Troll Lang Syne- TR

“I guess when the trip organizer bails on their own trip it becomes the prerogative of any participant to make whatever report their little heart desires. So here goes. I did not bring a camera since blackmail is not interest to me. However, I am fairly confident the delay in getting pics up is to establish the going price for silence.

I started up the trail about 2:30 p or so having driven about 4 hours from central PA. I somewhat suspect Yahoo maps gave me the longer of several routes so I improvised a little bit. Going up I slipped and fell on my hand, jamming my pinky all folded up. So maybe this belongs on the injured reserve thread. I'll know more this afternoon when the doc takes a peek at it. By the time I got up to the shelter and found the access to it my finger was absolutely lovely. Shades of gray, white, red, purple, yellow and blue. I felt special.
Green Monkey, Lilmountaingirl, Sirpete and Jackstraw and dlm were already there. Abby the Masked Marauder announced my arrival from inside the tent. The wood had been gathered and dumped outside the shelter.

Jackstraw checked my finger and delcared himself vindicated for carrying hand warmers on such a balmy trip. He opened one up and my finger began to work a little better as it warmed up inside my glove.

After I got set up I proceded to eat something while the rest of the crew broke, sorted and piled the firewood for the evening. Saws were flying as larger branches were reduced to manageable size. As the sun began to dip the hors d'ouveres were sliced and set out. The libations were assembled and as the first can was cracked Mapleleaf, treebeard and Marko came out of hiding on the trail. The one consolation was that all the flat (or semi-flat) sites had tents on them so Mapleleaf was sliding out of her tent as she was changing into the party clothes.

The fire was blazing, the potables flowing and the mood was already high when Adventurist and the Mrs. flashed their headlamps in our direction and stayed for a good share of the celebration. Shortly after that Pennsy wandered in by headlamp and paid his respects.

By the time midnight rolled around Abby had been relegated to her tent, and was snoozing peacefully, a few others had drifted off to rejoin for the countdown.

By the time I woke up in the morning, everyone but Green Monkey and Lilmountaingirl were up and around with most having trekked off in the rain which began overnight.

Mapleleaf and treebeard set out as I was packing up and Marko stayed behind to assist this old gimp down the trail. I'm very grateful for his help and company.

All in all... It was a fun trip. More on my finger as more is known.”

“Which Trip?”

“im guessing hairy men”

“Nice job Rev, I hope your finger isn't too bad!”

“Hairy Men it is... sorry bout that”

“We had a great time and are back home in Colorado!

Nice meeting and seeing everyone!”

“rev, theres a feature on the trips page where you can link the thread to the trips page”

“I'll post my report later. Anyone get their pics uploaded yet?”

“I'll have my pics up this afternoon.
Sirpete, Lostsoul,Greenmonkee and Lilmountaingirl and I rolled into Harriman late Saturday night after a Trek in the Catskills and Dinner at the Blackbear. A group was heading out from the shelter apparently cuz they were woefully unprepared. Woke to a gorgous sunrise and basically gathered wood and water for the evening festivities. Otherwise we sunned and lazed on the rocks on a very mild beautiful afternoon ( Everyone aknowledged we should have done a day hike, Oh well).

At about Beer30 While wondering if there were others going to arrive I figured it was time to get things rolling so I cracked a beer. Within 10 seconds Marko, Mapeleaf and Treebeard appeared on the ridge above the shelter. I could of swarn I faintly heard the words " Did you hear that" carried on the wind. After the intros and hugs the party got rolling with Adventurist and his Mrs. and Pennsyhiker dropping in to share in the hoopla.
I had a great time. I bugged out pretty early to beat the turnpike traffic. It was a pleasure meeting new friends and reminiscing with old friends. TJ shelter is top notch. It was a New Years celebration to remember.”

“Disappointed that I missed being there. Glad you all had fun!

(Rev, hope the finger heals fast.)”

“Well the physicians assistant I saw today was horrified that I had not gone to the emergency room as soon as I fell. Apparently she does not think camping on New Yers Eve in PA makes any sense. Oh well.... It seems to be all soft tissue damage. There is no fracture. I am just supposed to keep it taped to my ring finger. (I wonder why I was not in a panic to go to the emergency room... Do you suppose it could have anything to do with "duh...!")

