Date: 2006-03-26
From: Standing Bear Farm

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: broken clouds

When I was little, my mom used to bring me hot chocolate in bed every morning. I used to wake up to the sounds of her stirring it vigorously. Now as I lay here in my sleeping bag, my icy cold hands clutching my little pot of Swiss Miss hot chocolate, I am givin' the comforts of home with one little drink. It's cold and we are surrounded by snow..we walked in snow all day...and there is no better thing to end a long tiring day with but a little piece of home. Thanks mom for making me hot chocolate every morning...I can't believe how spoiled I was...Got a late start today. None of us seemed to be able to bring ourselves to leave Standing Bear Farm. I think about 5 pots of coffee were downed between all of us. (Sparrowhawk, Cookie, Cloudwalker, Boulder, Underground, Noah, Pebbles, Snake, Swansons and I plus, Curtis, the owner), plus two Dr. Peppers, each for Swansons and I, a frozen pizza, sausage, egg and cheese, two chicken and cheese quesadillas, two oatmeal bars, two chocolate cupcakes, a bag of dried fruit, scrambled eggs and four or five apples--this, divided amongst Pebbles, Snake, Swansons and I and I think we were ready for some hiking, after all that. What a tough place to leave! Curtis walked us out and told us of his plan to install a hot tub, so I think a trip back might be in order one day.I hate to say it, but the hike sucked today. Plain and simple. I still loved every minute of it, just not with the same amount of gusto I usually love it with. Lots of ups!!   We hiked up all day, and the further up we went, the more snow there was, and at some points it was still snowing.Followed two sets of fox prints for the entire morning up the trail which gave us something to take our minds off the ups. Cookie told us that shortly after the fox prints stopped, there were a set of big bear prints crossing the trail. I was not happy that I missed that one. That would have made my day. So, the animal tracks were the highlight of the morning. Max Patch was the highlight of the afternoon, though it felt like it was about 0 degrees up there with the wind, and 2 foot snow drifts. It was gorgous! A very cool huge bald. Too bad it was at the end of the day when we were all getting on to "too tired to care" mode.And the PUDS (pointless ups and downs) before getting to the patch were enough to make you want to throw a bit of a temper tantrum right there in the snow. Not that I did that or anything but I came close to throwing my poles a couple of times. The snickers bar in my pocket quickly brought me back down to earth-and I only grumbled once or twice more on the uphills.Big 20 mile or 18 mile or whatever, day tomorrow, into Hot Springs where we can get warm and think good thoughts of whole boxes of cereal and other calorie ridden treats to get us back to normal. We are stacked in the shelter tonight and glad for the body warmth. Never would I think that I'd be so happy to sleep so close to people I have only known a few weeks, or, as for some, a few days!Oh, and I fell again today--which brings me to 6 falls and Swansons to 2-even though his should count for more than 1 because he snapped his trekking pole clear in half on the last one.