Caesar's Head State Park, South Carolina

Funny how out here alone in the woods, dark feels like bedtime, even if it's only eight at night. A little family passed me on the trail back when it was still fully light and I was only just starting to try to build my fire. It took so long to build it tonight that I stopped to cry for a little while. Tonight would have been too scary without a fire. It's a treacherous hike back to the car. Tomorrow morning is going to suck. It'll be all uphill and with all that shit on my back. Then too the promise of wild animals. The park ranger lady there are bears but they've never had trouble with them. She said to hang the food though to keep it from the raccoons and skunks. And so I was afraid that if I didn't get my fire going by dark, I'd have wild animals everywhere. I did get it started though, small as it is, and I cooked my soup in it, so I had my first hot meal. The fire didn't keep the creepy crawlers away though, so I'm in the tent now. And I feel surprisingly safe tonight. I keep remembering Borge Ousland: Ghosts are in the city, not in nature. The one place I should be afraid, in all of this, and I'm not.