[at-l] The PA Ruck

[spiriteagle99 at hotmail.com (Jim and/or Ginny Owen)]

from our point of view ----

was probably the best PA Ruck for the last 4 or 5 years.

We got there late Friday night - and there were all of 6 people sitting in a 
group downstairs. We wondered if we were in the right place.  We didn't know 
it at the time, but there was a gaggle of people upstairs watching some of 
Spur and Ready's slides.  But a group of us unloaded the food, slides, 
projector, used gear, Six Moon Designs demo tent and pack, etc - and then 
sat and talked for about 3 hours.  By 12:30  everyone was tired and ready 
for some sack time.

Sat morning started with more breakfast goodies than I've seen in one place 
for a long, long time.  We had donuts, muffins, coffee cake, danish, lots of 
coffee --- not bad for a group that was "on our own" for breakfast.  After 
breakfast, we set up the Six Moons Europa II tent.  It's big - a true two 
person tent - and light (34 oz by my scale).  The fun part was clearing a 
space to put it in - and pounding the stakes into the frozen ground.  After 
the fun and games with the tent, it was time for a walk in the woods. So we 
gathered a group and headed for Pole Steeple - north on the AT for 2.8 
miles, then off on a blueblaze to a knob that overlooks the valley.  It was 
a little tougher walking than normal - the 6 inches of powder snow on the 
ground was crusted over - and powder doesn't compact very well.  So it was 
tough walking.  Did I mention that it was cold?  The walk took it's toll - 
one person decided that walking in that snow wasn't what they wanted to do 
and on the way back another decided to leave the group and return to the 
hostel at a slower pace - and 2 more decided to stay up at Pole Steeple for 
a while.  Did I mention the wind up there?  <G>

While some of us were out walking (and happily freezing our noses and 
toeses), Tin Man was back at the ranch demonstrating his stove making 
virtuousity to the unwashed and uncouth (hikers). He's got it down to a 
"science" - and has now managed to impress a lot of people at two Rucks in 
two weeks.  He's gooood.

By the time everyone got back (yeah - they all made it) lunch was ready - 
soup, chili, bread.  And it was all good.  So good that we didn't get 
started on the Tuckerization until 2pm.  Sister Stitches was presiding and 
she had 3 willing victims.  It's amazing how someone as nice as Mara can be 
so brutal when it comes to cutting other people's pack weight.  <VBG>

After a brief respite, we gathered a few of the Classes of 04 and 05 and had 
a little sitdown talk about a few of their questions about thruhiking.  The 
conversation took some surprising turns - as did the crowd.  We started with 
maybe a dozen people participating, but when I turned around a half hour 
later, the crowd was 4-deep behind me.  And there was a liberal dose of 
experience in that crowd.  And they weren't afraid to voice their 
opinions/knowledge.  Cool - that's what the Ruck is all about.  When our 
thruhikers-to-be ran out of questions, we took a break for a while before 
Marsha got dinner ready.  Of course, "a break" only means the the 
conversations moved into smaller and more scattered groups.

Dinner, of course, was the "usual" thruhiker-style gorging on a variety of 
great food.  If you weren't there, I'm not gonna torture you by describing 
the individual dishes.  But it was good enough that the Great Dessert 
Bakeoff also ran late (I'll let Gary describe that).  Enough to say that 
there was so much dessert there that the group could barely put a dent in 
it.  Brad (the hostel deeper) is gonna have enough dessert for the rest of 
the month.

Spur's slide show - like everything else on Sat - started about an hour 
late, but I didn't hear anyone complaining.  On the contrary, all I heard 
was "Wow" and "Oooh" and "Aaaah" and "What a great presentation!"

By request, we followed Spur's slideshow with our CDT slideshow.  After 
which a lot of people headed for their sleeping bags.  A few of them managed 
to sleep out at the campground, but for Sloetoe's edification, I don't think 
there was a whole lot of Guinness being passed around out there.  If there 
was, they'd have needed a blowtorch to thaw it out enough to drink.

A few of us - again - sat around and "continued the conversation" for 
another couple hours before hitting the sack.

This morning was basically a pack-up, clean-up, say goodbye day with the 
remains of yesterdays over abundance of breakfast goodies to keep everyone 
from starving.  If anyone went away hungry, it was by deliberate choice on 
their part.

There were at least 70 people there this weekend, but it was definitely a 
smaller Ruck than the last several years - and that made it a lot closer to 
what the Ruck was meant to be.  I'm sure we'll talk about that some more 
later.

One other piece of business was also successful - the fundraiser for the 
Delaware Water Gap hostel. The Hiker's Garage Sale provided $154 and the 
lunch donations provided $203.01.  Now, lunch was $3.00 per person, and one 
person paid $5, but what I can't figure out is where that extra $0.01 came 
from.  But I'm not gonna worry about it either.  In any case, I'll send a 
$360 check to Karen Nickles tomorrow along with a letter of explanation.  
When I finish the letter, I'll also put it on the list.

For those who weren't there - my condolences.  For those who were, we were 
glad to see you.  For those who will hike this year, I'll wish you an 
"interesting" hike.  And a successful one - at least in that you find what 
you need out there.

And finally, for Marsha, Gary, Tin Man, Spur and Ready, and Mara --- a great 
big "Thank You!!!"  I wouldn't have come together without your efforts.  And 
we DO appreciate you.

Walk softly,
Jim

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