August 6th-11th: Castle Cragg to Etna Summit

The strange thing about life on the trail is that everything which occurs during a day is so insignificant that it makes everything which occurs significant. For example: Sean (aka BirdShot) receives a pair of toe socks from fellow hiker, Nar. This seemingly insignificant event signifies life or death for Sean (metaphorically, but pseudo-literally as well), because his entire world, as far as he's concerned, is massive pinky-toe blisters and pain. And this is what's so beautiful on the trail. Life compressed, distilled.
Meanwhile, Sean has been initiated into the hiking community with a trailname: Bird Shot. He had set his boxers on a rock overnight to dry, when he awoke, he found that a mouse had chewed through the left buttock area. Boogeyman's initial reaction was that Sean must have been shot in a bird hunting accident. Birdshot.
It's remarkable how things seem to work themselves out on the trail. Birdshot had painful blisters and ended up meeting Nor, who saved him. Hitching a ride hasn't taken longer than 15 minutes, and when Boogeyman and Birdshot arrived in Etna without a place to stay...wouldn't you know they'd be seated next to the owners of the "Hiker Hut" at the local brewpub!

However, sometimes Birdshot slips by Boogeyman while he's filling water and Boogey thinks Birdshot is behind him. Birdshot thinks Boogie is in front and doesn\'t stop until he meets up with Boogie. It created quite a predicament, but after a 2-hr chase, everything did turn out. Boogie didn't lose Birdshot and Birdshot didn't get lost.