Day 19: Woke up early,
couldn’t keep sleeping in that mosquito hellhole. Got bit a few times on the lips. Bastards. I
have a sort of sore on my lip from the damn cold. No longer chapped lips, only that spot. Anyway I got up, went to get group bear
hang down, went to lake to fill up dromedary, got water boiling. Grabbed some Cream of Wheat from
Expedition Food. DISGUSTING. Freaking Disgusting. Dumped most of it under a log. That bad. Then had Fracture/sprain/dislocation/etc class with Anna. Showed us how to do slings and splints
for arms and legs. They made me a
leg splint two times. Practiced
our First Aid skills and SOAP Notes.
Cool. After that packed for
reration. I was able to get some
good old food. Oatmeal, milk,
lemonade, potato pearls, and ¾ cheese.
Pretty sweet. Reration spot
this time was pretty close. Like 1
½ mi, got there pretty fast, went in groups of six. Got to reration spot, hosepackers got in a few mins later,
started the whole process.
Nate and I were Butter Boys again. We took care of refilling butter +
peanut butter. Pretty dirty
job. As far as our new food goes,
we have less chocolate, more trail food, cake mix, we have brownie mix and
beans and eggs again. We got grit,
threw that out. When we get all
our food we go through it and throw out an stuff we don’t want, and you can
also get stuff from groups who don’t want some of their food. From this stash we got 2 blocks of
cheese which we just ate right there and then. It was also from there that we got the Cake Mix. The rerationers were cool and brought
us fruit and also Twizzlers and later on we’d find out we got candy bars. At the reration site were 3 NOLS
instructors whose kids were on small groups. Apparently there has been an insane amount of EVACs
lately. I mean, there are 36 NOLS
courses in the Wind Rivers all at the same time. The morning after we had the cornmeal trout dinner we saw a
Med Chopper flying by. Possibly
NOLS EVAC. Sucks for those
people. Yeah anyway finished
reration, chilled for a while, played Black Jack, took a dump. Hiked back to camp a while later.
Feels really good not carrying climbing gear
anymore. Lately I’ve been feeling
pretty good hiking. Kinda zone out
and forget about walking. Anyway
got back to camp fairly quick, left our stuff at the tent and went down to the
lake. Again equally cold. Like Chicabal.[20] It was hard to dive in, but at last I
did and quickly swam over to this island and kinda lied there warming up in the
sun. You warm up really quick, the
sun is really HOT. Anyways stayed there
a while, trying to tan a bit. Got
my calves burned today while going to and back from reration site. It hurt when shrubs scraped against
it. Anyways left island without
getting too wet again. Just like
waist high. Got out and dried up
and with Dan G we went straight to start cooking dinner around 5:30pm. Tonight was the Potluck where each
group made a meal and then we’d all get a bit from everyone. We made pasta bowties with Alfredo
Sauce. Killed the ¾ cheese I salvaged
from Old Food stash. Other dishes
were beans+rice, curry rice, pasta with tomato sauce & John “the
Breadmaker” made this REALLY good Herbacious[21]
bread. Super delicious. It came out incredibly good. Then Tracy and Anny came carrying a
freaking CAKE. A freaking CAKE
with freaking icing and freaking real fresh raspberries and even candles and
they even wrote “Happy Birthday” with icing. All this and we’re in the middle of NOWHERE. Pretty amazing. We got cake mix ourselves but no icing
or berries. Anyways they divied up
the candy bars our rerationers sent us.
I was last in line so I got an incredibly delightful SALTED NUT
ROLL. SALTED. While everyone else was eating
chocolate & Milky Ways I was stuck with my Salted Nut Roll. The truth is, out here it wasn’t too
bad. But if I were in the city I’d
probably prefer to chew on some sandstone. After this we got our piece of cake which was pretty
bangin’. Anna and Tracy told us a
few stories from past trips like the one of Pete who said something like
“Twacey I think I have doo doo in my wind pants” and later his calzone going in
the crevasse. Anna told us about
another ex-junkie who would make seesaws, sundials, or peeled bark during his
solo camping[22]. Later on we did WIGs, bear hangs, and
off to sleep.
Day 20: Wake up early, got
dromedary full, started boiling water.
Didn’t go to get bear hang down cause yesterday my knees were about to
explode going downhill. Ugly pain
that didn’t let me walk right. Ate
cookie dough Dan G made night before.
Delicious, easy, filling.
No cooking during morning needed.
