Girl Scout's 100th Birthday. The Operator's 13th Birthday.
We didn't get up until 8am and didn't manage to get out of camp until half past 10. We were fogged in and we all took a fair bit of time to organize ourselves. We made Springer Mountain around 11:15. Took lots of foggy pictures and headed downhill to the FS42 parking lot where we would meet Top Banana's dad to pick up supplies for the remaining 4 days.
We picked up resupply and celebrated Girl Scouts' and The Operator's birthdays with cupcakes. I love a good birthday... It's been difficult going for some of the girls and the break at the parking lot boosted spirits a bit, as well as the promise of some flat ground ahead. The Approach trail certainly was a cruel shock for us.
It was foggy but manageable all day until around 4pm. Mo was puking again and Bert was attending to her feet when it started raining. Sprinkling, not raining too hard for full-on rain gear but promising to start pouring soon. The Rogues (what we're calling the faster group of hikers) made Hawk Mountain around 5:30 and started setting up tents. There is lots of flat space around the shelter, but there are also lots of people tenting here. We managed to locate a spot with only a small puddle where half of our tents could fit comfortably but all of our tents could fit uncomfortably. The Sweepers arrived around 6:00. The rain started coming down harder and instead of our usual cooperative dinner making I just took the reigns, lit the stove and put Bert in charge of the rest. It poured all through dinner. Everyone was starving and hovering around the stove. The stove was in the middle of a mud puddle. This was a distinct low point in my camping-life. Crankyness abounded. Rain poured. The puddle in the middle of our site grew and tents were relocated amid groans and whines. Water dripped off the bill of my rain coat into the Mac and Cheese--usually a favorite camp meal but this night it tasted more like sawdust. Muddy sawdust. We couldn't keep the mud out of the food and we didn't care. The girls went straight to bed after eating. There was minimal giggling.
All of my gear is wet. Everything is wet.
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| Breakfast at Black Gap |
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| The log at the top of Springer |
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| Signing the Springer Log |
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| The Eaglet Express on top of Springer on the 100th Anniversary of Girl Scouting |
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| The Operator's birthday cupcake |
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| Only picture taken at Hawk Mountain. Mo looking properly miserable. |
