LAST WILL &
TESTAMENT OF THE COLLAPSING SURVIVAL
BRIDGE ON
**---: WHAM!! ---About 3 A.M.
Each man, one after the other rudely and violently shaken in his sleeping bag
with a flashlight in his eyes. As soon as his head pops up for a groggy “what’s
goin on here?!”, flashlight silently swings onto a large cardboard thrust
before his nose!
Another Telegram! -----WESTERN UNION -----
To All Mt Men
This is NOT a Practice Survival
Scramble. Stop. Prepare A
Maximum Survivial Pack to Live
Indefinitely Off The Land.
Stop. Be On The Trail In 30 Minutes. Stop.
Stragglers
Will Be Left Behind. Do Not Stop.
(Signed)
President John F. Kennedy
“Ohhhh,
NNNOOOO!”–“Whuzzaat? Hunhh? Oh, scramble. Yeah. SCRAMBLE??!!..
“Go
Way
But less than 30 minutes
later the push was on! From a cold dead
start to a full head of steam! Not one single reminder, suggestion or
check-over from the Lederhosen Ghoul. Fact, he kept his mouth shut from then
on. Merely a silent observer. Group quickly organized under Aristotle’s deft
directions. By sunup: Crest, Breakfast of oatmeal. Sack out for an hour as the
hawks investigate. “Pack up and push
on!” Aristotle On The Rocks. Contour map & compass confidence with Ram
Rod Muscle Back to decide route. Off south 10-ten boulder route, down thru gap
twixt Ely and
Coyote. Down thru
sunset slope drainage of 100 ringed trees. White Belt exhaustion collapse
(reason why later). Then shooting Star
losing leg muscle control. Stumbled. Up.
Quarter mile more: major collapse of body & spirit. Verbal medication and group discussion of
morale maintenance, physical strength of growing boys & treatment of
shock. Double-loaded his pack on the
silent Mule to valley floor. Then S-Star got a renewed dose of strength &
will and carried his own weight for the rest of the forced march. No shake out
of packs.
Two hour lunch & morale rest: Oatmeal,
salt pork, cheese, hot tea to revive sagging spirits. Beginning to discover
some of the vital stuff left behind. Explored around, found slight water
seepage, dug back into it, rocked & graveled it in, built dam to trap
outflow. Filled canteens, then just to be doubly safe, strung each by its
cap-chain on green aspen stick, suspended over fire until boiled. Since each of
the Trail Grinders was smelling richly pungent by this time of week, and since
cleanliness is to our advantage, we stripped, squatted, scrubbed --- to the
utter amazement & amusement of a herd of passing open rage cow critters! Stopped
their cud chewing! Gasped in amazement at the weird frenetic dances being
performed by a troop of “September Morn” Mt Men drying off! (And White-Belt
looking utterly, utterly debonair in his hat, side-knife and long underwear!
THAT’S why he went down: overheated body not being able radiate out!
Continued pushing, plotting map &
compass course. Getting additional nourishment along the way: Squaw Berries,
Kinikinnick (Beer berries), purple clover blossoms, strawberries, sour citric
berries.
Camp after nightfall. Mammoth WHOOOSH! Of
relaxation! NOW a REALLY huge campfire,
folk-sing, yarn-spin, apple-chaw, batteryacid-guzzle party! All goes well and
raucous until time to hit th sacks. Then that un-shaven Frankenstein Field
walks into the fire-ring with another cardboard telegram! Pandemonium!! Yeah, Yeah
-- It only sez: “To all Mt Men -- Have A Good Nite’s Rest! (signed) JFK..” But who believs HIM anymore. Everybody
snatched up sleeping sacks and slept out away from the lean-tos, taking turns
standing guard. Nobody got much sleep that night --- except you-know-who. We meant it.
SUNDAY: Really
Sweet-Camp today.
Worked on Medicine logs.
Default. 7th Installment not met.
Returned area back to Nature.
Back to that compact
& efficient: Hip-Hole, Granite-Hole, Tucker-Box, Poncho Roof, Campfire-Sing,
Slowing-Spring, Meditation-View .. called
.. home.
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