Got packed, had some time to write in my journal. We were 3rd group to leave,
came in almost tied with the 1st group who left 50min before
us. We were going at a
ridiculously fast pace. No idea
what got into me that day. Hiked
with Dan C, John, and Casey.
Really good fast pace. Saw
1 NOLS small group from atop cliff.
Found their camp site later on.
No fluffing and duffing of the grass whatsoever[23]. Rookies… pffff. Kept on. At one brake Dan C was kind of terrified at seeing me
drinking water right out of the river.
We kept on hiking really fast.
Felt great. We then ran
into the 2nd small group of that other NOLS course. The lunatics were fasting. For our small groups we get the option
of fasting. Not even crazy will I
do the fasting. I have a hard
enough time hiking when I don’t have SNACKS. Fasting? Not
happening. Anyway, kept on for a
while more, had a 1hr break at
this really nice flat meadow packed with wild flowers. Really pretty. Chilled there for a while, had some
Breakfast Bars which are the most incredibly delicious thing ever. Coconut covered with Chocolate Fudge,
or Chocolate Chip are so delicious.
Anyway kept on for about 30min more and we were at camp. Planned campsite was too close to lake
and river so we moved up a bit.
Camped on North end of Long Lake.
The lake was incredible. It
was really long (duh) and skinny and to either side there were really tall
cliffs. Really cool. Like a corridor with a lake smack in
the middle of it. Set up camp,
took a crappola. Already getting
tired of using rocks. Doesn’t
clean everything and leaves it raw and irritated. Not fun. Had
weather class with Anna, Tracy dressed up as Url the weather god. It was funny. After that we had First Aid: Altitude Sickness with
Kat. Pretty much already knew that
stuff. Then did WIGs and left for
dinner. Casey that night telling
Reese that I had become a Monster because of how fast I was going. From one extreme to another. Heh heh heh. Anyway made Cous Cous for dinner. OK. Stayed chatting
there for a while. To the side of
or kind of far from the kitchen there was this huge slab of rock slope just
flat and one whole piece and up high and stuff. All the time we’d hear rock falls. OK there were only 3 but it was still freaky. That night we did another AstroBivy
with Dan G, Reese, and the girls.
Didn’t really pay attention to the stars but it felt good to sleep
outside. Not too cold and no
mosquitoes. Chillaxin.
Day 21: Got up early,
filled up Drom, made myself a Hot Drink, wrote in Journal for a while. It’s nice to wake up early when no one
is around and it’s all cold and the sun isn’t hitting yet. All peaceful and stuff. Anyway went to wake people up at 7,
already had everything set up for breakfast. Had hot granola.
Finished breakfast early, went to pack, went to take a dump. I think that was the day I did my
quote.[24] Anyway hiked with John, Reese &
Zach that day. First part of hike
along boulders on steep edges of Long Lake. My ass is in pain because it is all irritated and
unhappy. Residue, sweat,
vapor. Exactly. Later on went over a saddle. Saw snow for first time in a few
days. Haven’t been seeing too much
lately. Considered icing my ass,
never got around to doing so. Kept
on over saddle. Original plan was
to go around this group of mountains cause going straight meant going up this
steep slope. Saw other group doing
it, making pretty good time, said why not. Went around lake first, Zach fell down…as always. EVERY DAY he falls down. It’s kind of funny to watch when he
flips out. Cussing and
everything. Funny. Steep slope wasn’t that bad. From there to camp took us about 15-20
min. Shaved off lots of miles
& lots of time. Saw a kind of
snow tunnel with a river running thru it.
Pretty cool. Nice
camp. Flat flowery meadow. Made a batch of cookie dough. Ate it. Then swam a bit.
Muddy lake, not so cold though.
Had Land Management class with Tracy. Ok. It reminded
me a lot of AP Env Science. That
dinner we had Macs+Cheese.
Yummy. Then skipped a group
reading because we had to clean and make tortillas. I’ll read it by myself later. Anyway made tortillas for breakfast tomorrow. It was tough to get them all flat and
nice. Then we just stayed there at
night. I was writing in my
journal, Dan G was writing music.
With him we’re always beatboxing and making songs and stuff. Very cool. Went to bed later on.
Day 22: Woke up early with
Dan G to make Breakfast Burritos.
First I made the beans, then I made the rice & mixed it in with the
beans. Dan G crumbled the cheese
& made the scrambled eggs (powdered).
Then I fried up the tortillas.
They came out just like flour tortillas except not round. We called them Picassortillas because
they were irregular and abstract.
