Sunday morning was a rough morning to get up bright eyed and bushy tailed. The prom had gone late into the night and the remaining shenanigans had not stopped until the early hours of the morning. Everyone involved in the hardcore program was to meet and be ready to leave by 8 am. I would liked to have slept in on my birthday but I was not gonna back out of the program I came back to trail Days for. I hit snooze on my phone more times than I care to admit, and with 10 minutes to 8, I got up grabbed my bag and headed on. I knew glen would not be up yet so I would have to say my goodbye and thanks over the phone later.
Many of the group that arrived to participate in hardcore looked a little ragged. I think a good portion of them were flying off the he fumes of the he previous night as well. Our packs were put into a covered truck bed and hikers were divided into cars to be taken to the work site. I got put into a car with 3 other hikers, all very nice and 2 just as tired as I was. Had it not been for the driving of the previous thru hiker, I might have been able to sleep during the ride. Riding in that kids car felt like being on a roller coaster I was led on while boindfolded. Hell bent and no breaks, it seemed like he was racing to be the first one to the site. Mountain roads were the worst. I did manage to doze off one time only to subconsciously hear another passenger loudly exclaim "oh shit" at which point I sat up and panicked for a split second. The kind of moment when one is asleep and have that feeling of falling. Yea it was way worse.
Somehow by miracle of the almighty we made it to the work site without harm or police encounter. Tools had been laid out in groups depending on which switchback you would be working on. Some groups would be clearing trail areas with pulaskis. some groups would be doing rock work with sledge hammers. Each of us was provided with a hard had and some tools to carry down the trail. Initially I was in a trail clearing group. I was assigned to clear a section of trail marked by flags and impeded by a few dead trees. The actual making of a trail is not that hard I came to find out, with everyone working next to each other, it just kind of appears all of a sudden. One minute I was looking down worrying about cutting the roots of a dead tree so I could rip it out of the ground, and the next there was a very clear outline,of the future that was to be the new section of trail. I along with the rest of my 8 ish man group managed to clear our section fairly clearly. The Pulaski tool I was using did give me a little bit of trouble when the metal head of the tool came ricocheting off the dead tree I was cutting out of the ground. The metal heads cracked against my knee and although no serious damage was suffered, my knee was swollen and not nearly as flexible as it had been in days past. Not wanting out I risk another chance encounter with questionable tools, I switched groups to a team that was collecting larger rocks to build a path over a section that was a little mucky. The remainder of the day was spent gathering any size rocks to cross over the less than sturdy section. Worry was without the rocks the section might was away with a heavy rain. The day ended with anyone that had helped with the mucky area covered in mud and looking like creatures from the swamp.
Dinner was provided by the ATC group in charge. The dinner they provided for us was more than was necessary. Each hiker went went back at least 1 time for some of the leftovers. After dinner everyone was once again ushered back into the cars to return to Kincora hostel where we would all cram in or around for the night. My knee had swollen and was turning a pretty awesome color as well as my motion being painful and limited. I was not excited about the next day. I found out that a number of volunteers would need to sign up for cooking dinner the second evening. I went ahead and planned to stay at the hostel and do prep for dinner since I wasn't sure whether it would be painful on my knee. The next day everyone got up and left and the remaining hiker chefs waited around for our ingredients and our heads chef to show up. We spent the rest of the day prepping all sorts of food as well as organizing room for about 100 people to eat.
The day went by slow and easy enough although my knee gave me some trouble going up and down stairs. In between shifts of food prep there was plenty of IMHO ice it and read. I even managed to catch a goo afternoon nap.
Late in the he afternoon the mob of hungry people returned and were promptly
Fed. An ice cream bar and 2 very large cakes were produced and after everyone had eaten far too much(the consistent theme of hikers when around all you can eat) we all began to slow down. Some of here workers were to leave wht but night and some would catch rides the following day. I managed to go straight to bed and then jump back into the 4 wheeled death ride back to where I got off the trail.
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