Nathan woke us up at 5:00 AM today. Almost everything was wet, but at least the rain had stopped. We took our wet clothes off the line (there was no point doing that last night), wrung them out, and packed them in plastic bags. The crew was very sluggish this morning, and their slowness wasnít helped any by the wet conditions. When the crew still wasnít ready at 7:00, Larry and I left ahead of them. We reached the turn-off trail to the rock at 7:13 and settled in to relax and update our notes.

At 7:22 one of the staff stopped by on his way to the rock to check out the conditions. He was back at 7:30 and told us that both the 8 and 10 AM rock-climbing programs would be cancelled because the rock was still wet and there were clouds moving in. Bummer.

The crew arrived at 7:35 and we gave them the bad news. They decided to have breakfast at this spot and then head out to Black Mountain Camp. In addition to having our meal, we had some equipment issues to deal with. Adam lost one of his sneakers, so he and Blake re-traced their steps back to camp to try to find it. Unfortunately, they werenít successful. Also, Dave Thomasí hip belt ripped, so Larry and I fixed it using some straps that Tim Lavigne supplied.

We finally got on the trail at 9:05. There were some good views along the way (not an unusual circumstance) and I got a great shot of the Grizzly Tooth. We reached North Fork Urraca Camp at 9:20 and kept going after a brief stop to verify that we were on the right trail.

The trail To Black Mountain Camp was one of the more interesting that I had been on at Philmont. It crossed back and forth over the North Fork Urraca Creek so many times that we thought the original trail might have been in the bed of the stream. At 10:30 we made a brief stop at crossing #16 for an equipment repair (Tim Lavigne lost a ring from one of the clevis pins on his pack, so I gave him one from my repair kit). The sun had finally come out, so before we got back on the trail I draped some of my wet clothes on the outside of my pack so they would dry as we hiked.

We crossed the stream for the 48^th (and last) time at 12:15 PM and arrived at Black Mountain Camp 10 minutes later. The sun had been blazing brightly, but the skies began to get dark again as Nate, one of the staff, checked us in. We hiked right to campsite #1 (Nate called it "Mary Lou"). Larry and I set up our tent while the crew put the tarp up and collected the crew gear under it. We said grace before the clouds peed on us again, then scrambled under the tarp to eat lunch.

My luck was really starting to turn sour. While eating some of the dried fruit that we had saved from breakfast, I bit into the pit of a prune and chipped a tooth. Holy Macchiaroli, did I see stars! A good sized chunk broke off the outside of my upper left molar, just behind the canine. The chipped area was sensitive to the touch, but it didnít bother me to breathe on or when I swished water over it. I was really hoping that I could slug it out and would not have to come off the trail for an emergency dental appointment.

It poured during lunch (another gully-washer) and we all huddled under the tarp. There was a brief respite for a while around 2:45 when the sun actually poked through the clouds. I took the opportunity to visit the pilot-to-copilot (side-by-side) open-air latrine just up the hill. As soon as I got back to campsite, both Larry and I dove into our tent because the skies opened up again, complete with thunder and lightning. What a mess! There was hardly anything left that was dry. To add insult to injury, Waltís tent (mostly the fly) leaked like a sieve, even though I had sealed the seams a week before our departure.

We figured that the weather probably would force a cancellation of the program. That was beginning to become a real drag, and what we called a bad thing. We were all praying for sun.

However, the challenges continued to arise. One of the water filters (the Pur) wasnít working properly. Only my MSR Waterworks was doing the job, and it was pumping slowly. Also, only two of the five Polar Pure bottles were charged. Since this camp didnít have any purified water this was yet another source of delay for us.

On the bright side, though, dinner was great. It was one of the nondescript Philmont meals, but the crew did a good job with the preparation and I suppose we were all hungry for good news as well as a good meal. Adam appeared to be coming down with a cold (it was amazing, actually, that more of us werenít showing ill effects due to the weather), so Larry and I made a note to keep an eye him.

Larry and I were looking forward to advisers coffee, but it turned out to be just so-so. The Black Mountain staff was aloof and not very friendly. They didnít even join the advisers for coffee. We had pretty much written this camp off as one of the less exciting experiences of our trek.

When we got back to the campsite yet another challenge arose. The zipper on Waltís tent would not close without leaving a gap. Larry and I fussed with it for a while and ended up using clothespins to close the door. Sheesh! We hoped it didnít rain too hard overnight.