They were pretty good. Dan
C woke up later to eat the food WE cooked. Lazy bastard.
Cleaned up, packed, got ready to hike. Ah right yesterday or the day before or whatever Kat was making
us re-do our WIGs and stuff and Tracy would only smile at us and shake her
head. Tracy is the best. And then also Reece commented on the
A-hole issue in front of Anna so she gave us these No-itch creams but I didn’t
use it that day. Anyway hiked that
day with Dan C, Casey, and Reese.
Fast pace. Casey is
hilarious because he always needs to take a dump 40 min into the hike. I also dropped one after him. I already decided to go on a Rock-Free
Toilet Paper diet. My a-hole cant
take rocks anymore. Kept on
hiking, passed by a deformed heart shaped lake. Took like an hour brake one time. Kind of got lost nearing camp. Finally found it.
Dan G had already set up tent… 20 paces away from girls, so we had to
move it. Set it up again. Made a cookie dough batch and hot
drinks. Kind of drizzling, set up
kitchen under tree cover. Had a class
with Anna about LNT, Leave No Trace.
Mostly review. For dinner
we had Chowder. Not so good. Then made dough. Took my time with it. Before that having fun with everyone
beat boxing and doing our “HipHiking”[25]. Fun fun. Anyway made dough myself for CinnaBuns. Threw in lots of sugar and cinnamon and
raisins. The dough was tasty just
like that. Knead it for a long time. It was already night, just kneading and
chatting with the girls. Finally
got done, did bear hang, went to tent.
This tent REEKS. It
stinks really really really bad like yeast/smelly feet/armpit body
odor….horrible. It’s hard to adapt
to this thing. In the night woke
up with bag of dough all inflated cause I slept with it to make it rise. We call it The Baby. But anyway bag was about to burst from
so much CO2 or whatever so made a hole.
Slept good.
Day 23: Woke up 6am, first
words of Dan G: Cinammon Rolls. Dough rose plenty, went to kitchen. First I rolled dough into 1 inch thick
rectangle, Dan G made the syrup we poured in it, threw raisins in, rolled it,
cut it. Got whole process with
camera, Then we twiggy fired
‘em. Before we practically drowned
them in melted better. They came
out incredibly delicious and big like real CinnaBuns. Dan G & I each had 3 ½ of the biggest hugest ones and we
gave Dan C the 3 smallest ones.
The bastard wakes up late, gets there to eat the
breakfast we cook, and then goes to chat with Nate and his group. Haha earlier when we were with Nate he
told us that John talks in his sleep – “Amazing trip, but too much bugs.” Funny. Anyways made a Camp Restoration cleaning & stuff,
dismantled 4 Fire Rings, and later on had Tree I.D. class. Then went down to Middle Fork Lake to
swim. Kind of cold, kind of
cloudy, never got in. Some horsepackers
arrived, chatted. Started to rain,
went to tent. Wrote in journal for
about 1 hr. Tent smelling like
disgusting and hot and humid with the rain. Around 4pm supposedly start cooking but I just went down to
the lake, really wanted to swim.
By the way I forgot to mention that yesterday I finally applied the
Bunghole cream. No comments. No fun. Had to walk with legs wide open for rest of the day. Anyway before swim took a dump. My first exclusively foliage TP
dump. Soft. Relatively speaking of course. It aint real TP but it aint a freakin’
butt tearing rock either.
Mosquitoes attack the most during Dooky Sessions. Bites everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Anyway went down to lake, chatted with
horsepackers. They were from
Utah. One was going to Guatemala
in August for some business with the Buscayrol of ‘Lim Prim’ or whatever that
pharmaceutical thing is called.
Friendly guys, but they didn’t offer me beef jerky :( Swim very
cold. Got in little by little,
when I got out, little sun, couldn’t warm up, couldn’t stop shivering. Put on fleece plants for 1st
time. Wind Pants smell. They smell. Not good.
Shorts? Don’t even wanna go
there. Finally warmed up putting
lots of layers on. T-shirt
bleached from sweat. Dinner
already ready. Mac+Cheese. Made a Cake with Choco-icing. Good. Reese and Casey caught 13 trout. They had fish+rice.
It was Scott’s birthday today.
After dinner we played Wilderness Jeopardy. Kinda fun. OK I
guess. Our team team was the
Seagulls Drowned in Phlegm. Sweet. Tomorrow we already plan the SGE’s[26]. I-Team leaves @ 3pm. So far on this trip they’ve called me
Javi, Javi-air, Jav, JV-ehr, Hay-V-ehr & most special of all Javertton or
Hobertton. Reese calls me
that.
