“Sarcasm for an angry Rose”
Up and at ‘em. Ready to go at 7:30 on a nearly thousand-foot elevation gain up to the gorgeous Three Forks Park. Jake, Steve Ooter and I took off first about a half an hour before the others. The first half of the hike was a rather intense climb up Pinto Park trail. We had plenty of fry bread done up right to fill our jell-o like legs along the way. After three and a half miles we came to our final cairn (a stack of rocks that indicate a particular point in the trail), take a bearing for our direction of travel, and right as we got done writing the other a corny little note they came stomping up the hill behind us. After a quick hello and buh-bye we were off a gain to find a spot to camp. We get camp set up at Three Lakes Park when Courtney informs us that she shamelessly wants to steal a half an hour from Jeff and Rose. Come 1:30we met in a meadow to go over the duties, skills and quality characteristics needed for affective leadership. We went on to discuss leadership and decision making and then straight into debrief where Rose reiterated her joy and excitement about losing 30 minutes of her day. (If you haven’t caught on to the sarcasm yet, just wait, it gets even thicker) That night a couple of us figured, heck, its dry, its windy, there’s dead wood and dry meadows surrounding us, what better time to have a camp fire… Rose came down to visit and once again shared her joy and excitement about our judgment skills. I have a feeling that there will be no more fires in the backcountry after that incident. A hot cup of cocoa and a slice of cherry cheesecake goodness, then off to bed for all.
Derek Hofeldt