Spartan Hike - Day 2

Update from a hiker: Tuesday, Feb 13, 2011

Day 2 began with the team getting out of our tents to see a layer of frost covering everything! We found out from a fellow camper, albeit one in a motorcoach, that the temp had slipped to 28 degrees overnight. We quickly consumed breakfast and started in on the 19.7 miles we were facing. There are few things that can rival getting on the road and pushing a 4.2 mph pace to warm onesself up.

Upon the completion of the miles, we moved to the new campsite for a nice dinner of cheeseburgers and canned green beans mixed with corn. After an ample meal, we began surveying our feet and there were a few hotspots reported. Necessary action was taken, phone calls were made to wives and children and then it was back into the tents.

I was laying on my back and looking up at the roof of my tent reflecting on the breathtaking beauty we had the privilige of taking in over the last two days when it hit me: as last night was the first time for us to ever have a fire in the field, this was my first time in six plus years that I'd ever had a roof over my head in the field. With the one exception being when we were conducting mountain warfare training in Bridgeport, CA. As you're at pretty high elevations amongst the snow and elements in the Sierra Nevadas, that's when the Corps says you rate a tent.

           Thomas Muir