The shelter dance

Early morning and the sun has just topped the horizon. A loud hiss of air escaping a mattress is usually one of the first things you hear.

  You have a selection of people that rise with the sun. Though they will, most times, try to be respectful but you cannot escape the sound of a mattress being deflated. That is usually how I would be woken up. After one person gets moving then it is a domino effect for just about everyone else in the shelter. The early risers will have already had breakfast, and have most of their belongings packed. Others will take the cue and start to prepare for the hike they will encounter that day. I usually just stayed in my bag and watched the tenacious ones as they try to keep from bumping into one another.

  Some are trying to get their sleeping pads put away, others are trying to find their stove and get breakfast made. Very few, like me, would just sit and watch as the others are weaving in and out of each others way. It can be an entertaining way to start the day. I called it the shelter dance, as the progression of events begin to look like a modern waltz.

  A great time in the morning listening to the plans of where the others are planning to be, what time they expect to get there, and sometimes a brief description of what their life used to be before they started the trail. They all try to be quiet at first, but after noticing that everyone is stirring it becomes quite noisy. One person is stepping out of the way so the other can grab a rogue piece of equipment that managed to make its way across the shelter.

  I would lay there in my sleeping bag and wait. It would take a couple of hours but eventually they would all leave and I would talk myself into getting ready. So early in my trip and I already knew there was no sense in trying to hurry out. I wanted to have the trail to myself while hiking and if you leave with a crowd you hike with a crowd. I would wait and when they were well on their way out I would get around and take my time to enjoy what the morning had to offer. I would take my time packing and have a few cups of coffee. Breakfast for me was usually a couple packs of instant oatmeal and a pop tart or two, so by the time I was ready to hike the sun had a chance to warm the morning breeze.

Living for something more than the almighty dollar.