I spent the night at Lake of the Pines State Campground, in spite of the best efforts of a biblical swarm of mosquitoes to drive me away.

Lake of the Pines is about a four-hour drive from Madison if you don’t stop. I stopped more than once, so it was more like four-and-a-half. I arrived at about three-thirty in the afternoon and drove straight to the Lake of the Pines State Campground, where I had a reservation to stay the night. Only a handful of the 30 sites was reserved, which seemed odd because every other state park at this time of year was fully-booked or close to it. I don’t know why this would be, except maybe because it’s somewhat remote from any villages with taverns and restaurants and other amenities.

The campsite I chose, #114, was not the best-looking so the first thing I did after arriving was to start a walk-around to look over the other sites, looking for a better one. I did not find a better one because the mosquitoes found me within minutes. I retreated to the safety of my vehicle after completing a hasty walk-around of the upper loop of the campground.

I thought maybe I could get away from the mosquitoes if I put my kayak in and had a paddle around the lake, where the breeze would normally keep the bugs away. When I got out of my van at the boat ramp, however, a pair of German shepherds broke away from their owners and came after me, barking and snapping and scaring the bejeezus out of me. I was not well-disposed to hang around the boat ramp after that.

So instead I drove down to the Connors Lake Picnic Area, a wide oasis of lawn with a small beach and a boat ramp on Connors Lake. Crucially, there were no dogs and no mosquitoes. I unshipped my kayak from the roof of my van, slid it into the waters of the lake and had a leisurely paddle around the shoreline, returning to the boat ramp about an hour and a half later.

I parked in the picnic area after strapping my kayak back onto the roof of my van, then rustled up some dinner and took it to a nearby picnic table to eat by the shore of the lake. The air was still and warm. A family was playing in the waters just offshore to my left. Another was eating dinner on a table to my right. Other than those few people, the park was empty and quiet.

After dinner, I drove down to Connors Lake State Campground to have a look around. It looked much the same as Lake of the Pines State Campground and was just as buggy, so I didn’t stay long.

There were still at least two hours before darkness and I wasn’t eager to return to the swarms of mosquitoes waiting for me at the campground, so I unpacked a camp chair, set it up at the edge of the pavillion and sat for a while with a book, munching on cookies while the sun set, a very agreeable way to end the day.

When I went back to the campground, I didn’t even get out of the van, just crawled over the center console between the front seats to get into the back of the van, where I spread out a mat and an air mattress and laid down to go to sleep.