Maines Pond, IN

My journey begins bright and early in Lakewood, Ohio. I leave around 5am to get an early start to the day. My first destination is Maine’s Pond, Indiana. I made a pit stop at an REI in Cincinnati for some dehydrated meals while on the trail.

The back roads near the destination were hilly and winding, similar to the Cuyahoga national forest, but with more land. When I arrived I was excited but a bit nervous. I have no idea what this area is all about. I found this destination by “google-ing” national parks or primitive camping on my hopeful route of travel across the country.

I didn’t know what to expect and it seemed like it was surrounded with private property. Walking up to the trailhead I saw two people fishing. Those were the last to people I saw.

I explored the entire area, which wasn’t very big, maybe a 3 mile loop at the most. There was a trail that was cut by a large tractor so traveling was very easy. I tried to find a place to set up camp on the outside of the cut trail, in the woods. But the distance between that and the private property was way too small. I saw a few hunting posts while scouting and I didn’t want to camp too close to possible hunters. So, I hiked a few hundred feet inside of the cut loop.

On the inside of the loop was mostly tall grass and shrubs with occasional trees. I didn’t really want anyone to see my tent (for whatever reason) so I looked for as a secluded place as I could find. I set up camp and started to relax.

I tried to set up the hammock that I borrowed from my cousin Chad, but I think it is missing some hardware. That’s something I can leave out of my pack for next time. Every ounce really does matter. My shoulders were sore from just walking around with it for an hour. Uh oh! I may be slightly unprepared for my drive/hike across the country.

I started a fire to boil the water for dinner. I cooked my first dehydrated meal chicken risotto. It was delicious.

The first night sleeping was very restless. I was more worried about people coming up to my camp than anything. The weather was beautiful, warm with a slight breeze.