Despite my better judgment, my hiking buddy and I consented to an invitation to head back up on the mountain for one last work assignment. As we discussed it Thursday night, in all likelihood, if we didn't go it wouldn't be done or at least done well. Accordingly we got up, donned warm clothing, and joined the work crew for a 7 mile hike and work project under the first sticking snow of the season. Turns out we were right to go along. People are funny creatures.
People made commitments they didn't keep. Although the supervisor told me that seven people confirmed to attend, only three actually showed up to join the hike. Of those three, one was so out of shape and in poor shape that he barely made it two miles into the back country. Additionally, he slowed us down. If we hadn't gone along, it would have taken probably all day just to do the hike, and they would have had fewer hands with which to accomplish the task. He did however run into Rain Tree Goddess, a woman who hikes up to the large Bristlecone pine every weekend to water it, and someone my buddy wants me to introduce him to. We didn't encounter her.
We did encounter other people. Due to the retarded progress, a large group of hikers that we could have invited to help were already on their way down when we caught up with them. With their help, the project might have taken 15 minutes tops. On our way down after finishing, I encountered my very first student on the trail. As luck would have it, the only student I ever encountered hiking is the student who wrote my very first negative review online, giving me 1 out of 5 stars and proclaiming me the worst professor ever. She was there with her sister and their husbands. Her husband once hiked with me all the time, but now that his wife hates me, well, he's in her camp where he ought to be. I made sure not to draw attention to myself and let them pass without intimating I knew them.
I managed to have an up close encounter with the mountain itself. On the way back down, we teased our supervisor because she had trouble keeping her footing. As luck would have it, immediately after I made a snide remark, I fell face first into the snow, having lost my footing due to an old injury aggravated by our forced march and the cold temperatures. The mountain and I are now well acquainted, and the supervisor was kind enough to help lift me out of the snow bank and set me back on my feet after being made the center of our fun.
I met many interesting people volunteering at Mt. Charleston, but unfortunately most of them will probably not end up being of any significance outside the volunteer capacity. Most of the volunteers didn't meet their obligation, and those who did mostly did so for ulterior motives. Some hope to use this as leverage to get a job. Others did so because they wanted to flirt with our supervisor. Far too many of the hikers we met don't have a clue about trail etiquette or how to properly care for the forest. Even at Church on Sunday, one fellow told me that he'd been up camping that weekend, and I told him that in addition to violating the law, he had also unwisely camped near to the mountain lion den. I learned a lot about the law, the mountain, and myself, and hopefully I made a positive contribution. Sometimes it's hard to tell.
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