02072006T2125: Supplies came in today! I got most of the nifty stuff I requested on the supply requisition form! 24 cans of Mountain Dew, 24 cans of Red Bull, 21 Snickers Marathon bars, even ~12 lbs. of sunflower seeds! That last was a joke, I don’t even like the things. Shit, what the hell am I going to do with 12 lbs. of sunflower seeds? This is definitely a major coup on my part. A bunch of people are having a good time revelling at the stuff I managed to get. Another feather in the cap of my reputation.
Unfortunately, some things didn’t come in or there were mistakes. For example, we got 24 bottles of liquid Gatorade variety, rather than the dry powder mix I requested. Oops. I’m sure we’ll drink it all though. The loppers weren’t bought, because there already were some new ones Mountain Man got that we should borrow, and we’ll have to find a price number on the machetes before we can get approval. Apparently, it’s less the open blade that’s the problem, more the cost. We don’t want crappy machetes out here that break down on us.
Snickers Marathon bars are frickin’ AWESOME. They’re chock full of sugar, carbs, fat, and even protein. I ate one and it tasted like a chocolate coated granola bar, actually very good. I’ll have to make it a regular survival ration in my equipment from now on. Anyhow, I had one, then drank a can of Mountain Dew, and ugh, now I’m so loaded with sugar I can feel the spin of the Earth. These things are definitely intended for active people doing stuff, lots and lots of stuff.
No crews this week for Outback. It’s the week of July 4th, typically a lower traffic week anyway. I’ve had the idea to lead a hike to Whiskey Bottle Flats, from which we should be able to see the fireworks out across the lower plains to the northeast where Pecos is. Fireworks over Ft. Davis to the southeast should also be visible in the night sky. I should get some good pictures, or maybe I’ll try some video.
I’m knocking off now and watching a movie, the first for this laptop here. Good night to you, dear reader.
06072006T1548: Things have been quite busy the past few days. For Tuesday, July 4th, I lead a small group out to Mountain Man, mainly so I could help Mountain Man eat their food, which is by far the best in camp. I threw my knife at their target too, and discovered I’m quite rusty. I’ll have to figure a way to “help” Mountain Man Bob with his program at some point for the entire week; it’s quite fun out there and the food is great. Unfortunately, I cut my timing a bit too fine, because I was scheduled to lead up the 20:00 hike to the top of Whiskey Bottle Flats, at roughly (coordinates). It’s basically a huge plateau, from which we’d try to see fireworks ~60 miles away in Pecos. I made it back to camp in 20 minutes from camp, no mean feat after eating at least 2 lbs. of food (really, it’s GOOD stuff), and then transitioned straight to organizing and leading up the hike to the Flats. The attendance was absolutely huge: 54 people total, including myself. Of those, there were three adult leaders and two staff, myself and a girl named Elissa. Nobody else wanted any part of this massive hike; the Outbackers sitting by the flagpole looking at this huge crowd basically told me, “No, we’re not going, have fun,” with big grins on their faces. No doubt figuring they’re breaking in the new guy (again), or more likely thinking this was my idea, I should do it. So I called them something or other uncomplimentary, which caused more grinning of course, and set to the task. A sign in sheet or two went around, and we got moving at 20:30. David the camp director was a big help in the organization; it would have taken a bit longer to get things moving if he hadn’t been there helping things out alot. One of the staffers looked at his watch as we passed him and as per my request, he told me later that the time interval it took for the column to pass was about a minute and a half.
So we made it up, with alternating complaints from the silly campers. First it would be, “Slow down!” Then when I stopped to let them catch up because I was already moving at a funeral pace, they’d complain and say “Let’s go!” It was quite idiotic, but they were young, so oh well. We got up there, but could see no fireworks for the clouds in the way. Someone took a video on a phone or something of the moon, and then claimed a UFO was circling around the moon, which was of course hilarious. We also managed to have a Scout lose a flashlight before it was even dark, which was quite the achievement in my opinion. Then we started back down around 22:00. There were the same complaints, except for a time or two when some idiot yelled “Go!” in the manner we were using to echo messages from the rear of the line when the rear was not in fact ready to go. This of course pissed me off no end, because we don’t leave people behind. I saw a snake on the trail on the way back, a Western Diamondback rattlesnake, for which I stopped the column, but otherwise the trip back was fairly mundane except for the idiots who screamed as if they were falling off a cliff every time they went down a slightly steeper area. After all the bitching about going slower, I finally resorted to taking baby steps, advancing perhaps a foot to a foot and a half per step, and that at a slow pace. I was expecting them to then bitch about going faster, but they actually shut up, which was surprising and gratifying. Finally we made it down, and without losing anyone. The last count failed, but then again some of the little bastards disobeyed orders and wandered off to their camp sites without being counted despite being told to stay. It’s been two days now; no one’s been missing, so we must have brought them all down alright.
