Almost time to be social woo!

I'm starting to get pretty excited about two events.  First, this weekend I'm going to a ruck.  http://www.paruck.com/  (A ruck is a gathering of long distance hikers.) It's being held at Bears Den Trail Center which is basically a castle in the woods.  I had a fantastic time last year.  I realized the other night that in large part I go because I want to see Starlyte, a favorite hiker of mine.  And I get to spend the weekend with DeLee, which is always nice.  There are a few others I look forward to seeing, too.  Gary, who is sometimes there and sometimes not.  Felix, who usually says he's not going to go and then does anyway.  (However, he hasn't made any noises about it one way or the other this time.)  Jim and Ginny Owen are favorites of mine.  Stitches, Skeeter.. ah heck, I guess I look forward to seeing pretty much everybody.  Ruck this weekend yay!

Then, in two more weeks I'm meeting up with a couple of 2010 thruhikers for a girls hiking weekend.  I CANNOT WAIT.  Love those women.  (Platonically.)  One of the best things about a long hike is the people you meet.  You get to spend inordinate amounts of time with them.  Situations like these just don't happen much in our culture, except in a small number of circumstances.  There's college, but you're super busy studying.  There's prison, but you're locked up.  Summer camp, maybe?  Yeah, summer camp.  But with no counselors.

Anyway, there are a lot of hikers in my immediate future and I'm pretty psyched.