All Things Profane and Sacred

So, when J finally got back up to where I was with the packs and dogs, it was getting on towards dark. We scurried up the last half mile of the trail, draped in blankets, sweating like bloody hell. There was a beautiful campsite right on the lake, but another camper with two loud dogs had secured it, and it was right on the trail, anyhow. We moved off to the left and found a nice private place, threw down our equipment and started making camp as fast as possible. As the last of the light disappeared, J put up our tent and I gathered firewood like a motherfucker.

It was dark by the time J started working on the fire and I started to rummage for dog food for our ravenous beasts. We were supposed to meet up with J's brother and his wife, but since it was fully dark, I expected they weren't coming. I told J we should just quit for the night, climb into the tent, make some body heat and sleep. I think we were both pretty cold at this point, since we were really sweating on the trail, and hungry and tired. It was then that J's brother and his wife showed up, walking through the dark by the light of their cell phone.

They couldn't get a fire going either, at first. But with the help of some magnesium (?) and a cig pack stuffed with toilet paper, we soon had a cheerful little blaze going. Sucess had never been so sweet.

So, you know, we watched the fire like bazillions of humans have done before us and talked and looked at the shapes the embers made deep within the blaze and thought about dragons and hellfire and the end of the world. And then we slept.