Date: 2004-04-08
From: Siler Bald Shelter

To: Cold Spring Shelter
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: overcast clouds

I'd like to tell you a bit about who I have been hiking with. By nature of the trail, many of the relationships I forge out here are transient and I assume these will be as well, but I have been hiking with them for awhile now and they are good company so I decided introductions are in order.I met Sheila on whiteblaze.net and we started hiking together from day 1. A 22 year old Darthmouth graduate and football fanatic, Sheila's claim to fame is being able to recite any personal or professional statistic of just about anyone in the NFL. Watching Jeopardy one night she bowled me over by smoking the NFL rules category - usually answering the questions before Alex had even finished answering them. She delivers a ferocious Biggie smalls rap, is addicted to American Idol, and lives off Mac n Cheese. Her trail name is bananana in part due to her bright yellow rain gear and in part as a tribute to Beethoven's Fifth: ba-na-na-na. She's awesome and excellent for girl talk and wants to someday marry Tom Brady.Keith is a 30 year chef who was living with his fiance, Karen, in Colorado - and he's Colorado to the core. Backcountry snowboarder, kayaker, and general bad-ass, Keith blazes the trail with much machismo, but then becomes sincerely sensitive when describing the best way to make a rue. He's got a wicked sense of humor and a tatoo of his pet gecko on his right calf. One night as a simple act of kindness, he baked us all a cheesecake with graham cracker crust and his trail name is Chef 1. Top five musicians: Grateful Dead, R.E.M., Kenny Rogers, The Beatles, and Eric Clapton.In a Bonnie and Clyde sort of way, Shaun makes up the other half of the Keith and Shaun duo. The two met in culinary school and their friendship cemented instantly like pudding. A 26 year old living in Maine, Shaun likes to build, poke, and generally patrol our nightly fires. His trainame was Chef 2, but he was a bit sensitive about being second string to Keith (Chef 1) so we offered an unsatisfactory compromise with Chef Too. It's not sticking so I defer to the trailname Gods. He prefers NeverCash because he is perpetually broke. Anyway, he's really good natured and easy to get along with and can often be found rapping with Sheila or doing Gremlin and Forest Gump imitations. He's a single Sagitarius who likes long walks in the woods, so if you're a lonely lady check out his pic in my photo gallery (Neels Gap reunion, the Big Oak).Chris is 27 and straight out of the Marines where he spent 2 years in Okinawa, Japan and Quantico, VA. He has this capacity to retain useless little factoids making him a one-hit-wonder on just about any subject. He likes to talk politics and economics, usually during strenuous uphills, and reads the Economist at night in his tent. He's totally solid on the trail with a "no man left behind" attitude and is really generous with his time, always willing to help and offer advice. His trailname is LudaChris, simply because he is a Marine and has a mild fondness for personal discomfort. He's excellent company, a really sweet guy and a walking encyclopedia.That's the crowd. As a side note I was mildy amused this night as I lay in my tent talking on my cell phone. I brought it with me on the trail simply because I have to continue my payments for it and now it doubles as a piece of my first aid kit. My first aid kit is small but has the essentials, most of which I know how to use. But it's kinda like a spare tire, I have one and know how to use it, but I'd rather have someone come along and fix the flat for me. Anyway, being on the phone and in my tent felt really weird and silly - like I was breaking some sort of unwritten backcountry law. At least I didn't bring my hands-free "Miss Jackson if you're nasty" headset to talk while hiking. Gotta draw the line somewhere.