MSV Part 3: The Death March

There are 3 pictures of us actually hiking in this first 24 hour period. Two did not turn out. This one is not exceptionally spectaculr photography, but it relays a very important point: this day hurt. A LOT. We got on the trail late, just as a thunderstorm was scheduled to hit, with a raincover that CLEARLY did not cover Dooley's pack. Our packs were insanely heavy, laden with food. The forest was dark, wet, and uninviting, as well as gloomy and unsettling. We hiked for approximately 3 lifetimes before finally coming to a lean-to that had three people already in it around 7:30. Overjoyed to see a lean-to, Dooley went to get water while I cooked dinner. Looking back on the day, we ate very little on the trail for four hours and we had sat so long in the car that it was probably hard for our muscles to handle it. To prove this point, I woke up around 4 am, my back in agony and my hamstrings so tight they were pulling my back into an arch. Dooley here is clearly lacking in blood sugar, and even the dog is exhausted. My camera was tucked away most of the time to keep it protected from the forecasted rain. It didn't start to rain until we were going to bed around 8:00pm, and even then only a light mist.

Luckily, the people we stayed with were COMPLETE MORONS. They seemed like normal people, until they started talking. They cooked too many rations of their food and gave some to us and the dog (which was nice.) But when bedtime came, they wondered aloud: "can we just put our bear canister under the lean-to?" Um, how about NO! Dooley and I exchanged terrified, exhausted looks. She began telling tales of bears coming to camps that had garbage dumped in the lean-tos, etc etc. They finally threw it about 20 ft in front of the lean-to, no matter how many times we tried to tell them that this was probably not a good idea. We welcomed Oscar between our sleeping bags, saying it was because of the rain. Yeah right. It was because of the bears. We awoke once to pee outside together, when another person was up peeing as well. We peed directly behind the lean to, congratulating Oscar as always for his security measures. Besides waking about a million times as my back creaked and moaned, we slept alright.

Dooley awoke in the morning to leaping flames in the lean-to. The moron patrol had set their stove on fire IN THE LEAN-TO. They accomplished this by leaking fuel out of it and breaking the laws of the forest preserve (no stoves in the lean-to) and the stove instructions (do not use indoors; light match BEFORE turning on gas.) It was still misting outside, and Dooley and I just stayed in our sleeping bags until the other people had finally left, around 9 am. Sure it was a late start, but we didn't really want to get ourselves killed by the morons. Besides, it took a while to figure out how to sit up when my back wouldn't bend forward.