Day 5

Blackrock Hut to Pinefield Hut 13.7 miles

We had two climbs today that we would normally have called strenuous. At the end, however, something happened. We started climbing and we kept climbing until we reached the summit. Then, we walked down the other side. We approached our second mountain, and did the same thing. Could this mean that we are getting in shape. Hells yes!

Well, again, honestly, I don't remember the journey into the shelter. I zoned. Saw some beautiful vistas, took some pictures, had songs stuck on my head, blah, blah, blah. When we got to the shelter, the boy scouts were already there. The tent sites were on top of the hill. All of them were taken except for one. We learned, later, that the permits on the other two tent sites were expired. One in mid June, and the other at the end of June. It seemed that these people had just abandoned all their stuff. It was nice stuff too! Well, curiosity got the best of me. I assumed that we would find corpses in these tents. Who just leaves a $400 tent in the woods? I approaced the first one with my treking pole and knocked on the side. No answer. I looked at the permit. It expired 6/10/09. It was a couple from Florida. Their primary method of travel was "White Cadillac." Their entrance site was "Gravel." I didn't see the white Cadillac parked anywhere. I unzipped the tent. Through the mesh, I saw two figures lying next to each other. "Shit," I thought. "Dead people."
But, then I unzipped the mesh and saw two Kelty packs, fully loaded next to each other. Very interesting. I went to the next tent. An identical North Face tent. This tag expired only a few days before. This was another couple from Florida. They were also travelling by white Cadillac (!) Where were all these Cadillacs?! Anyway, this one got me really nervous. There were flies all over the top, under the rainfly, everywhere. I knocked again. No answer. I unzipped the tent. I again saw two figures, larger this time.
"Shit," I thought. "More dead people."
I unzipped the mesh and saw two sleeping bags lying next to each other, clothes underneath. No bodies. There were two books inside, both by Bill Bryson, The Lost Continent, and A Short History of Nerly Everything. I took both. I went to the other tent and decided to rifle through the other packs to see if there was anything good inside. I figured these people have to be dead somewhere based on what I found:
No food in the tent, on the bear poles or anywhere on site
No water or water containers
No maps
1 t-shirt
2 camp pillows
1 pair of boxers
1 pair of cotton pajamas
AquaMira for purifying the water they couldn't carry
2 Mosquito netting hats
2 Mosquito nets
18 tent stakes in original packaging
1 compass in original packaging
Deodorant

Well, there was absolutely nothing I wanted, so I went back to the tent. I read the Lost Continent out loud to Hannah as deer came close and ate by our camp. Night came and we went to sleep. At about 10pm, there was a commotion in the camp. This older couple came up the hill clanging a metal pot, arguing.
"Try and keep up with me goddamnit!"
"How can I keep up with you when I don't have a light?"
"Well, you could try walking faster."
"I can't see!"
"Move!"
"I can't see a damn thing."
And on and on and on...
It was them. We stole the books of these terribly inept people, and they were back! They continued to argue amongst themselves in whisper tones, and Hannah and I tried to figure out what to do with the books. Surely they would know it was us. There were only 12 other people nearby, but we were closest. We went to sleep and were prepared to enact our master criminal plan on the morning of day 6.