FSS 1 – September 2005

September 29, 2005. Day 2 in the Gila – Journey’s just beginning.

I awoke this morning to the moans of people discovering that their sleeping bag and other belongings were soaking wet. An example would be, ” Dude, you don’t understand half of my body is wet.” Anyways we had some delicious oatmeal and then made our way over to the group meeting, after this we split up in to ‘pods’ and headed out. My group was last, so we filled up the time with some stretching, including Dave’s tricky kung fu move.

We only had to go about 4 miles today, so we were able to take our time along the trail. We saw some pretty spectacular sights, including a large cliff, our fabulous break spot (on the top of a ridge) and we were introduced to aspen trees. I also learned that the chalk from aspen trees not only serves as a form of sun protection for the trees, but for humans as well!

When we arrived at camp we filled up the ‘droms’ and made the steep trudge up the hill. We arrived in the afternoon so we had time to hang out and talk, write, read or just to appreciate the beauty that surrounds us. Think about it, it doesn’t really get much better than this. We cooked dinner and then had a group meeting around the campfire. We share our goals and fears. After some people enjoyed some quiet time around the fire whlie others told stories and random jokes. It’s awesome that it’s only day 3 and people are getting to know each other.

Anyways, goodnight, it’s freezing. – Maris