My hands are completely destroyed and dry and
cracked and full of unhealing bruises and dirt caked into every skin crack or
whatever and constantly dirty and those weird white bumps I had before got
bigger and kind of turned into scabs and I’d rip ‘em off and then the bruise
would stay and for a while my Left hand mole bleached out. Freaked me out. I like that mole. My feet also pretty banged up. Blisters but they don’t bother. Mad athletes foot. Hella smelly. Sometimes they’re all pruny & gross. Well actually they’re gross 24/7 and its
just the pruniness factor that occurs sometimes. Took a picture.
I’ll take one of my hands too.
Have some nasty horsefly and some other annoying I-want-you-to-die fly
bites that get all big and red with a dark spot in the middle. Horseflies are so annoying. Big and gross and bad bites. And I hate the Alpine Grasshoppers
too. They don’t do one thing, but
they make loud cracking noise like rattlesnake. Hate ‘em real bad.
Anyway I’m here on the top of some secluded boulders at 10:00pm at last
catching up with my journals. Have
been behind since Rock Climbing days. (Like the 19th, today is the
25th). Feels good to be
up to date at last. It’s nice here
all alone. That’s one thing that
this course has been missing: more time to just be alone and chillin and
resting or whatever. Hope I have
some of that on Small Groups.
Alright I’m off to bed because I’m ultra tired. Oh and by the way John made his
N/Nugget on ants…super cool. He
has a fascination for Ants and knows a lot about them. The presentation was awesome. Oh and just now before starting to
write, I was taking a piss and Casey scared the hell out of me because he was
taking a dump and was yelling at me not to look in his direction. I just heard a voice and got scared. Funny. Well, bedtime.
Day 24: Woke up pretty
late. Relatively. 8am. Made scrambled brownies quick. Went over to meeting.
Tracy gave us the low-down on the Small Groups stuff. I’m with Reese, Nate, & the
girls. Sucks. Wanted to be just with the guys. But oh well. Nate and Reese are cool. I’ll just miss beatboxing, songwriting & HipHiking with
DanG. And all the stupid hilarious
stuff Scott does. But anyway, got
all the food together, split it up equally. Same with fuel, same with group equipment. I’m happy I’m no longer in stinky tent
anymore. Then I-Team showed us
their route on the map. Each night
we have to camp within a certain sector of map because of Park Service &
NOLS regulations. Also have to be
at least 1 mile from other small group.
Planned out our route, wrote up all our WIGs. Nate is group leader and Dan C in the other group. Dan C and Nate had their Ultra First
Aid class for serious stuff. I was
pissed that only they received the class.
The first 2 days I’m going to try fasting. I hope I make it. You can only have water and tea. I’m not sure if I’ll last. When we get to camp I’ll probably just
read and sleep to get mind off of food.
All our group is fasting at least 1 day. Later on had Objective/Subjective Hazards and Risk vs.
Consequence class with Tracy and reviewed procedures for EVACs. Then they read us some Dr. Seuss, “The
Places You’ll Go” and also gave us Cake.
And then the I-Team left.
It felt kind of weird to realize we were all by ourselves now. At the same time exiting. After they left cooked 2 pounds of
pasta to compensate for what we won’t eat in the next days. Then everyone hanging out and
chatting. Kind of sucks not seeing
the other 6 guys for the last days.
But anyways I was exhausted so I came to sleep right away. It’s like 9:40pm and I don’t have to
wake up that early cause there’s no breakfast to cook. G’night.
Footnotes
[20] Volcano in
Guatemala with a lake in the crater.
Coldest water I’ve ever dived into.
[21] Correct
spelling ‘herbaceous’, and possibly the first and last time I’ve ever used this
word.
[22] If I recall
correctly, Anna did outdoor-Ed trips with recovering addicts, and solo camping
was part of the program.
[23] The grass
under your tent is obviously going to be flattened after a night’s sleep, so
before you leave camp the next day you’re supposed to kind of “fluff up” the
grass/plants to give them a helping hand to get back to being normal.
[24] Everyone
was given a day when they had to choose a quote they liked and share it with
the group before starting to hike.
[25] Dan G, I
hope you remember what this was because I have no way of possibly describing
it.
[26] Small Group
Expeditions. Six students with no
instructors for about 3 or 4 days.
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