Jukebox and Cyclone hanging the bag at Jerry Cabin Shelter
Tuesday June 3, 2008
Spring Mtn Shelter to Jerry’s Cabin 17 miles GPS
I got up and snacked on two breakfast bars. I’m trying these new cereal bars because I can’t stand the oatmeal anymore. I’m trying to figure out something I’d like to eat for breakfast cause so far everything sucks. I didn’t put on my sleeping pad because it was so warm; but, around 3 or 4AM it got pretty cold and I had to get up and put the pad thing on the underside of the hammock. I tried to just deal with it but I got wet from sweat and I was shivering my ass off. I woke up with a puffy face. That’s been happening lately and I can’t figure out what it is. Maybe I’m allergic to oatmeal.
I was feeling crappy and I didn’t want to climb fast so Doug and Mike took off. I spent the whole day kind of meditating as I walked; wondering when enlightenment was going to come. I know better than that but sometimes I like to think of it like I think of winning the lottery. I imagine of all the things I would buy and all of the things I would do. I was pondering the same way about enlightenment. What could I see, what would I know, would I even care? I’m sure that wondering about enlightenment is the total opposite of actual enlightenment but I like to wonder as I wander. I know The Answer is The Search anyway. I know the journey is the destination; hence, while I’m in the journey I’m at the destination and I’m wondering what I now must already know since I’m already there... Basically, nothing; which, is a kind of answer in and of itself. I was trying to imagine what everything would look like if I could see only in energy fields. The dappled sunshine through the sparse canopy had this shimmering effect on everything as I walked, which is what gave me the idea of seeing in energy fields in the first place. I wondered if I would be able to see the life forms around me like you would through heat-vision goggles. I figured that with enlightenment, I wouldn’t need to see things in the traditional sense; limited to the direction I was looking with my eyes, but more like being able to see in 360 degrees; Total Awareness without visual sight. I figured I would be able to sense everything as if I was looking at a scene with me in the middle of it like some kind of video game. That would be cool.
Later that day, we met up and took a side hike to hang out on this outcropping for a while. There was as sign that said scenic view or something like that and written on a piece of paper was a note that read, “worth a look.” We sat and enjoyed the scenery before hiking the "exposed ridge."
At some point I climbed up to this exposed ridge and it was a mother. [DAMN! I’m typing in the dark and I have this headlamp on and bugs are attacking me like crazy. I really need to learn to type in the dark. I’ll make this quick.] The ridge was tough to climb; all rocks, weird shaped and angled surfaces. My feet are killing me and I had to scramble all the time. My feet just couldn’t seem to get a stable purchase. The views were amazing though.
Eventually I got in to the next shelter which is called Jerry’s Cabin, which sounds nice but it’s just a shelter, not an actual cabin. When I got there, Mike told me the bad news; the water situation was bad. Just a little puddle dripping out of a little pipe. It would take hours to fill our water. I went down and got a Nalgene bottle’s worth to wash my legs and feet. I figured it would be plenty of time to refill before we needed water. A group of four ladies came in, Soaring, Rabbit and Owl and a dog named “Roo” (all Winnie the Poo characters). They were cool, one of them was a retired Marine and we talked for a bit.
The fire was started at some point and the swirling winds made it unbearable to sit by. They need to call this place Swirling Winds Gap Shelter instead of Jerry’s Cabin. I pulled out the guitar and was playing for a while. I handed over the guitar to Rolex and hit the rack. The last song he sang would be stuck in my head all next morning. Damn the Goo Goo Dolls! Oh yeah, and when I was setting up, my hammock’s ridgeline cord broke. The ridgeline busted while I was weight testing it before I tightened it. I tried about ten knots to fix it until a bowline finally did the trick. It seems they used lesser cord on the inside than they do on the outside. You can bet I’ll have some words for them on that one. I hope it doesn’t go down in the night. I’ll let you know…
David AKA “Jukebox”
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