Hi Folks,
Some of you know I took the last week off so I could go back packing (and see an old family friend in Washington at the start of the week), which frustratingly enough was like my last attempt, in Spring break- it was a wash out :(
I went all the way out to Mckenzie on Friday to find the rain was not letting up,the 'showers' that were forecast were torrential and a ranger said it was set like that for 5 days! So I came home once again defeated by the Oregon weather.
I really want to make a 3 day trip in the wilds happen and when I checked with my partner, the only time we both have in the next 6 weeks is this weekend- Thursday afternoon till Saturday night, so I'm putting out a request for a shift exchange (in preference giving the shift away as I need the money) for the following:
Thursday 28th June: 5-9pm
Friday 29th 5-9pm
Friday 29th overnight untill 11.30 am Sat 30th.
These last two can either be done by the same person or split.
Many thanks in advance! Chanah please call if you prefer:
So, what to do? Tell them about my last backpacking trip!
I remember the last time I went backpacking. Well, not so much remember it as have the felony convictions to show it happened.
It was 1999, the internet was young, but me not so much. Some friends I long since lost touch with and I decided to take off for Colorado at the drop of a hat. So, we made the trip to Gunnison, Colorado, Blue Mesa Reservoir.
I got to the cabin first, and went for a walk. As I was walking in the woods I came upon a dog that I believed was sleeping. After poking it a few times, I pulled the dog up and noticed that the it's flesh was rotted, and spurting blood on me.
Meanwhile, my friends, Jeff , Marcy, Paul, Karen, and Bert were driving in a van through rural Colorado on their way to meet me.
When my friends arrived at the cabin, Jeff and Marcy immediately went to their bedroom and have sex. Paul and Karen went for a swim in the lake while Bert went hunting for squirrels in the woods.
That evening, we built a bonfire and shared ghost stories with each other. We soon met a local college kid named Grim who stopped by with his dog, Dr. Mambo. He was acting a little eccentric, but they joined in when he offered us marijuana. However, it started raining, so he left to take care of his camping equipment and they went into the house.
Later on that night, they heard a knocking at the door and discover it's a diseased man that they had never seen before. Desperate for help, the hermit came after them. He tried to drive away in tjeir van, but vomited blood all over the windshield and the seats of the car. After the man got out of the car, Paul lit him on fire and he ran back into the woods where he died in the lake.
In the morning, a young deputy, Winston Olsen, showed up at the cabin and promised Paul he'll call a tow truck. Jeff and Bert walked off down the lake shore where they came to a woman's house and asked for a ride into town. They soon discovered that the woman was related to the hermit they killed so they left quickly. During this time, Karen drank a glass of water from the lake contaminated by the infected man and began to feel ill. She went to bed to rest. Paul later discovered rotten boils on her thighs. They then quarantined her in the tool shed outside.
Fearing that they would soon also become infected with whatever was ailing Karen as well as the man the night before, they began to argue with one another over what they should do about their situation.
The next day, they discovered Karen's condition was deteriorating fast. Bert also realized that he was infected with the virus. Bert drove off to find a doctor. When Paul and Marcy insisted on helping Karen, Jeff ran off into the forest with the remaining beer (the only reliable drinking source). (My note, that bastard never paid for a beer as long as I knew him.) Marcy yelled at him as he fled, upset that he has abandoned her and her unborn child.
Meanwhile, Bert drove to the convenience store that they had visited earlier pleading for a doctor. He showed increasing signs of infection. A young redarded redneck boy on the bench then ran over and bit Bert again, thereby infecting himself. His father came outside and, rather than helping Bert, tries to kill him. Bert speeds off and the father grabs two of his redneck friends who are heavily armed themselves with rifles to go after Bert to kill him.
Now alone in the cabin, Paul found Marcy sitting despondently on her bed. He tries to reassure her, but she reiterates that they are all doomed to get sick, to the point where "all you want to do is grab the person next to you and to have sex with because you know you're gonna be dead soon, anyway." She fucked Paul like a possessed stripper. Paul expressed concern that they weren't using a condom. Marcy brushed him off without heed by saying "Don't worry, I'm healthy and already pregnant!" and continued riding him.
After they finish having sex, Paul worried about whether Marcy had the disease or not. He went into the bathroom and attempted to disinfect his penis by pouring Listerine over it. While washing her face, Marcy discovered, with worry, some red marks on her back where Paul grabbed her in the heat of their sexual encounter.
A little later, Paul told Marcy that he's going to bring back Jeff so that they can all walk back to civilization. Marcy urged him to stay, but Paul was uncomfortable around her after sleeping with her and insisted that he "had to get out of" the cabin. Now completely alone, Marcy took a bath and wept. The marks Paul made on her back are now developing into gruesome wounds like Karen's.
Paul headed over to the local reservoir, and noticed a body floating in the lake. He climbed down the ladder and moved the body with a stick. He saw that it was the infected hermit. Then the dock's rotten ladder gave way, causing Paul to fall into the infected water, ensuring that he was definitely infected by this point.
Back at the cabin, Marcy was shaving her legs in the bathtub and noticed they are beginning to deteriorate as the skin began peeling off. She ran outside, upset, and was attacked by a now infected Dr. Mambo. Paul returned to find Marcy's body ripped to pieces and Dr. Mambo eating a motionless Karen's face. The dog attempted to attack him too. However, Paul killed him with Bert's rifle. Now alone, Paul went to check on Karen whose skin had now almost fully rotted off; and find she is barely alive. To end her suffering, he clubbed and impaled her with a shovel and then ran for help.
Just then, Bert struggled back to the cabin with the rednecks in pursuit. When Bert's pursuers opened the door, Bert tried to shoot one of the men but was killed by a shotgun round. Paul then came in and successfully killed the store owner and his friends. After fleeing the cabin, Paul decided to look for Jeff. He checks a cave, thinking Jeff is inside, but only finds Grim's dead body.
Paul then ran back to Bert's pursuers' car and drove into town. Along the way he slammed head-on into a deer, damaging the windshield and the car. He continued on foot until he saw a roadside party thrown by local teens with Winston in attendance. Winston asked Paul about the tow truck just as a police officer got on the radio warning Winston about Paul and his group who are infected with a strange disease, and that they are to be shot on sight. After all of the party attendees leave screaming, Paul knocked Winston out with a stick. Paul was then picked-up by a passing trucker who brought him to the hospital.
The sheriff and doctors interrogated him while he was lying in a hospital bed, trying to discover the source of the infection, but Paul was slightly dazed and unable to answer all their questions. When he was left alone, Paul pulled up his hospital gown to reveal the tell-tale marks of the disease on his belly. The doctors determine they are not equipped to handle the situation and that he should be transported to a larger, nearby regional hospital. His driver turns out to be Winston. Paul tried to warn him about the water in the reservoir but he couldn't speak well and only said "water". Winston said he would take him to get water.
The next morning, Jeff came out of the woods where he was hiding and made his way back to the cabin. As he looked around, horrified that his friends are all dead, he was suddenly shot to death by the redneck sherrif. The murderous sheriff and his men took Jeff's dead body and piled it on top of the others, which were then burned in a fire pit.
While unconscious, Paul was dumped into a stream by Winston and left to die. Paul's body infected the water in the stream. Further down were two kids collecting water for their lemonade stand. They sold some lemonade to the sheriff, his deputies and more locals at the store. A natural spring water truck left the store with bottles of infected water in the truck, causing the Y2K scare.
Meanwhile, I'd gone to the hospital, got some kick ass antibiotics and was feeling just fine. My friends were a bunch of fucking idiots.
-MB