Funsize, WOLD, and Laughs-a-lot all caught up with me. I really like Laughs-a-lot. Funsize, too, but I think I mentioned that. Walked with him for several miles. We walked across the Firescald today. Sounds like a journey through Middle Earth. There was an alternate trail, for inclement weather. We looked at it, since it was raining. Decided to go across the top of it, though. Probably would have had awesome views, but yet again the Mist was rising. Pretty fun walking/scrambling except that the rocks were wet. No one died.
When we walked into Jerry Cabin shelter (the 10 mile mark for me today), we were getting drenched. I hadn't pulled out my poncho even, because the rain felt pretty good while I was walking. I was definitely planning on moving on after eating. But then the downpour started. I decided, what with my legs feeling like they were, that I would stop there. Plus, this shelter is the 300 mile mark. Nice, huh?
Funsize, Two Putt, Packrat, Rockfish (formerly the nameless one), WOLD, Coppertop, Hiccup, Sharp Knife, and Gandalf were all there already. Joules, Canary and One Day were on their way in though. A lot of those guys were at the hostel with me. I really likeTwo Putt, he's a pretty good dude.
We had to do some Tetris stuff to get everyone in, since this was supposed to be a six person shelter. Two Putt put up his hammock above everyone, Packrat took the picnic table, and Joules and I got the floor (Packrat is letting me use his tarp for a ground sheet), while everyone else squeezed onto the sleeping platform. Wet gear and clothing is hanging everywhere. Getting gear tomorrow is going to be a pain. Hope the rain stops sometime. Also hope the ground doesn't get saturated and we end up swimming.
Packrat and I played three games of chess. I won the first one, he the second, and I won the third. We will play more down the road, he's pretty good. The conversations were quite fun, but tonight Packrat was the star of the show. First, while we were playing chess, somebody cooking caused a fireball. This caught both Packrat's leg and his pack on fire. Seriously. I'm not sure what it says about me that I went to put out the pack first instead of him. Packrat stared for a heartbeat, and then yelled "I'm on fire!" After he kicked his leg a couple of times, it went out, and so did his pack. With like no damage. Minor discoloration of his pants. We finished our game (he beat me).
Later he's telling us his bizarre and entertaining stories about his attempted thru-hike last year (didn't finish), when he was doing a vow of silence. Funny stuff, but the best was when he said, totally serious, "I'm pretty sure toilet, cave and pizza are the only signs you really need." He followed that with "Occasionally you may need Chinese and food if you want to order Chinese food."
I was not the life of the party tonight, I guess. I mean, I socialized, but I sort of lost my temper earlier. It was a pretty silly thing, but I guess they usually are. I was already annoyed at the individual for smoking up around the rest of us, and then he said something in response to something I said that I took as being very disrespectful, and that's when I got a little aggressive. Everything was pretty minor, and I think we're good now.
If that wasn't enough, they started talking about night hiking and what was fun to do by moonlight, and what gave the ultimate thrills. So of course I related the ambush where Sal got his Medal of Honor. No one told any stories after that. I effectively killed the conversation. For apparently the whole night. I thought I was doing so well at this civilian thing, too. Sigh. On the plus side, two days with no snow. Of course, now it's sleeting.
*Middle of the night update. There is now two inches of snow outside, and it is coming down hard. Sigh.
Me and the fabulous views from Whiterock Cliff.
Funsize traversing part of the Firescald. The easy part.
Laughs-a-lot and Rockfish.
Me, Joules, and everyone's wet gear. The tarp hung across the shelter helps keep wind and rain out.
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