Every semester since the dawn of mankind, the Outing Club's leadership training class has embarked on a weekend backpacking trip through some of Maine's wildest country?usually the Speckled Mountain-Caribou Wilderness?to learn leadership skills from future fellow leaders. In prehistoric times, the landscape was awash in a massive bog that engulfed entire herds of mammoths and Esuvees (buckle up, by the way.) In our modern times, however, the bogs have subsided and lush forests have blossomed, much like the mold in my garbage can. Humans have flecked the wilderness with trails that wind through sun-dappled glades and allow us to escape into the northern Maine woods for a weekend of hiking and exploration.
During this semester's trip, our intrepid leaders-in-training woke up to a soft pattering of rain falling against our tents, which increased steadily over the course of the day and morphed into sleet and snow until it settled on rain. Not surprisingly, the plucky crew pressed on, shrugging off the damp in order to reach our destination despite some cold toes and fingers. It was, in the famous words of my dad, a day that we all "built some character."
Despite the weather, the LT group learned many really awesome skills: they mastered the rapid tent-set up, not to mention many achieved route-finding proficiency. Everyone also perfected the art of the springtime stream crossing, discovering new and innovative methods to cross the water. So much so that by Sunday, we were following streams as though they were the trail! Well, they actually were the trail.
More importantly, however, each group member got to snuggle. I mean, we spooned like champs. You see, occasionally the weather does not cooperate with warm sunny days for trips, but it simply becomes an excuse to utilize tents to their greatest advantage?warmth. The human body is exceedingly balmy, nearly 100 degrees, and the heat of five sweaty hikers in a small space compensates amazingly well for a lack of central heating. As I lay quietly in my sleeping bag, I was warm, toasty, packed in a tent, and totally content, much like a walking, talking sardine. The trip was only half over, and everyone was warm, (mostly) dry, and ready for a long snooze. It had been quite a day, and I was ready for the next to begin.