Grouse Ridge - Day 2a - Booger Nights

Good morning it is. After a cold night in the mountains all mornings are good. I don't know how cold it got but I ended up pulling out my Mylar space blanket. It's amazing how much extra warmth you get from a thin piece of aluminized plastic! My other piece of gear that really helps when it's cold out is my down hood. Yes it makes my head look like a giant green booger, but it's a warm booger.

Our camp is right by the lake, er, soggy snow pack. Since the lake is substantially covered in snow you don't get quite the same esthetic effect as a lake without snow. It's still a premier spot. The cost of enjoying a spot such as this is the requirement to camp on a slope. A rocky slope. My tent is guyed out to stakes that are stuck in about one inch of soil and then buried Under the biggest rocks I could find. 

I have discovered that my new gear, e.g. Neoair lite, sleeping bag, tent floor are all really slick. I mean slick as is slippery. The slope isn't that steep of a slope but nome-the-less, I spent the night pushing myself up to the high side of the tent as then slowly oozing my way back to the low side. Remember the booger head? Okay, combine those two pictures. I spent the night acting out the effect of gravity on the contents of a nose of someone with a head cold. You've heard the phrase 'slicker than snot?' That pretty much describes my gear.