September 18, 2008: The Retezat, Day Three – Snow in September

Dear Friend,

Sleep came so much easier and was so much better than the night before. I made myself stay up later than I had the night before, which I think helped a lot. I also moved into Dana’s tent. Originally, I was sleeping in the same tent as the girls in my group, which made me feel really congested with all four of us. Sleeping in Dana’s tent, though, I felt there was a little more room to move. I woke up only a couple times in the night. Sleep was good.

Getting out the tent was still a challenge, but I managed to get a system going whereby it wouldn’t be too awkward. I was first to the lunar module, so I started boiling water for the group. Hot chocolate on a cold morning in the mountains seems like the most ideal thing in the world. Hot chocolate and oatmeal makes it even better. The girls eventually got up and joined me. They felt the same about the hot chocolate and oatmeal.

Our hike today involved wind and snow. It was wet snow, so it looked a lot like we were walking into a very dense fog or rain. We walked through the valley to where it eventually ended. The mountains loop around in a U shape, so the valley eventually ended. We sat for awhile in the sun, which had come out to say “hi.” I was able to implement my new pocket knife to cut pieces of salami. Very manly, cutting meat with your knife in the mountains. Yeah, whatever, I don’t buy into either.

Our next destination was up. This was the difficult part of the hike. Florin, are daring guide (daring because none of us was crazy enough to lead this group of hooligans up a mountain,) took us up and over the mountain. About halfway up, the flurries started up again. There’s something exciting and epic about hiking a mountain in snowy weather. So long as I was able to latch onto that thought (you know, deceive myself,) I was able to not allow the weather to get the better of me. Believe me, it paid off.

Once we were over the mountain, we reached a plateau, where a large mountain lake rested within the confines of another mountain ridge. We hiked around the lake to sit and rest in the ridge on the other side. We ate some lunch, rested a little, and tried to enjoy what part of the lake we could see through the fog. Once again, my camera failed to capture what I wanted it to. I can only hope that what I got is sufficient to help me remember.

Descending the mountain, I suppose, was just as much a challenge as scaling it. I had a little slit for my eyes, where my hat and neck warmer almost met, through which I could see. Other than that, the rest of me was bundled up warmly against the now intolerable flurries. There were a lot of comments amongst members of the group about there being snow in September. Well, yeah, in a mountain there would be!

Back at camp, some of the group decided to hit their sleeping bags for awhile. I, however, didn’t, so in the meantime I decided to make supper. Our group decided on pasta, which was probably the best decision of the day. I, personally, am a huge fan of pasta, and while London is supposed to be the pasta capital of the world (sorry, Italy) we were certainly in the pasta capital of the Retezat. Daniel had made the comment that most of the food we packed only tasted good because we were hungry and camping in the mountains. He’s probably right, because the pasta was very delicious. Adding pepper and parmesan cheese to it made it taste even better.

Florin made another fire for us. This man is a machine, or as Dana says “chud[1].” Apparently “chud” means “solid,” or something like that. So, Florin is “chud,” especially when he’s using his ax. He only used one hand when using his ax, and he hacked away at wood as if it were nothing. He would rearrange logs on the fire this way, too. Once he walked past me to the fire, swung his ax and nailed a log, then pushed it into place like it was a puzzle piece. All this with one hand! The fire was dying a little by this point, but once he worked his “chudness” it got going again.

Late night conversations around the fire have always been enjoyable. Last night and tonight I managed to have conversations with Dana. Tonight, Andrew and Solita had joined us. Solita didn’t say much, but Dana, Andrew, and I gabbed most of the night. What we said, I really can’t recount. Most of what we discussed was faith, community, and the importance of each influencing the decisions we make, especially decisions concerning missions. Dana emphasized the importance of community being a kind of checks and balances for people, that accountability is very important to have in one’s life.

We’ve finished day three and still doing well. Hopefully the rest of our food will taste just as good as the pasta and salami. I may have to share the salami with the some others on the hike, though, because the girls were very much against it during lunch. We’ll have to see.

Blessings.
Kailen

[1] Dave made the comment that “chud” is a Texas term. Dana is from Texas, and commented that it was not a Texan term. I think it’s still fun to think it’s a Texan term.