Old Gonzos, new Gonzos, Aged(in deference to old) Gonzos, young Gonzos, Gonzos from away, they were all there.

After the succesful Full Moon Night Hike Last year to the White Mountains, even with the bad weather, this trip into Quebecquois country was highly anticipated, and certainly turned out to be not disappointing.

The core group made up of THE Sungod, Dipper, Mountain Dancer, "I'm Selling Halifax", VIKING, Fireball, Payneless, Dudley-do-Right, Scrounger, Packitin-Packitout, and "PUFF" left the Warnica Marina Friday at 5:00am, picked up Popeye in Truro, proceding to Mickie D's in Miramichie for breakie.

They were later met at our huts, La Buze and Le Geais Gris, by newbies Bob and Maureen Carreau from Bathurst, later joined by other newbies Bob and Mike LeClair (Bathurst) and our friends Mae West and MIME from Montreal. Gonzos never stopped arriving as the next morning, as I was returning from the night hike, a car pulled up to me on the highway--Ian Blair, on his way to Ottawa, with his K9 Frosty, decided to drop by to join us in our hike to the sunset Saturday night.

After arriving in camp early Friday afternoon and having a bite to eat, the original idea of resting till our planned hike up Mont Albert at 11:00 pm that night seemed a waste of good time and Gonzos took off everywhere, some going into Saint Anne des Monts for a seafood supper, others going over to the river to preliminarily scout around for our trail head that we would make our "clandestine" trek into the mountains that night, while others trekked up to Lac des Ammericans for a pedestrian 4km hike and a swim.

Now it was time to wait, and wait, and wait-interminable, for the planned 11:00pm departure. Patience is not a Gonzo virtue. Finally at 9:30 two two decided it was time to go, then four more, the five more, until by 10:00 the last group of myself, Dipper, "I'm Selling Halifax", Mountain Dancer, Packitin-Packitout, Mae West, and MIME headed into the mountains.

The full moon lit the trail well but it was slow going with the need to pick your steps carefully up the fairly steep trail. The humidity was quite high and water would be a concern---DRINK. We were moving as a group at about 1km per hour which included water stops and ensuring the group was together at each stop (Mae and Mime were a bit slower) before off we went. At about 3/4 of the way up the 6km trail my ankle became a concern that I was maybe causing myself some permanent damage. (Last Sunday refereeing a basketball game I had dislocated my Peroneus Longus tendon which would still dislocate if I placed my foot on a funny angle. Let me tell you I was placing my foot at many funny angles, one of them just being going up hill which opens up the angle to more easily dislocate. At this time it was dislocating every second or third step I took. I tested it and going down hill it was much more stable.)

While waiting for Mae, and rather than go further-possibilty would be damage to myself, slowing down the rest, requiring assistance from the others-I decided to set up camp on the side of the mountain. The rest of the group said they wouldn't leave me alone which I decided was dumb and I would go on. When Mae arrived they decided they were at a nice spot in the mountain and I would stay with them and the others would go on to join the rest at the hut at the top where they would wait for the sunrise and continue on down the other side of the mountain through the Vallee to our huts. There will be another writeup giving that part of the story.

Mae, Mime, and I found a foot bridge where we set up our tarps and crawled into our bags around 1:30am, slept soundly till around 6:00 and proceded down to our hut arriving around 8:30--Time for breakfast etc. The others started to arrive around (;30 onward and it was time to eat, shower, rest, eat, etc. waiting for the planned 6:00pm departure up Mont Richardson for the sunset.

After lots of hydrating and telling stories the impatience of the Gonzos again showed its character.

Around 4:00 Bob and Maureen said they were going 'NOW', Dipper decided he to would leave, then Sungod said I'm going, then Payneless and Viking, then Dudley, Ian and I'm Selling Halifax" The rest would remain in camp solving the world problems over diet coke and the odd brewskie.

The 5 km hike up Mont Richardson was basically uneventful. I found if I placed my foot carefully it would only dislocate every 5 minutes or so, and we arrived at the lookoff to the west in a couple hours--------3 hours before sunset.

After playing word games, and having some nice conversations, and looking across at Mont Xalibu, we were getting bored it was off down the mountain to watch the "beautiful" sunset half way down. It was still magical.

As in most trips, the finish moves very quickly, it was back to camp, bite to eat, into bed, up at 5:00 am and onward home.

In Campbelton, Mountain Dancer, Dipper, and myself (the 3 pigs) did an extra climb. Read Dippers article for detail

Until the next time.

Cheers, love and kisses

Sungod, BIRDER, and C.S. Lewis