So, any way it was fun and I enjoyed it.”

“I found a picture of the hike on line, believe it or not.

”

“Yes, our arrival time was synched to slip in as the cover of darkness approacheth. We hauled a noble load of potent potables to the TJ lounge and lined 'em up. There was enough aluminum there to make a 100 foot roll of Reynold's Wrap.

I had the pleasure of enjoying the company of Jackstraw, Sir Pete, Lost Soul, Lilmountaingirl, Green Monkee, Ramblinrev, DLM, Mark-O and Maple.

We drank to get acquainted. We drank to get re-acquainted. We drank to New Years Eve. We drank to 2006. We drank to 2007. We even drank to the ghost of Amy G! We drank a few to the fabulous buffet on the deck of the Tom Jones Lounge, as we downed some cheese and keilbasa. The foie gras was simply fabulous.

Well, there was no fois gras, really. But, we did have a great fire, thanks to the group of wood gatherers who did such a fine job lining us up with fuel for the evening's festivities.

A little later, we were visited by three spirits. The first was a female, shrouded in white. A glow came from the hood of her cloak. She was accompanied by a tall spirit. They were full of life and adventure. They called themselves the Adventurists. Ok, enough of the cornball Dickensian prose. But, our next spirit did stealthily come out of the darkness in an effort to spook us. It was the Ghost of New Years Pennsy.

Wow, a catered party and open bar, complete with drop-in guests! What a swinging joint this was! Well, as fate would have it, we lost a few early. But, there was a persistence amongst our contingency that wasn't going to quit, at least until a propped up Dick Clark was done and home in bed!

As the witching hour approached, we were down to about half strength, in numbers. But, we were on a roll. DLM (aka Big Ben) kept giving us the wrong time. Wiseass bastard!!

Midnight struck. We exchanged salutations and lost a few more. After talking to JS and Sir Pete for a bit, they wandered off. The ramblinrev rambled off also. LMG and GM had died out earlier, but GM made a late return. Lost Soul was our first casualty. Eventually, it was just me and the walking Rolex, DLM.

This is when things got ugly! We were running out of firewood. There was a little shelter someone had built out of wood and the bastard wanted to burn it. I told him, "over my dead body!" He said, "that can be arranged!" Then, I said, "Well, I oughtta..." And he said, "What! Whatcha gonna do?" Then, he threw up on my shoes. I kicked him in the head and wiped them on his jacket. He then went to bed, but during the night, poured water inside my tent.

Awwww, well, that last part didn't really happen. Actually, DLM and I did hang out for a while and didn't really burn up the little shelter. Matter of fact, we agreed on a lot of things, especially the subject of flood insurance.

T'was a nice New Years! Thanks, everyone!
last edited: 1/02/07 8:37:20 PM”

“Hey you guys, I almost forgot that I had a memorable weekend!

It was everything those guys said and I was one who crawled into my fartsack before midnight.

This was another great time with good friends and at least one new one.
Oh yeah, I sure as hell made a new four-legged friend, no?

The Rev sure got that finger beat with the ugly stick!
Good luck with that, brother!”

“You may have crawled in before midnight.. but the beer was not forsaken. Somewhere there is pic to attest to that.”

“ We even drank to the ghost of Amy G!

Funny you should mention ghosts...I seem to have a picture of Maple's soul leaving her body. :) Will post it when I get a chance to upload.

I didn't mean to disappear early ~ just wanted to lay down for a minute...blame the blackberry brandy, beer, 43, and the gin & tonics. :-\”

“Oh yeah!

AmyG was not there.”

“omg, sounds like a great trip! I am so glad I got to rally everyone together to have fun without me. :(

Well, at least I got to talk to a few of you via cell phone(gasp!) I really wish there had been a way to make this work for me, but the accident nearly killed my best friend and I really wanted to be with him. Life is short!!!
(he's ok now, btw, though he won't be climbing any mountaints anytime soon...thanks for everyone who showed concern)

Anyhoo, I will see many of you jokers at FYAO. >:D

Did anybody get any cool pics of Rev's finger?!?!
Pics?
Pics!!!!”

“AmyG,

I am very sorry that your best friend was in such a terrible accident. I hope he is getting better and on the mend!
:D”