Boys Weekend | Winter 2011 |
March 11-13 |
Summary |
By Bob Gifford |
Our adventure starts the same way every year. On the Friday before the second weekend of March the faithful assembly in Morristown Corners at the end of Beaver pond road just off of Mud City loop. This year the first to arrive was the Bob and Shane show. We were packed in to a Saab coupe with Lucy and it was pretty much pouring. There was tiny bit of a trail showing through about 6-8 inches of slop that had fallen in the last 24. It was a sticky mess on top of 5 feet of snow. We were like machines in terms of assembling the sleds, once out of the car the next dry place was going to be Burling cabin. We dragged our sleds up over the snow bank which was about 6 feet high and set to it. My initial thought upon starting to drag my sled was that it might not work. It took us 90 minutes to make the top of the knoll. It sucked! I had water running out of my shirt at the elbows and it was 40 degrees. Shane and I both were hauling full size guitars, we both had to stop and rebuilt our sleds to reduce a flipover problem. Low CG was needed for these 70 pound loads. Shane and I traded leads in the rain the whole way. At about 3 hours in Joe and Stan caught us just as were were breaking the last little bit of up before Broken Pole corner. They had a wonderful pull in on a packed interstate like trail. The last little bit of trail from the stream up to the cabin was perhaps the hardest. Shane was nice enough to blast a track through and we were there, in the rain and mostly without wood. We set to chores and moved in.
Friday night brought much drinking and eating. For some reason we
always bring so much food we could stay a week. This year was no exception. Dinner was a
combination as it always is. Scallops, rice, burgers, sausages, cheese and other things
left on the table. I drank at least 12 beers over the course of the afternoon. I tried to
fight Stan at some point but I think he was really afraid. Stan brought a chain saw which
was key. Everything was wet so dry wood was just an idea.
Saturday dawned slowly and a little painfully. Bob Joe
and Shane didn't feel well. Stan was like a rock. Bob blew chunks barely making it
outside. Joe puked 4 times on the way to the outhouse in nicely placed little trail marker
piles. Something was up. IT could have been the beer in my case but Joe only had 5 beers
the night before and he appeared to have a similar morning. It was a mystery , Shane rose
above it and never rejected any oral evidence of his last few meals. Stan was like a rock.
My son Casey had the same issue and he didn't show up.
The sun tried to poke trough so we went skiing. The Snow sucked! So deep and so rotten. We
went up behind the cabin and Bob turned back. No energy no strength. Stan and Shane made
it the top of the ridge and survived the decent. Joe went snowshoeing over to Beaver Meadow Lodge, Bob took a nap.
Joe radioed DP and got the thumbs up on Jon and Roy being in route. We awaited
re-enforcements and began to drink beer again but just a little less. Stan cut out a nice
little stair case with Bob directing the excavation. We built a really nice Pee spot too
Around about 3:30pm Roy chugged into camp, he snow shoed in dragging DPs Swiss military
sled. He looked great for the first time trek experience and seemed happy to be there. Jon
boy and Samson arrived a few minutes later. We were 6 now and set about the important job
of doing what we did the night before. We did find a nice dead pine right next to the
cabin. IT's only issue was its location, right across the stream above the waterfall. It
was no match for the woodsmen and we sliced that sucker in to stove sized chunks. We were
set for wood and now just had to eat. Bob built an outside fire on a piece of tin. It
sucked but it did cook one steak. We picked on a ton of food played some Backgammon and I
think Stan lost to everyone. Roy and Shane jammed with Joe a little, and dart games were
played. The evening ended with no fights and the cabin was warm.
Sunday dawned with a fresh coating of snow. We slowly got moving, had
coffee and packed out the trail to you know where. Joe actually threw a snow ball from the
cabin and hit the Outhouse. Amazing! We sorted our gear and packed up our sleds. Sunday
morning is always the same. The cabin goes from being total chaos with gear and clothing
everywhere to cleaned and organized in a a matter of an hour. My Sled system sucked this
year. I had way way too many roll overs. My Stick decent system failed miserably and was
ripped off in a fit of exhausted rage about 30 minutes from the cabin. Jon Boy took off
first this morning followed by Shane and Bob about 30 minutes later. Roy Stan and Joe hung
out for a bit cleaning the cabin and drinking beer. Seems like we are getting older and
less able to actually drink all the beer we drag in. I remember the good old days when we
would fight for the last beer. Jon was the first to the cars this year followed closely by
Bob and Shane. Samson ran off and foiled Jon's plans for a quick Exist. I guess he was not
through having fun. I got home about 12:30pm. Stan indicated he was home around 3:30pm
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