The Morning
Beep… ............ beeep…….beep………………. beepbeepbeepbeepbeep…… My two week old beeping Timex Expedition blares in my ear trying to ring in the new day….. Or is it still the same day? It’s too frigging early to tell. I struggle to get my hands out of my cocoon and shut off the alarm. The whole experience reminds me why I don’t where a watch in the real world. It is 3:45 AM and time to get up. Why did I pay thousands of dollars to wake up at 3:45AM? I’m confused.

It’s dark, really dark. As a matter of fact, it’s as dark as when I went to bed…..FOUR HOURS AGO! Bleck! Waking up early is unbiblical or something. There is something objectively wrong about getting up before the sun does. I fumble for my headlamp and crawl out of bed. The other two tent-mates are already rolling up their nano-foam-matts. I join in the fun. We climb out of the tent and into the night….the tent was better. We can see headlamps bobbing up and down below us as the other nine suckers pack up camp.

Whoever was in charge of breakfast had a sweet deal. It was a bag of oatmeal with cold water beside it. I put a few scoops in my bowl and add the water. I finish the bowl only to forget whether or not I have had one or two bowls. Oh well screw it. I take another few scoops.

We pack up camp and gather for headcount. Twelve heads….great we can leave. Our headlamps start to spread out as we make our way down the trail. I’m sweeping again. I wouldn’t tell anyone but one of my knees hurt a little. Luckily there were people in worse shape than I (not really luckily, but fortunate for me if I was solely concerned with my male ego). There were a few of us who were slow to make our way down. A few minutes into the trail Vero Super smelled wet fur. Great, not only are we hiking at 4AM, but we have a hungry bear stalking us. Nice. Half my mind wants the bear to eat me; the other half just wants to go back to bed.

The hike down is brutal. We’re on a trail but it is steep and covered in loose ankle breaking rocks. The going is slow. Jasmin and Matt are pushing us hard so we’re not late for the pick up. It’s their boss picking us up. They push us too hard. Finally a few of the students snap back at the “pick up the pace” comments with “it’s safer for one person to wait in a van for an extra hour than to rush twelve tired people down a mountain”. The potency of this come back is only understood if you understand that safety is one of the MOST important things Outward Bound strives to teach. Matt and Jasmin have a little meeting off the side. They come back….apologies flowing freely. We slow down for the rest.

At 7:06 we arrive at the trail head. Christina is there waiting with the crummy. The crummy, if I haven’t mentioned before, deserves its name. We take off our climbing gear and put on our cleanest clothes. Luckily I’ve saved a t-shirt (not cotton) for the occasion. I also wash up with the remaining water in my canteen. I almost don’t notice my own smell.

We pile in the crummy. The crummy is a pickup truck with a big metal box mounted on the back. In this metal box are van seats and cargo racks. Christina, Matt, and Jasmin are riding in the cab. The students are in the unheated back. It’s cold. Most fall into a deep sleep, catching up on missed sleep from last night. I can’t sleep. I start looking around.

BINGO! Our luggage is in here with us. This is the luggage that we thought we wouldn’t see until day 21. I have the best luck. My bag is RIGHT beside me. I start routing through the pockets like a 5 year old in his stocking on Christmas morning. I find a pack of gum. I am giddy with excitement. I have four pieces….there are ten of us. Everyone is dozing off….what to do? There are four of us in the back seat. I decide to covertly share the gum with the back seat only, hoping the seats in front of us don’t notice us. I elbow Julie beside me. She looks over. I show her the gum. She lets out a huge yelp in delight. So far so bad. The girls in the front row whip around looking to see what’s up. Julie, faster than most, catches on to the limited quantity of gum and says something about jamming her thumb while she fights back a grin. The people ahead of us buy her story and they go back to nodding off. The back seat enjoys the stealth gum.

A few hours go by. I can’t stress enough that this is the worst vehicle to travel in. I think I would prefer a camel, or a John Deere over it.

We start to see civilization. Then all of a sudden the crummy stops and the side door is thrown open by Matt. We’re at a strip mall. Good news, outward bound is buying us coffee from Starbucks. We go nuts. Christmas does come twice a year. We all pile out into the parking lot. Christina, the course director, informs us that we’ll have to go, get in line, and wait for her to pay. We’re to meet back at the crummy in 15 minutes. I ask if we have to go to Starbucks. She says no. I survey the situation. Starbucks is packed with yuppies waiting for their double-tall-extra-hot-low-fat-rasberry-choco-caramel-frappa-lattees-in-a-bowl. The great Canadian bagel is right beside it. Empty. Bingo. Luckily my wallet was in the same pocket as my gum.

I dart into the bagel shop. I must have looked hilarious. I ordered a ham and egg bagel and a large coffee. It was ready in 4 minutes. Perfect. I then made my way over to the similarly named Great Canadian Superstore. It’s the western sister of the Atlantic Superstore. I make a bee-line for the snack section. I grab a basket somewhere along the way. I dump profuse amounts of fruit-to-go, granola bars, and energy bars into my basket. My trusty Timex tells me there is 7 minutes left. Off to the deodorant section. I grab myself a stick of Speed Stick. No more sticking for me. I dash through the checkout…help up briefly by the fact that the store doesn’t accept visa. Accepted everywhere but here quips the cashier. I told her that there is a campground in New York State that also doesn’t accept visa. She laughs. 3 minutes left. I grab some cash from a cash machine and head back to the van. Mission complete.

The starbucketeers are just returning from standing in line for 15 minutes. Suckers. They ogle my overflowing grocery bag of goodness. I slide into the backseat, put on some deodorant, and joyfully eat my bagel breakfast sandwich. Sure, my coffee isn’t as good as theirs, but I’m not going to stink for the next 11 days. I settle in for the two hour ride to the ferry. It’s time to catch up on my sleep…I fall asleep to the hum of the off-road wheels surely breaking their speed limit on the four lane highway to Nanaimo.

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