Sunday, June 26, 2011

"My mom encourages me to come because I'm an antisocial little bastard"

Packing up went quicker than expected as the boys demonstrated a greater proficiency for trail life. The adults tend to take their time since we're usually done long before the boys anyway. Today, they take us by surprise and finish more than 10 minutes before the adults are ready.

While waiting, I pulled the boys together and told them stories from when I was a scout and backpacking in Maine. I focused on a couple stories about a boy who was a little overly sheltered by his mother and had a hard time adjusting to trail life. I commented to them that his mom needed to push him out the door a little more. John1 immediately added to quote of the day, "My mom encourages me to come because I'm an antisocial little bastard!

I fully expect it's going to be a good day.

Not a lot of memorable activity happens on the trail, however. And then, shortly after lunch, we start to get a little rain fall. At the first sign of rain on the trail, it's a good idea to stop and put a pack cover over your pack--they are fitted to go over the pack in a way that leaves the straps exposed so you can still wear it. As soon as we got the pack covers on, it became apparent that we would want to stop and put up our rain flies and take cover from the storm. It's better to get to camp late and dry than early and wet. It only takes a couple minutes to get the flies up, and we rest under them. The boys fly is supported by a couple ropes and John1 (being the tallest in the group) standing in the center to provide some pitch to the plastic.

The storm gets pretty heavy for about 20 minutes before tapering off. We wait an extra five to be sure, but then take down the flies and resume the walk. We take an easy pace today and reach the campsite around 2:30. We have just enough time to get a fire going to smoke out the mosquitoes, and to get our rain fly up before it start to rain again. The fire dies, and most of us take cover in our tents.

The rain clears about about 4:15, at which point the party starts on filtering water. It isn't much longer before we find out just how wrong I was about today being a good day. The boys, David, and Molly finish pumping water up at the upper camp site (the tent sites were separated by a small hill and a stream), and Steve and I are tending the fire in the lower site.

SLIP, THUD, SPLASH.

"David!" Molly's voice.

"That didn't sound good," I tell Steve. I get up to walk up the hill and see what's happening. I can't see Molly, but I can see David hurrying down the hill. It registers that Molly must have slipped. David reaches her first and is feeling her head and back when I get up the hill enough to see into the stream bed. He's now helping her up, and I see why she called for help. Her nose is bleeding, her glasses are gone, and there is a lot of blood in her eye.

Oh no, she damaged her eye I think to myself. I evaluate that David has her properly supported, and he's helping her up the bank and to our site where she can sit for treatment. I turn and go straight for the first aid kit. David seems so calm! What I don't know is that Molly has told him her eye is fine--it's the gash in her forehead that's bleeding into her eye.

While David is helping Molly sit, I'm spreading out the first aid kit, and Steve is getting out gloves. The Boy Scouts of America requires at least one leader in each group to have Wilderness First Aid training for trips like these. Molly, Steve, David, and I are all trained; and it's a huge relief today. David and Steve take point on treatment, and discuss the options. I pull things out of the kit as they talk about them, making them available and finding other supplies to help, as well as disposing of garbage in the fire.

After what seems like 30 minutes (but was probably only 10), the bleeding is under control. The nose is clearly broken.

5:30 PM, we're four and a half miles away from the parking lot, and our cars aren't supposed to be delivered by the outfitter until tomorrow. These are the conditions under which we have to decide whether to evacuate or to wait until tomorrow to move. It's decided that we'll observe Molly for a few hours. If no signs of concussion develop, we'll spend the night. Otherwise, we make for a road to call 911.

Nothing develops.

Moments like these cause a lot of self-reflection. After everything was under control, I walked up the trail to get firewood, but along the way, the adrenaline rush came down and I had to stop for a minute to regain my composure and not break into tears. Silly, I know. I was fine, and I had no reason to be crying. Just one of those things that develops when the chemicals in the brain readjust, I guess. But it was clear to me in that moment that I'm not ready to be the leader in charge at these events. I've thought I could be for a while, but clearly I'm not. I don't think for a second that I could have kept my wits about me as well as David and Steve had. If forced to, I could get by, but not with nearly as good of a result as we had tonight. I need more time.

There was one thing that shook me more than anything else about the event. Molly is one of those people who always has a gleam in her eye. Even when she's criticizing something, she gleams. It's the sign of a truly happy individual. Tonight, the gleam is gone, and I just couldn't seem to process that. I hope I never see a gleam like that disappear again.

1 comment:

  1. Hey Mr. Nutter this is Alex Schachtel...hopefully you dont mind that i read this but i came accross it on my news feedon faceboook.
    Nice story! Man i really miss camping! i hope i can get back out there this year!
    You remind me of my dad because personally i think you have a lot more emotion and apathy than you would like to show and personally i think thats where the crying came in (but who asked me anyways...)

    on a funnier note, i thought you kept your composure very well as you led us into 4 foot waves saying "keep the boat between you and the rocks!"

    I hope Mrs. urban's nose is okay! I dont know when this is from...she definately does have that gleam that you talked about.

    anyways...nice idea to keep a blog of such adventures. I think it later years it would/will be nice to reflect upon.

    ~Alex

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