When Sam asked if we could get away on a last minute packrafting trip over the 4th of July, we decided to pull out a route that I’ve had in my back pocket for a couple years. It’s nice that I’ve been doing this long enough to have route ideas just sitting around, waiting to be done. The temperature in Shades State Park, Indiana, would be in the high 80’s, and scattered thunderstorms were forecast. But it was a short route with ample opportunity to get wet and stay cool, so we decided to take our two little pomeranians on their first ever backpacking trip.
After driving 90 minutes west, we started hiking at the Hickory parking lot and headed downhill toward Sugar Creek at Steamboat rock. Once there, we took a break and played with the dogs in the water after putting on their tiny PFD’s. Puppaluppagus and Chiggowich are not big fans of swimming, we learned. After a couple hours of playing, eating, and blowing up packrafts, we put in on Sugar Creek a hundred yards east of Canoe Island.
The dogs eagerly stood up and looked out as we floated downstream. After the novelty wore off, they laid down inside the boats and napped, tired from the mile walk down to the river. I guess it’s harder when your legs are six inches long. The blue skies turned darker, and we heard thunder in the distance. It was so hot outside we were happy for the rain.
We took out at the Canoe campsite and I set up the tent as Sam had to hold the little one while she was shivering from being cold in the rain. We dried off and fell asleep. Chiggowich had a fever though, and peed in the tent twice throughout the night, after first vomiting on my sleeping pad. The next morning she had all her excitedness back and was eager to get moving.
We hiked the backpacking trail back to our car in the parking lot. We cheated on our planned route a little by driving the mile and a half to the Pine Hills Nature Preserve parking lot, where we got back on the trail and headed east, down to Sugar Creek. There were 30 or so 4th of July revelers hanging out at the confluence of the two forks of Sugar Creek. The weather was perfect as we got back on the water and floated downstream. It was growing late, so we took the boats off and walked trail number 5 up the ridge back to the Hickory parking lot again, where Sam waited with the exhausted dogs while I went and got the vehicle. After 28 hours at a very relaxed pace, we were heading out of the park.
We ate Culver’s on the way home. The dogs had chicken fingers and a long nap. And then a haircut to get rid of all the matted hair. Nothing will make them forget their first backpacking trip, though.