On Wednesday, July 5th, I took the Silver trail up to Ezra’s Bedground, a campsite located at around (coordinates). The climb was long and hard, especially with my normal 35 lbs. pack. I was amazed I couldn’t find the second branch of the trail at a particular intersection leading down into Hidden Valley, but that trail is very poorly maintained. There is talk about having trail crews next year devoted to maintaining the trails; I’m interested in leading one if they hire for it. Otherwise, I’ll just be a regular Outback Ranger.
Today I led the hike up to Forbidden Mountain Cabin again, and I’ve now been invited to go to the so-called “star party” up at McDonalds Observatory. I’ll have to find out if they are somehow affiliated with the fast food chain or what, because I believe they are run out of the University of Texas. I’m missing lasagna tonight, but I might get some good burgers at a local joint.
I have received my card phone modem from home, and succesfully input the network connection data for BTSR to access the Internet from the local phone line. We’ll see about the connection when I get on, if it works.
In other news, I’ve been informally restricted from making any more supply order for Outback pending approval from the Outback director, Jordan, and Jenene the High Adventure director. It would seem there are some political sensitivities within the bureacratic structure here at camp of which I was previously unaware, and thus Jordan is engaging in some preemptive CYA activities in the event of fallout next year. Meaning, of course, that I can’t make crazy orders of stuff anymore and spread the wealth about camp earning favors and enhancing my personal reputation. Rather unfortunate; I seem to be a victim of my own enormous success. Doubly unfortunate because my analysis of the political situation from Jordan’t information leads me to believe that he is not at risk when he thinks he is, and thus he is in my opinion unnecessarily restricting my freedom of action on the supply list requisition forms.
Lastly, I’ve become rather irritated at the state of trail markings out here. I lead a hike up the Yellow to Black loop, and lost the Yellow on the way up. The damn thing just grassed out on me, and boy was I pissed. I’d found the thing plenty of times on the way down, but this was really my first time leading the way up. Compasses are more often than not radically affected by the metal in the rocks out here, and are thus not as helpful as they should be for resections. Thus, I was stuck looking around for ~45 minutes, and then we couldn’t complete the hike as planned. I ended up giving Jordan a piece of my mind, with the ultimatum that if nothing was done, I would simply flag and paint the trail as I saw fit, camp Leave No Trace Policy be damned. To borrow a phrase from Heinlein’s novel Starship Troopers, it was all very well for camp admin to have a theory, but I had a situation. Essentially, I’ve heard that Ranger Dan doesn’t want the trails painted because it detracts from the natural beauty or some such. Well and fine for him, he’s been here 35+ years and knows where everything goes, but that leaves people like me, the 1st year Outback Ranger, in an awkward spot, especially today with that Yellow trail giving out on me like it did, and the poor state of trail maintenance. I’d told them earlier they needed to paint the trails, and if they didn’t, then flag the things with survey flagging. This went to committee, and Jordan told me the results yesterday: Paint was too permanent, flagging not permanent enough. Idiotic of course, because I’d suggested flagging as the not permanent solution to them precisely because it wasn’t permanent. So, the compromise solution was to drive in big engine pistons of some kind or other, painted up on the top and flush with the ground. Who suggested that stupid idea and why it was accepted on a trial basis, I’ll never know. It needs to be pounded into the rocky ground for one, and to take it out is a huge pain requiring alot of shovel work. Even in Florida it’s hard to take out a piece of quarter inch rebar once driven, and these guys are doing this sort of foolishness in the mountains. I’ve never heard such stupidity before; I think I’ll just end up painting the trails up myself or something. Blah, whatever. Camp’s been mostly fun so far though. It’s almost oh-dark thirty. Good morning to you, dear reader.
We made s’mores, as far as sweets go =D