Had a brief panic attack after my morning shower when I noticed my scooter key wasn’t in my pants. I had put it there when I got out of the tent, minutes before!

I forgot that I’d used it to open the pet carrier to get fresh underwear, and absentmindedly left it there. Phew!

This is why I am obsessive about always putting things in the same place when traveling. Except when I forget.

I slept reasonably well last night, though It reminded me why I’d rather not live like this long term. I don’t sleep in one position all night, and it’s difficult to move much in a sleeping bag in a small tent. Furthermore, the hard ground makes moving necessary, because pretty much every position puts pressure on some point.

This campsite is just off the main road on this side of the lake, so every vehicle that drives by is a bit loud. Fortunately there aren’t a lot of them at night. The expressway to the east, however, is a near-constant whine, especially noticeable in the otherwise-quiet of the night.

Rather than spend more time on the scooter riding to Roscommon or Grayling, and waste remaining daylight in a restaurant there, I rode to a nearby local gas station / convenience store for dinner. The scooter was nearly on Empty as well. I picked up a turkey sub from their deli counter and a can of ice tea, some overpriced Pop-Tarts for breakfast tomorrow, and a beer to enjoy at the campsite tonight.

This state park is a good example of the unique value of government parks. Higgins Lake is not wilderness; it’s mostly a cottage/resort lake. But the two state parks on its north and south sides maintain real public access. If you can afford a day pass, you can use the lake. The camping areas provide similar affordable vacation access; you don’t need to own or rent a house. And government parks are held to minimum standards of naturalism, unlike the KOA down the road.

Another unique benefit is that state parks also provide educational opportunities. For example, this park is (by no coincidence) on the site of a former government project: a nursery for the Civilian Conservation Corps. So it has a CCC museum, which gives those with a little curiosity a chance to learn about something that I doubt is even mentioned in history books any more.

In a nutshell: after the deforestation of much of the US in the 19th century replanting had begun, but it was going too slowly, and land was being destroyed by brush fires, erosion, etc. In the 1930s it was impossible for most teens and young men to find work. So the CCC put them to work planting trees. As one observer later put it (paraphrased) the land and a whole generation were going to waste, and the CCC saved them both. It was a huge government program, and it did a great thing. And you can learn about that by going camping.

As the sun went down, I visited the CCC museum and walked one of the adjacent trails. I already knew about the CCC, but I learned a bit about how it worked, with saplings raised here at Higgins Lake then shipped around the state for planting. The trail showed how they planted trees too densely at first, producing unnatural and unhealthy woods. A good experience… only at a state park.