The Amazing day by Alec Thompson

On HRMDC’s final AT trip, we had lots of action packed days. We roughed snow, wind, and high altitudes. Also we made a fire in the cold.  We made a cold day a good one. Here are that day’s events.

Before our last hike of the trip, we needed to repack and go to the cabin on base. We had a long hike through wilderness and tons of altitude gain. It was snowing the night before the morning hike, and the wind was super cold in the morning when we started to hike. Once we got to the sign that told us the shelter was close, we hiked our way to it. When we turned the corner there was a big gust of wind in our face. It was really cold and it made us hike faster, which helped a lot. We made it to the shelter at 7:54 p.m. and were freezing cold. We put on warm layers and started to make camp.

Once camp was set up, Tristan and I went to look for birch bark for the fire. Nat said he wanted a lot. We collected bark for about 20 minutes and came back and tried to start the fire. Nothing worked, so I pulled out my paper for the fire. Nat tried with paper and it lit up. We started blowing on the fire non-stop to make it big. Tristan and I continued until we got it big enough. We finally had a nice fire going so the chefs started cooking a meal for us.

When I came over I saw a meal that I had never seen before. It looked amazing. It contained a few ingredients that I had never thought about mixing. It contained pudding, cinnamon swirl bread, and some other ingredients mixed together.  Once they served it out it was amazing and warm. I decided to clean the pot out for Sherpa. Once we finished the meal and were cleaned up we went straight to bed.

Over all the expedition was a fun filled week. I believe that we will remember this expedition for years to come. This was one of my favorite expeditions on the AT. I hope D.C. will be this fun.