A modern wilderness

The shelter that first night was so very crowded. I had spent a couple of hours nearly alone and as the evening came in the shelter filled up. Then another 40-50 hikers filled in around the building. Everywhere you looked there were tents and hammocks. A couple of people had started a small fire closer to where they had camped. I felt like I was on a school field trip.

  It was interesting to watch the different reactions people were having to their first day or two on the trail. Most of them were resigned, some were disheartened, and a very few were still full of excitement. I have to admit, I would have been in the resigned category. I was looking forward to a great wilderness adventure and it felt as if I was on a field trip. I didn’t have the time alone to soak up all things natural, instead I was listening to the kids hoot and holler about how many miles they can/are/will be doing. Instead of listening to the crickets and frogs, I was hearing the latest pop hit blaring from somebody’s phone. The quiet and cozy fire I started became a beast of flames.

  I sat by the fire and one particular group amused me. There were 7-8 of them and they were “starving”, as they came to sit around the fire. They were discussing how they were so proud of the 15 miles they had hiked that day, and how they were going to get at least 15 the next day. One of them sitting next to me was very boisterous about everything they had been through, and as he tenderly removed his shoe, proudly announced his first blister. I looked down and his first blister covered the majority of his foot. I was in pain just looking at it, it was a disgusting sight. He cheerfully announced his intention of another 20 miles the next day. I laughed.

  Next on his agenda was dinner, and this was one of the most amusing things of the entire trail for me. You could tell from way he dressed that he was from a wealthy family. Everything about him had the gleam of brand new, which is not a bad thing per se. As he pulled his stove out of the backpack he merrily talked about how he had never had to cook anything for himself before and that it should be fun! He pulled his brand new stove from his pack, still in the retail box. I found that mildly entertaining, what came next made me get up and leave before I embarrassed myself. As he finished with the box and worried about what should be done with the trash, he pulled out a 1 gallon tin can of denatured alcohol. Yep!  I had to walk away before I laughed so hard my sides ached. As he set the can on the ground he asked his friends if any of them knew how to open the can, as it had a solid metal insert under the lid. After a bit he managed to make a very impressive fire of his own, as his fuel spilled over and caught flame from the campfire. It was time for me to go to bed, I just couldn’t take it, my sides hurt.

A bit of info on the genome and breast cancer can be found here

Living for something more than the almighty dollar.