Well, the trip for Shawna, Nickey, Kelly and I was pretty much a flop. We hiked in at around 6 or so on Friday evening. And a really big storm came in at around 2 that morning. By 2:30 it was raining harder than I had ever seen it rain. And of course Shawna and I forgot to cover our packs, so we went running around in the rain and by the time we got back to our tent out cloths were sodden to our skin, and cold. When we got back in out tent we found that out tent had slipped off the tarp and was serving as more of a lake than a tent, and Shawna and I spent the night curled up on one sleeping pad (I didn't bring one because I didn't think that it would have to double as a boat). Well, the next day was mostly a dull rain until evening came and then it cleared up. We had packed up to move on to the Flintstones Sunday morning when Sadie chased a squirrel and broke her leg. I guess she had planted her foot infront of a root that was protruding from the ground. Well with everyone's help combined we got her and us all packed up and ready to go in less than an hour. Shawna never left her alone, Kelly set and splint the leg, Nick gave her some pain killers and elevated her head and her leg above the heart, and I made the stretcher that we carried her on at least half the way up Hells Mountain (the other half we used my external backpack frame). It was a grueling hike, but we got her out in about 3 hours and headed to Santa Cruz after we found out the no one would take her unless we were previous clientele. We got her to the emergency vet by 9:30 that night and she was all set to go by 12:00. All in all it was a hectic weekend. But Sadie is fine, other than the leg. We couldn't have hoped for a cleaner and easier to heal break. You can see pictures too.
~lindsay