#10 Mt. Zealand

10/12/01 - Hiked with Gwen. We were staying at the Zealand Falls Hut so we backpacked up to the hut the night before the summit. It was a quick hike, we started late in the day, and made it just in time for dinner. We put our stuff down in the bunk room, I snagged a bottom bunk (there's 3 levels of bunks).

We hung out at the falls after watching the sun go down.

There was a bachelorette party up there and they were getting high by the falls. Later on we were playing board games (Connect 4, Gwen won, big time) in the hut and talking to them. When we were going to bed (it was lights out and dark) I went to put the game away and spilled all the pieces all over the floor, which cracked us all up. It was funnier knowing they were high and that it was "quiet hours". I slept with ear plugs which was a great idea because there was 18 other people in the room. I got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and the door was right next to somebody's head. I hit their pillow with the door. I wondered why they didn't put their head at the other end, away from the door. One of the girls who worked at the hut woke everyone up by playing "Dreaming My Dreams" by the Cranberries on her guitar. It was surreal for me because of the ear plugs, I wasn't sure if I was "dreaming" it or not. It was nice getting an early start the next day.

We left our packs at the hut, summited, then picked them back up on the way down.

#9 Mt. Liberty

8/25/01 Hiked with Jim and Gwen. Jimbo left me and Gwen in the dust. Gwen and I stopped at the tent sites and ate lunch. We met these 2 little adorable girls (Gwen pointed out a mouse to them). They were camping out with their fathers. "We're not sisters even though we look alike but we have the same birthday, May 1st, that's why we look alike. I'm older (6) than she is (5). My mommy's tummy was too small to keep me in any longer so I'm small. I'm going to be in 1st grade this year and she was in pre-school and she's going to kindergarten and that's my Daddy over there with the baseball cap on and her Daddy has a white shirt on. My Mommy's cleaning the school." And inhale. They asked their fathers if we could stay overnight but Gwen told them we had dinner reservations. We saw them later at the summit. One of the fathers was carrying a Barbie backpack. We also met this other guy who was trying to impress us with his watch and the 10,000 functions it had. "This is how fast I can ski, this is how high we are, blah blah blah". Gwen said he was wearing gold necklaces but I didn't notice because I was staring at his flip-up sunglasses that were in the "up" position. There were a lot of cool people on this trail. There was a skinny lady with a poodle, a woman in a long skirt holding a large child on her back and a guy on the summit who said the view was "fucking awesome". So true, so true.
Jimbo