It had been raining all morning, but noon brought a break in the cloud cover and a return to heat and humidity. The cluster of brightly colored tents began to stir as the rain moved off. Cora was the first to emerge from her bright orange tent, stifling a yawn. She slipped on the sturdy boots that had been waiting beneath a protective cover just outside the tent flap and stretched.A large dog with shaggy blonde fur leapt out of the tent after her, splashing down in a puddle and barking gleefully.

Cora’s hazel eyes narrowed as she looked at the dog, “Don’t even thin-” She stopped as the dog rolled belly up in a mud puddle, coating herself in the goo. Cora sighed.

From the second bright tent, this one an electric blue, came Sophie, slipping into her own pair of boots. “I don’t know why you bother brushing all the mud out of her fur every night.” She observed as her deft and practiced fingers threw her long brown hair into a braid.

“Because I’m not sleeping with the creature from the black lagoon.”

Sophie nodded at that. “Shall we get coffee started before the others get moving?”

“You know, they could make coffee for us once.” Cora was braiding her own honey-blonde hair now to keep it out of her face while she worked.

“Eh, let ‘em be. They were up late last night.” Sophie’s eyebrows waggled obscenely.

Cora burst out laughing and quickly stifled it. “Alright, alright. Let’s get this going. Are we packing up today or tomorrow to move on?”

“Tomorrow, I think.” Sophie grabbed some firewood from under a tarp and started preparing the pit.

Meanwhile, Cora was getting the supplies together for a nice pot of coffee. “Whenever. It’s not like we have any place to be at a certain time.”

Those words killed the light mood that had pervaded the camp and the young women started the fire and the coffee in relative silence. The blonde dog, rather mud brown by this point, was rolling in something beneath a lodgepole pine tree at the edge of the clearing they were camped in.

Eventually, the smell of freshly brewed coffee filled the clearing and the third and final eye-searingly green tent disgorged its occupants. Jet climbed out first, ducking to get through the low opening. He scratched at the beard stubble on his brown face, dark eyes barely open against the noon light. He turned around and offered Kat a hand out, steadying her as she slipped on her boots.

The mud squelched as they all moved toward the fire. “Mornin’.” Jet’s voice was rough and somewhat grumpy as he poured coffee for everyone.

“Closer to noon I think.” Cora corrected. She closed her eyes and inhaled the steamy aroma wafting up from her cup of coffee. “First cup is the best cup.”

“So what’s the plan?” Kat asked as she combed her black hair back into a tight ponytail.

“I thought we were heading to the next camp today? It’s been a few days here already.” Jet was the only one with close cropped hair.His curling softly and only an inch or so long. He idly scratched at his stomach as he sipped his coffee, “It’s a long hike.” He said, stifling a yawn.

“I thought we were prepping for the Appalachian Trail?” Cora sounded more alert and more pumped than anyone else around the coffee pot. “We’ve got all the ultralight gear. All we need is to set up drops and rations.”

“It’s not smart to start that when it’s nearly winter.” Kat drained her cup and poured another. “We’ll start it in spring and head north.”

“Probably a smart move.” Sophie stretched with a groan. “I could get used to this. Living off the grid.”

“What about food?” Cora teased.

Sophie gave her a side eyed look. “We could forage or something. I don’t know. We’d figure it out if we had to.”

“Probably.”

“So we break camp and move on?” Kat asked, looking at each of the others. There were nods all around and they quickly got to work.

It didn’t take much more than about half an hour to tear down and pack up camp. They had kept most of their gear stowed anyway, only taking out what they were using. The ultra light one and two man tents packed away swiftly and vanished into top of the line backpacks. As Cora tugged hers closed she couldn’t help but smile. “You know, I used to lurk on r/onebag and dream of just packing up and going one day.” She packed up the water bags that fit into the dogs side-packs and whistled for her to come over. Already filthy, the blonde dog bounded over. “One day is all I ask.” Cora muttered as she rubbed most of the mud out of the dog’s fur before fixing the packs on her.

Sophie, her pack already squared away, waited near the cooling remains of the morning fire. “I never would have pictured myself doing this, before.” She huffed a breath out her nose in a forceful sigh. I mean, I suppose it could be worse.”

Cora’s eyes were a bit sad as she glanced toward the couple in their group. “I’m not sure how it could be much worse.”

“Don’t say that.” Sophie bopped Cora on the head as the other girl joined her leaning against a large boulder. “You want to bring the world down on us?” She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “It’s like challenging the universe to a game of chicken.”