At Lula Tye shelter late in the evening, smoke was rising from the wooden structure up on the hill. I thought maybe one of the other hikers who had been just ahead might be up there, but instead Relentless and Bees Knees [web page link] were sitting around using the smoke to ward off the insects. They had their tent set up inside the shelter for bug protection in the night.
Next to the shelter a tree fell partially before being caught in another tree. Laying at almost a 90-degree angle, the fresh top half of the tree appeared anxious for some strong winds to set its course crashing to the ground. "Are you a phycisist? So do you think the top of the tree will fall on the shelter?" Relentless questioned as we both went to the side of the shelter pondering the posibilities. Bees Knees added, "I don't think it will fall on the shelter."
A small of amount of space lied between the end of the tip of the tree sitting horizontally and the shelter. "I don't think so either. The weight of the tree will probably make it fall mostly downwards or maybe even slip forward a little," I concluded in a very non-Einstein manner.
Bees Knees tutored, "'Bees Knees' was a term in the 1920's to refer to something hip."
"Just like 'da bomb' nowadays," I pointed out.
Originally, I had just wanted to check the shelter quickly and then move on, but then we started chatting about a variety of subjects for the next 30 minutes. When I got up and placed my backpack on and even started walking a few steps towards the trailhead, we continued discussing matters such as their daughter's upcoming wedding, education, politics, profoundities, and a slew of other things. (Always love deep thoughts.) I also revealed things about myself which I don't usually disclose to strangers and haven't done so in a while. And then another hour passed.
For a few minutes we talked about music and the Grateful Dead and ice cream. Relentless claimed, "You know I don't eat ice cream much, but my favorite is Ben and Jerry's Jerry Garcia ice cream."
"What's the main ingredient? Heroine?" I had to retort.
"No wonder it keeps me coming back for more."
When I finally did leave, we weren't strangers anymore. After 2.5 enjoyable hours at the shelter, I was able to start hiking with about 30 minutes of daylight left. Night hiking was the only choice to make another 5 miles to Grenwell shelter, the planned destination tonight, but I decided to get water from the lake and stop soon. I told myself I was going to stop at the next available good spot to camp after passing a tenting area, and fortunately, another shelter was just shortly up the trail.
The next day I met up with Bees Knees and Relentless again since they were early risers, and we discovered from a dad-son southbound group that Grenwell shelter was packed so seriously tight with hikers it needed greasing. The tree didn't fall last night.
