When we reached the top, we were very much in a cloud, and the group soon became seperated by into two groups; the first was made up of good/fast bikers and people without brakes and the second was all of the cautious riders, people with bad bikes, and people who don't bike very often. When the forward group reached the gate, we stopped for our friends we had left behind. Nothing is quite as cool as watching scouts suddenly appear out of a cloud doing 20 miles an hour. After we regrouped at the gate, it was deided that we would only meet again at the bottom of the Hill of Death. It was at this point when we realized why it is called the "Hill of Death". It did not recieve the name for the arduous ride up the hill, but thr speedy ride downhill. The road is either washboard, or sand, and therefore not a very reliable surface to bike on at 28 miles an hour. At one curve, i was behind Scott A., Matt G. and Keith K., when all of a sudden I hear the squeek of breaks and see a cloud of dust which blocks everything from view (Matt G. slammed his breaks and the last i saw of him, he was sliding into the dust sideways). I slammed my breaks and as the dust settled i saw Keith K. Perched on the edge of the road, and the nearly sheer drop on the other side. We then proceeded down the hill with more caution. As we neared Two Harbors, we saw what appeared to be pavement, and we let our brakes go and sped down the last 300 feet for what was undoubtably safe, dependable, solid ground. I was very thankful for the neckercheif and sunglasses i wore protecting my face, because what we had assumed was concrete turned out to be a wet substance which had been put on the dirt roads of Two Harbors. We were sprayed with tiny specks of mud, and when we reached the bottom, we assessed the damages...
It turned out that Two Harbors is not allowed to have real asphalt, so they instead spray a special biodegradable asphalt on their dirt roads every week, and they had sprayed it that morning. We had to get the mysterious mud off of everything that wasn't clothes or skin before it dried or it would never come off. When that episode was over, we headed into the local resturaunt for a heavenly real breakfast. Some ordered the country fried steak, others ordered pancakes or biscuits and gravy, but i purchased a very delicious breakfast burrito. Real food was much appreciated. Too soon, we were back on the road, headed for Emerald Bay. The ride was pretty uneventful, except for the last 3 miles. Just two valleys away from Emerald Bay, the forward group was cruising just fine, when all of a sudden I heard a snapping sound followed by the sound of something scraping on the ground. I turned around and quickly hit my brakes, because all i saw was a dust cloud with Matt G.'s seatless bike and Matt's left leg sticking out of it.
The rest of the group screeched to a halt as we helped Matt up, and together we cleaned out the lovely collection of gashes on his right knee and bandaged it up. First with gauze, then an band-aid, then pre-wrap, then duct tape to hold it all together.
What happened next is something i will tell my grandkids about. As Kelsey began to tell the group that we would have to wait until the people from camp with a new bike or just walk in as a group, i walked my intact bike over to Matt (which was, Ironicaly, the perfect size for him), picked up tiny, Matt's seatless bike, and told Kelsey that that her solution wouldn't be neessary. The crew leader gave the customary shout "is anybody not ready?" and when nobody reponded, we began to roll. The four people who lead the way back to camp were Scott A. (the boy who bikes so much he needs physical therapy for his back), Keith K. (who was training for a triathalon taking place the day after he got back from camp), Matt G. (who was missing skin), and myself (on a broken bike). I hate to boast, but it set my record for the most awesome I have seen a person do for the whole summer (Matt even fell twice on the way back to camp).
After we dropped off our bikes (the head of the bike repair shop gave me a nsaty look when i rolled in without a seat), some people went to the showers while other people decided to wait after the snorkeling trip that would come later that day.
Lunch was peanut butter and jely sandwiches, and when we left for the snorkeling trip, Matt and another scout stayed behind to wait for the doctor so Matt could get some proper medical attention. For our snorkeling trip, we loaded our gear into 1 person kyaks and headed out for Indian Rock, an awesome looking, jagged rock where the birds like to go to use the bathroom. When we got to indian rock, we reached down into the water and pullout pieces of seaweed, which we tied our kyaks to so that they wouldn't float away (this also scored amazingly high on the awesome meter). There wasn't much to see in terms of snorkeling, just a few Ghirabaldis and lots of kelp.
Afterwards, we paddled to a nearby beach, where some people took naps while others built sand castles or flipped each other's kayaks out on the water. After an hour, went back to camp and got cracking on dinner, chilli and mac and chese. I spent that night on the floor instead of in the bed that came with the tent, and it was much more comfy.
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