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Last fall I was camping in Algonquin Provincial Park for my birthday. I wanted to do a solo camping trip to get the fuck away from work and out of the world for a couple of days. My reserved camp site was maybe a 10-12 mile hike from the trailhead.
Hike in was gorgeous, it had been below freezing for about a week, and all the mud was frozen and dry. Basically hiked through gorgeous northern forests until I reached my campsite. The creek next to the site was frozen, but the lake was still liquid and I had enough water for a nice dinner and packed it into my bottles for the next day.
Around midnight I was awakened in my tent by the sound of rain. I felt a pit in my stomach as the rain grew heavier and heavier and I knew I would be basically hiking through a swamp to get out. I made plans to break camp and hike out at dawn.
When I was up in the am, the frozen mud had turned to rivers of wet mud and streams of ice cold water. I basically trudged through 10-12 miles of shin deep mud in pouring, freezing rain to get out to my car and get home.
Was one of the first times being /out/ that I really felt like I was on my own, and no one was going to help me. I had no cell signal until about a half mile from the trailhead. My boots and constant activity somehow kept me comfortable, but I know I would've frozen if I stopped.
