Yesterday was one of those horrible Saturdays where I have finance homework due at midnight. I, of course, did not start the homework until yesterday morning, and procrastinated and stalled until I clicked “Submit” at 11:59pm. It was a disaster.
Not wanting to end the night on such a miserable note, I called Caitlin and we decided to do one of our tasks. It wasn’t one that we had drawn, but we figured that it was still okay to seize the moment. This task was to build a campfire and roast marshmallows.
We set out at around 12:45am to purchase supplies and drive out to the site – the dirt mountain pictured in a previous post. For safety, we brought Kobe the Killer and a small pocket knife, although Caitlin did ask if she could also bring my umbrella to use as a club against any attackers.
The moon was very bright last night, which made gathering wood and hiking up the mountain substantially easier. We got to the top of the mountain and tried to light our little firestarter log, but the wind was blowing so forcefully that the lighter wouldn’t stay lit for more than a second. A lengthy series of failed attempts led us to retreat to a more sheltered site halfway down the mountain, where we were able to build a campfire pit out of large rocks. Twenty minutes later, our fire was roaring – so much so that I was concerned that one of us was going to ignite from one of the many flying embers.
Notable Moment: We decided to hit the 24-hour CVS to purchase supplies. However, they did not have standard marshmallows in stock, which prompted Caitlin to suggest, “We could roast Peeps.”
We ultimately located actual marshmallows.
Conclusion: The campfire was a roaring success. However, the whole trespassing on the dirt mountain and building an illegal campfire was, in retrospect, a bit risky. At one point when our fire was blazing heartily, we heard a helicopter approaching, and froze in terror as it passed directly over us. We were both absolutely certain that it was going to land on the mountain, and officers were going to leap out and arrest us for our transgressions. It didn’t.
On our way back to the car, we also heard what sounded suspiciously like a gunshot. We froze midstep, and I immediately whispered to Caitlin that this might be one of those “No Trespassing” sites where intruders were shot. As we stood silently in the dark, we could see the distant back door of the only house in the area open and a person walk out into the darkness. We both simultaneously wet ourselves, and then crept to the car, leapt in, and floored it out of the area, both expecting to be pursued and shot. We weren’t.
Campfires are fun and roasted marshmallows are delicious, but both are probably far more enjoyable when you’re not worried about being arrested or killed by the locals.
