The hike to Twin and Waterman started off on the wrong foot when I was ten minutes late to the carpool place and "Potty" Kline bestowed upon me her best snarly smile. She whispered something about getting even and using dental tools while I'm asleep. We abandoned introductions and proceeded to drive rapidly to the trailhead on Angeles Crest Highway. Along the way, Patty drank her breakfast and deftly flipped the cranberry juice container out the window. She dumped the cigarette butts out of the ashtray, leaving a nice marker for others to follow.
As trail sweep, I tried to get an accurate head count of hikers, somewhere between 15 and 20, but then again, who cares! When someone complained about the pace, Patty sped up and left the complainer behind to fend for himself. At the rest stop, a few pesky squirrels stole food from my pack but, luckily, left the pistol behind. So, I sent them to Valhalla with just three shots. Some wimpy turkey didn't bring enough water and collapsed on the trail. It took two of us to push him over the edge, just to keep the place clean. It was amazing how fast the fire could spread from just that one cigarette thrown into the needles. Patty got some good photos of the burning trees for her next Christmas card.
There was no register on Twin so the spray can I happened to bring along saved the day. We were able to proudly spray our names all over the rocks. On Waterman, there were still enough trees (not yet torched by the fire we started) for everyone to carve their initials. Patty set a new personal record for pee stops. The T.P. hanging on the bushes could probably be seen from the air.
Three of us made it back to the cars by twilight. The rest of the group must have decided to spend the night in the woods. We could hear them calling as we drove off for a beer. My thanks to Patty for leading a really good trip!
