Emperor, Wherefore Art Thou?

Soon after we arrived at our campsite on St. Regis Pond,
we had a visitor.

He was a cute little guy, shy at first, but after a little while,
he figured out we were harmless.

Who was he?  Why a spider monkey, of course.  You know when you're camping and you hear something off in the distance, but can't really tell what made the sound?  Well, last year around the campfire, we realized that those sounds were all made by spider monkeys.  Mike, veteran of many campaigns, was quite certain this was the case, and one of the rules of the campfire is that you just don't question emphatic assertions.  And today, we had proof.  There he was...a spider monkey...in the flesh...er ah...fur.

But that's not all that transpired at that campfire.  Our compatriot Russ, who was unable to be with us this year due to a horrible sense of priorities, revealed that he was quite familiar with the breed.  In fact, Russ let it be known that he merited the title of Grand Imperial Emperor of the Spider Monkeys.  We were all quite impressed.

But as I mentioned, Russ was not in our company this year, so when his follower appeared, we had to break the news that the Emperor would not be holding court.  It was heartbreaking to watch the facial expression of the little guy go from enthusiastic excitement to that of despair.  He was inconsolable.

Matt, being a helpful sort,
suggested that a small tug on the whiskey might ease the pain.
Soon we witnessed the monkey in the rye.

But the rye was not enough.
The Bud Lite left behind by previous campers
became the object of the monkey's desire.
Though he professed to be a Jets fan and partial to Pale Ales,
he downed the light beer with rye chasers.
Be careful!

As might be expected, he led the campers in numerous shenanigans
long into the night.

He never made it home.
This is how we found him in the morning.

Not a pretty sight.

It was a very long morning for our new friend.

After noon, we were finally able to get some coffee into him.

He remained a little out of phase,
but he rallied later in the day,
apologizing profusely for his behavior of the previous evening.

He even managed to accompany us on a trip to neighboring ponds.
His guidance was appreciated, but he was in no shape to paddle.

When we returned from our small journey, he bid adieu and disappeared back into the forest.  But before he could go, we promised to drag the Emperor back into the woods next year by any means necessary.  I think he appreciated our planned efforts on his behalf.

I hope we see him again.