DONKFEST 2005

                                            (in need of renaming)

         The story unfolds when our heroine (me that is), is woken by a text message from fellow to-be hiker, Ravi Naresh at 10:08 on Wednesday morning of March 30th 2005. (alrite, now first person) After much lounging around and urging by DK, I go to Sean's house to pick up Ravi and Sean. This is around 11:30. Ridiculously enough, the sleepover party was still at Sean's house. Fortunately, they leave shortly before Andy and DK arrive in frustration. The meeting was supposed to be at Andy's house, but lazyasses Sean and Ravi move it to Sean's house by pure stubbornness. However, all is well and the troupe heads out around 12. After 1.5 hr of driving, during which I was going 100 mph at one point, we reach the final destination: Exit 1 of Rt 80 (the last one before the toll), Del(aware) Water Gap. Unloading takes a matter of minutes and we're off. But wait. What is this. The trails are closed! No worries; Andy scopes out the perfect trail while Ravi, Sean, and DK play at a nearby water pump. And soon, we are on our way. After mere minutes of the hike, I am certain I had bitten off more than I could chew. However, i forge onward until the rest of the gang decides to take a break. The trip seems to be a little tougher than we thought. Or perhaps, just than I had thought. Still, we finally reach a cliff where the view is gratifying. We have indeed made progress .

          After Andy and DK gratify themselves off the edge, we rolled out. We hike ALL FUCKING DAY taking breaks at scenic overlooks and at the helicopter landing space where DK drops my camera...or rather, makes me drop it.  Oh well, such is life, as long as it works. Fearing that darkness will set in before we reach our camp, troupe leader, Andy, presses us on, calling "AUTOBOTS! ROLL OUT!" and onward we charge. Before reaching the camp, we successfully play a game of GHOST which I am the victor . Taking short breaks at the lake, we continue on until we reach the campsite. It seems that we have neighbors. Fun. Anyway, we set up the tents, and before long, it is dark. Sean attempts to make a fire, while Andy scoffs and prepares to make dinner. After failed attempts, Sean joins us by the propane tank and heating pot. We sit as close as we can, trying to procure any hint of heat from the fire when GASP!, the pot spills!! Luckily the water is not too hot yet, and we refill will Nalgene bottles and Poland Springs. Better than than creek water I say.

         However, after 20 minutes, we can no longer wait. The water refuses to boil though the steam clearly indicates that the water is mighty hot. We put the Ramen into the water anyway and eat chicken strips (that Andy ingeniously brought I might add) while we wait. Not much later, we turn off the gas, open the pot, and feast like royalty. S'mores follow and a pseudo campire is formed around the propane tank. We think about asking our neighbors to join, but perhaps they are "donking" as Sean would say. After the Smoresfest, Ravi, Sean, and I go into their tent as DK and Andy clean up. We play a few games of Chinese poker before Sean resorts to making fun of me and threatening Ravi with his knife. Andy and DK join us and after some photo ops, Andy and I return to our tent. We entertain ourselves with "I've never ever....", shadow puppets, birdcalling (well that was just me), and worm wrestling before falling asleep. However, it gets terribly cold and I have to relayer all the articles of clothing that I had taken off earlier.

         During the night, i migrate towards Andy due to my squirming, and have to move myself back several times. By morning, I am right next to him. The other tent people wake up at fucking 6 am and won't shut up. The mofos !! *Shaking fist* I finally get out the tent at  9 just in time for breakfast. Hot oatmeal, just what i need after a freezing night . We goof around for a little it and are lighting fire to a stump when a WOLF!!! It runs towards us at full speed and I turn to Andy and ask, "Is that a wolf?" Ravi craps his pants and mutters, "Oh god." Oh the greatness. It turns out, it's just a dog. It won't let us catch it, and just keeps jumping around us and sniffing our things. Even funnier, its owner stands 50 ft away and just calls to it nonstop. The dog doesn't even respond and finally Ravi calls out, " MAYBE YOU SHOULD COME HERE AND GET IT!" And when this little oriental man does come down, he hands us the leash and asks us to leash the dog. Then someone calls him and he talks on the phone while his dog eats some leftover poptarts and marks the territory as his. Finally the man gets the leash on his dog and walks off. Ravi relentlessly insults both the owner and the dog, within their hearing range, until we move out once again. We have decided to go to Sunfish Lake for a morning hike before we leave the place behind for good. We leave our packs behind and hike to the lake (the one we passed the day before). Walking around the lake (or a quarter of the way around as it is a very large lake) we admire its beauty and what is this? ROCK SCULPTURES! These manmade babies are created with the rocks in the shallows of the lake. We decide that we must make one for the group. However, Handy Andy, as Ravi dubbed thee, feels it is going to rain and doubletime it outta there.

        During this time, we play another round of GHOST in which the three guys (Dave did not play) target me, not only as the butt of their jokes, but so that I would get fucked over every time with the word. Ravi shamelessly calls out "Damn, we could have fucked her over with that one," or "We have to fuck Linda over to redeem ourselves." The faches, and Ravi has the nerve to call Sean shameless. Surely enough, I am the first to go. As we reach camp, the game ends with Andy as the champion. We eat a delicious peanut butter and jelly tortilla lunch, during which Sean whittles a spear; just another weapon to threaten Ravi with. Oddly enough, Ravi jumps up and yells, "HUNT ME" and runs off. Sean throws the spear, widely missing his brown target, who confiscate the weapon. Tricksey little hobbit. When Ravi returns from his near run with death, he makes another peanut butter and jelly tortilla....in DK's hand . Silly boy. We finish up and continue on our journey. The worst is over.

           While we walk, Ravi decides that everyone needs a name and our trip needs to be christened as well. (Handy)Andy has already been taken care of, and Distraught Dave came about when Ravi made the sandwich in his hand. Shameless Sean seems to be a fitting name. Donkfest, as it turns out, is the name of our trip. Last are Ravi and me. They decide that Wanton Wang works. Ravi, however, proves to be a hard name to rhyme, so we decide that Ravi will be the only one that doesn't work out. He is Ravi "the bitch" Naresh. In other news, we take the Appalachian Trail, which is less steep and also very scenic as it turns out. A river runs parallel to the trail and the sound and sights just blows my mind. Beautiful as it is, we have to leave sometime. We take a group picture at the end and part with nature in a trail of blazing light.

(pictures to come)