Much of the beer dribbled through the stubble on their cheeks and down to already soaked shirts as they chugged the last six cans. Tossing the empties at the waste barrel, they struggled to get their arms through the straps on the packs. They had to help each other, but eventually got them on and walked up the trail. The reasonably level surface seemed full of dips and rises that made them to stumble often as they navigated their way through the trees. Their progress slowed precipitously when they reached a slight upslope.
A quarter hour after the college trio started up the trail, a dark blue Mercedes slowed and pulled off onto the gravel to find a space to park under the spreading branches of a tall pine. Retrieving daypacks packed with survival gear from the back seat, they stretched t
