Iced Tree at Hawk Mt Shelter, April 7
M=7.4; C=7.6
Early Morning, April 7. The night before had been a cold rain, ice and windy. A group of army reservists had come by the shelter around dinnertime looking a bit worried. They said they had heard there were tornado warnings out. We asked what we could actually do about it here on Trail. They just shrugged and said they were told to tell all the hikers. Then they trotted off.
It was a pretty new shelter with a two-level floor plan. Six gals took the loft (Sherbear, Amy and the Amazons) while 7 of us guys took the main floor. Three hikers slept _under_ the shelter. Spent much of the night in a singing competition. The ladies wasted us with a rendition of AC/DCs 'You Shook Me All Night Long', wherein we conceded defeat. There was no contest who ruled the shelter singalong.
'She was a fast machine,
She kept her motor clean,
She was the fastest damn woman that I ever seen,
She had sightless eyes,
Telling me no lies,
Knockin' me out with those American thighs,
Taking more than her share,
Had me fighting for air,
She told me to come, but I was already there,
'Cause the walls started shaking,
The earth was quaking,
My mind was achin',
And we were makin' it and you...
Shook me all night long,
Yeah you, shook me all night long.'
-AC/DC
This morning, the food bags we had hung on the bear poles or up in trees were iced in place. I had to whack mine free with my hiking stick - food sack pinata. The ice (and occasional branch) fell from the trees as the wind blew, making it a bit hazardous and uncomfortable to prep food or repack outside of the shelter.