Luke's Bachelor Backpacking Trip
One of my closest friends, Luke Shingledecker, got engaged on New Year's Eve, 2004. When he asked me to be his best man, I recognized the importance of this position and the gusto with which its duties should be dispatched. Two things came immediately to my mind: first, what will I say at the wedding? Second, what will we do for the bachelor party? The first thought I forgot about for 6 months, but I immediately began hatching plots for the second thought.
We didn't want to do your typical bachelor outing at a strip club, and Luke being an enthusiastic hiker, we decided to attempt the Bachelor Backpacking Trip. After some lengthy discussion, we decided to check out the Dolly Sods area of West Virginia for a 3-day hike. The plan was for about 20 miles in 3 days. We assembled a motley group of 5 willing souls, and a rather sufficient supply of hard liquor, cigarettes, and cigars, piled into 2 cars and off we went to wild, wonderful WVA.
The weekend was punctuated with interesting events, and the spirit of Ötzi was in attendance. We had a brilliant hike into our campsite on day one, followed by excellent hobo dinners of salmon, london broil, and veggies which Luke prepared in advance. Brian provided us with enough long island ice tea to get a hippo drunk, and we all woke up with a big headache. Ted woke up with a twisted hangover and a surprise breakfast he left for himself just outside the tent. Under sunny skies we departed for the bottom of the valley, which we learned to regret when it began to rain about halfway down. We decided to trudge on to the bottom and see if it would stop. After no small amount of standing around in the rain, it did eventually stop and we were able to dry off in the sun. The only problem was that some of us forgot to zip up the tent flies before departing, so we wound up with a lot of really wet gear. The conclusion was to take off a day prior to our planned departure, which was fine because we enjoyed a marvelous dinner of trout and beer, some of which was free in honor of Luke's bachelorhood.
On the whole it was a great weekend. Luke was appropriately hazed and a good time was had by all. Here's to many future bachelor backpacking trips, in the spirit of Ötzi...no news is good news!
Getting ready to take off.
Signing In.
D'ya think all this green means that they get a lot of rain around here?
Hey check it out...that's a view!
Why is it that even at my own bachelor party I have to do the cooking?
Heh heh you chumps think there is water in all these bottles.
Cheers! We love camping!
And...We Like the Moon!
Dude, I need some food to put down all the booze we have been drinking.
Hey guys check out my firewood technique. Nice, huh?
I'm still a bachelor, I'm drunk, it's raining, and I can't feel my toes. I love camping!
Yep, I think that's the spot where I ralphed. Some bear must have come along and had himself a feast! Salmon, steak, and everything!
Boy, with all these streams around, you'd think they must get a lot of rain out here!
Yep, sure enough. They do get a lot of rain down here. I need a cigarette!
Here we are at the bottom of the valley with one sprained ankle, and a whole lot of rain. I want to go home! Camping Sucks!
We didn't want to do your typical bachelor outing at a strip club, and Luke being an enthusiastic hiker, we decided to attempt the Bachelor Backpacking Trip. After some lengthy discussion, we decided to check out the Dolly Sods area of West Virginia for a 3-day hike. The plan was for about 20 miles in 3 days. We assembled a motley group of 5 willing souls, and a rather sufficient supply of hard liquor, cigarettes, and cigars, piled into 2 cars and off we went to wild, wonderful WVA.
The weekend was punctuated with interesting events, and the spirit of Ötzi was in attendance. We had a brilliant hike into our campsite on day one, followed by excellent hobo dinners of salmon, london broil, and veggies which Luke prepared in advance. Brian provided us with enough long island ice tea to get a hippo drunk, and we all woke up with a big headache. Ted woke up with a twisted hangover and a surprise breakfast he left for himself just outside the tent. Under sunny skies we departed for the bottom of the valley, which we learned to regret when it began to rain about halfway down. We decided to trudge on to the bottom and see if it would stop. After no small amount of standing around in the rain, it did eventually stop and we were able to dry off in the sun. The only problem was that some of us forgot to zip up the tent flies before departing, so we wound up with a lot of really wet gear. The conclusion was to take off a day prior to our planned departure, which was fine because we enjoyed a marvelous dinner of trout and beer, some of which was free in honor of Luke's bachelorhood.
On the whole it was a great weekend. Luke was appropriately hazed and a good time was had by all. Here's to many future bachelor backpacking trips, in the spirit of Ötzi...no news is good news!
Getting ready to take off.
Signing In.
D'ya think all this green means that they get a lot of rain around here?
Hey check it out...that's a view!
Why is it that even at my own bachelor party I have to do the cooking?
Heh heh you chumps think there is water in all these bottles.
Cheers! We love camping!
And...We Like the Moon!
Dude, I need some food to put down all the booze we have been drinking.
Hey guys check out my firewood technique. Nice, huh?
I'm still a bachelor, I'm drunk, it's raining, and I can't feel my toes. I love camping!
Yep, I think that's the spot where I ralphed. Some bear must have come along and had himself a feast! Salmon, steak, and everything!
Boy, with all these streams around, you'd think they must get a lot of rain out here!
Yep, sure enough. They do get a lot of rain down here. I need a cigarette!
Here we are at the bottom of the valley with one sprained ankle, and a whole lot of rain. I want to go home! Camping Sucks!
posted by J Bergquist at 3:44 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home