A Night in Oil Creek State Park, Wolfkiel Camping Area

I had some exploring still to do at Oil Creek State Park, and so I ended up spending a Saturday night up there.  Unlike state forests, where you can just show up and pitch a tent, you always have to have reservations in a state park.  And the only way an individual can camp at Oil Creek is to use the camping areas provided for backpackers doing a 30-mile loop of the park.  Only one night is allowed.  (There are group camping areas, too.)  So, with a ripped backpack, I trekked in from the road to one of the Adirondack shelters at the Wolfkiel camping area.

I've never actually stayed in one of these things before, but it was nice--kind of like a little cabin.  My only complaint is that the fireplace made the bedroom too hot, so I had a fire in the afternoon but not in the evening before bed.  Also, I was a little nervous about whether those screws were going to hold up or if my hammock might collapse in the night, dropping me dead-weight onto the edge of this wooden floor.  It made me so nervous that I eventually got down and slept on the floor with an airpad.  But I did like being up in the hammock when the raccoons came to call in the night, with the creepy guttural clicking noises they make.

It was nice to have a table, too.  I arranged my maps on it and planned some upcoming adventures.  Actually, when I called to reserve one of these shelters for later that same day, the lady told me they were all reserved that night except two.  I was worried that this little campground would be overrun.  In reality, only two of the sites were occupied.  

 There was one very distant barred owl that made its call near morning, nothing like what I heard at Cornplanter.  Mostly there was a band of howling dogs, probably on some nearby plot of private ground, and they moaned and barked much of the night.  Then their owner came out and started shooting high-powered rifles.