ONSC Deathmarch: Part Two

The day after the packs were stolen, three of our members went home. The girls had simply had enough, but the other guy was distressed over the three hundred dollars worth of ADD medicine that had been in his pack. He said that without the medicine, he would be in a daze, and would be more liability than team player. So he packed off too and, counting the councilors, we were really the Dirty Dozen.

Over the next couple days we realized that food was not an option anymore. Dominic denied that there had been any such conversation regarding beef jerky and reminded us that this was all about eating whatever came to hand, on the fly. He offered us some hard apples, which we downed reluctantly. But we took him at his word and Day Two saw us diving greedily into every berry patch we could find. As the group trekked along, those at the back came upon berry bushes that were stripped completely bare, as though some sort of berry blight had hit the country in front of them.

Camp was reached by noon after mercifully short hike – perhaps only three miles. Dominic had promised us that the campsite was near a massive berry patch and pond full of cattails, from which we could make cattail tea. After we dumped our packs and slumped down beside them, Dominic called for volunteers to go with him to the nearby patch. How far, we ask. About an hour’s walk. We gave up. We had water, we could stay hungry. Several people did volunteer so in a bid to get something out of the eventual meal, those of us that stayed behind helped set up other’s tents, gathered firewood, and generally engaged in organization of the camp. Then we sat until evening, absorbed either in good novels or contemplations of our own stomachs.

When Dominic and his party returned at dusk, they had several plastic sacks completely filled with berries and cattail roots. We set to with what gusto we had left and for being so hungry and tired, we had a good evening. Even when it started raining, we just put on our ponchos – to this day I don’t know why I didn’t just take a free shower – and lined up for cattail tea. It as very good, and warm, and came with a complimentary cattail fry, which actually tasted like French fries. The next day there were still berries left over from breakfast, so Dominic packed those in preparation for another spare day.

That day Dominic decided that we needed some encouragement. We were making poor time already, so he shaved off a number of miles and then led us up a steep wooded hill. At the top we beheld the green glory of the Ozarks, and considering how drained we all felt, it was remarkably good to see. Thereafter we retired to an Indian shelter under some cliffs for the evening.