack for two days and two nights. Russell Brook Camp Ground is my chosen point of start as they are bordered to 155, 000 Square Acres of State Game Land. This is a lot of land and going backpacking surly gets you away from people which is the whole idea of backpacking. Gives me time to myself, allows me the fun of living off the land and sleeping under the stars for two nights.

Passing the exit for Roscoe I looked to the left where the sun would be setting over the treed mountains to get an idea of what time it was. The tops of the mountains and the sky had this reddish flare painted across them telling me that it was about 5:15, 5:30 or there bouts. My destination was the next exit. Little one, if you were not familiar with the area you could so easily pass right by it. It is little and it is not marked till you get to the end of the exit ramp. There the sign reads, Butternut Grove. What a neat name I always thought. "Where do you live?" "I live in Butternut Grove." Sounds like music. There it was, I pulled in the clutch and kicked the bike down into third and powered on to the exit ramp. Half way down the ramp I pulled the clutch again and kicked into second letting the clutch go without pulling the throttle, getting that tremendous back pressure and the high volume growl of the chopped 1967 Harley soft tail with its pan head, 72 cubic inch, straight piped mill. The sound bouncing back at me from the trees along the side of the road was breath taking. Birds, animals and the insects stopped to see what it was. Coming to the tee in the road at the bottom of the ramp, I leaned the bike way over to the right and rolled around the turn onto Butternut Grove Road which quickly disappeared into the woods that wound its way through the strong silent trees. Pulled the clutch and kicked back into third, pumping the throttle and then popping the clutch the bike surged forward. Pulled the throttle running up the RPM's, blasting the voice of my machine into the woods; the woods carried my sound. RPM's peaking I pulled the clutch again and again popping the throttle and popping the clutch once more put me back into fourth and I was rumbling up the little road that ran through the trees towards Russell Brook Camp Ground. A slow sweeping turn to the right and then another to the left and the entrance to Russell Brook was in sight. Surprised, I saw Charlie standing at the entrance like he knew I was coming. Throttled down and down shifted bringing the bike to a stop next to Charlie, I extended my hand to offer a hand shake.

"Only one thing can make that sort of sound come through these here woods and that would be you and your wondrous machine. How are you?" Charlie always liked my bike. Though he was not a bike rider, he knew something good when he saw it and he knew the person driving it knew how to make himself a part of the machine. I shut the bike down.

"Good to see ya Charlie, how's Doris?" Doris was Charlie's wife. He and her, their two camp hands and their four kids ran Russell Brook Camp Ground.

"She's great, heard you first and told me to come meet you and bring you to the house for Dinner." I stepped off my bike and we walked it together up to the barn where I had a space, always waiting, to get my bike in out of the weather and settled into a comfortable park. Damn if it doesn't sound like I am talking about a horse.

"Let me get cleaned up, get out of these road leathers and I'll be right there." Charlie walked out of the barn up to the house. He and Doris were really good people. Charlie knew that I had a military background and knew somehow that I had been involved with some really deep Vietnam shit but he never brought it up or asked about it. I pulled off my leather jacket and chaps, folded them and stored them in the saddle bags on the bike. Went to the slop sink and washed up, wetting my hair as well and combing it back, fixing it into a neat ponytail. I walked up to the house.

Doris looked over, put down the big kitchen fork she was poking a roast beef with, walked over to me and gave me a hug. "Been a while, how long you going to go up in the hills for this trip?"

"Oh, go out tomorrow morning and come back Monday morning and head back down. Got to go to University Tuesday morning, got a 9:00 class." Charlie was a lucky guy. Doris was a beautiful woman and had a figure that told you she kept herself in good shape. She also was no slouch when it came to working around the camp ground.

"You never get scared being out there all alone in the dark?" one of Charlie's kids asked as we were eating the roast beef dinner.

"What makes you think I am alone? There are the Deer, the Raccoons, the Squirrels, the Possums and all the birds and bugs. There is no way I am alone. Just have to understand that I, like all the other animals, are simply part of nature; no one in charge, just all living." The kids always wanted to talk about what it was like to go back packing out into the open woods for a couple of days. They knew that I had gone out one time for two weeks. Brought back a 28 pound turkey I had caught and we cooked it for dinner. Charlie let them sleep out in the yard once and a while and play around the camp ground, but 155,000 Square Acres of State Game Land? Well that is a lot of land and one could get into some serious trouble, very quickly, if they did not know what they were doing.

Dinner was great. Doris was a great cook. Dinner had been roast beef with mashed potatoes, gravy and side dish of peas and carrots. Of course desert was her famous Apple and Cheddar Cheese Pie. Charlie and I sat out on the porch after dinner smoking a couple of cigarettes and enjoying a glass of his home made wine. I am not a wine drinker, but Charlie could make some good wine. "What time you heading out tomorrow morning?"

"Oh I figure about 5, just before the sun comes up. Figure I will be heading basically North North West. Think I am going to go on up to Cables Lake and hang there. But I think I am going to try the ridge route that will bring me to Mud Pond. I'll firm it up with you tomorrow morning." As I said, Charlie knew I knew how to take care of myself in the open woods. But out of courtesy, I always gave him an idea where I was heading and when I would be back. About 9:00 I excused myself and headed out to the barn where I would sleep next