Shelby was more interested in recording his own misery, which was palpable (and left an aroma behind).
I could see the summit of Chinidere Mountain, which Lara and I stood upon a couple years back.
After what seemed hours of endless slogging upward (probably just 45 minutes), we finally arrived at what turned out to be a delightful camping spot, complete with nearby spring, a picnic table and a nice flat place to pitch the tent. As I gathered water and set up the tent, Shelby made off with my hatchet to 'gather a bit of wood'. He came back with an entire, 25-foot-long tree. Yes, a tree.
As it got darker and colder, I slipped into something a little more comfortable. A true fashion (mis)statement. I also discovered that much of the tree was for draping Shelby's soaked cotton clothes around the fire to dry. There was enough moisture in them to fill a canteen. Curiously, I didn't see those clothes again for the duration.
It was at about this point that Shelby announced that he had neglected to bring along a thermarest, but that he didn't need one any way, thermarests are for girly men. Ok. I got into my bag (on top of my thermarest) and drifted off into peaceful sleep.
