We awoke at 6:00 AM to a bright and sunny day. Perhaps my laundry jinx was finally broken (a futile hope, I know, but it doesnít hurt to be optimistic). The night was clear, but cold. Both Larry and I were bundled up in our bags, in our polypropylene long-johns and with the hoods of our bags zipped up. Since the T-shirt, underwear, and socks that I planned to wear today were still a bit damp when I hit the sack, I gave them a final drying out by putting them in the foot of my bag with the zipper slightly open there. It worked.

We ate breakfast in camp at 7:00 AM. While we were eating, a mule deer buck wandered into our site for a visit (probably looking for spilled food from previous crews ñ he certainly didnít get anything from us). We managed to snap a few photos before he ambled off. We hit the trail at 7:50.

At 8:40 we reached the turn-off for the trail to Sawmill. There were several spots along the trail where there were good vistas, especially of Mt. Phillips, Baldy Mountain, Cimarron, and the back side of Tooth Ridge. We also saw some interesting cairns that were memorials to plane-crash victims. We arrived at Sawmill at 10:45.

The trail from Thunder Ridge to Sawmill was not as shown on the Philmont maps, either the poster or the sectional ones. The Sawmill staff agreed with us on that. Also, there was some trail construction that was not shown on the maps and a closed trail that wasnít marked. Perhaps Paul should have spent more time reviewing the trail changes that were posted at Logistics.

Joe, one of the staffers, set us up in site 9, right near a latrine (complete with lots of flies) and not too far from the shower house. Joe told us that we were allowed to make a fire in the wood stove to heat water for showers, but an adviser had to be present until the fire was completely out.

Larry and I did a little laundry right before lunch and strung up a clothesline. At 12:45 PM we headed down the hill to the program cabin. I dropped my postcards and film off at the staff cabin on the way. Unfortunately, the crew was slipping a bit. Even after they were reminded to bring water, rain gear, etc., some of the guys left without it. Also, Tim Lingelbach was left behind. Thatís what we call a bad thing.

The program at Sawmill was very well done and the staff was very friendly. Rich was the staffer who ran the 30.06 Springfield reloading program. Among other things, we learned that 30 signifies a 30-caliber cartridge and .06 stands for 1906, the year that this round was invented.

After reloading our shells we walked to the range at 2:55, where we met Bill (the range director). On the way we stopped by our campsite to drop our laundry because (you guessed it) it was starting to rain. At the range, Dave Thomas put the same shirt we used as a target for the black-powder program down range on a metal target. Nathan, Adam, and Paul blew it apart!

The crew visited the shower house at 4:00. Another crew had left a fire smoldering in the stove, but our guys decided not to bother with re-building it so all they got was cool showers, not even warm. Most of them just washed their clothes. Larry and I put the fire out, then we took rag baths.

Not long after we got back to our campsite it rained again. Maybe my laundry jinx was rubbing in instead of wearing off! To make things worse, Waltís tent was becoming a real hassle. By this time the door would hardly close at all, and the clips and clothespins that we were using didnít keep all of the rain out. Bummer. We had to cover the bottom of our sleeping bags with plastic bags. I also used my Crazy Creek camp chair to hold the tent flap away.

At 5:45 we had dinner, which was a one-pot concoction that actually tasted pretty good. For dessert the cooks added to the apple/cherry compote one of the two cans of cherry pie filling that Brendon had given us at the start of our trek. It tasted good and was eaten in no time. However, neither Larry nor I could figure out why the guys were still carrying the 2 cans of cherry pie filling plus a can of peaches (from PJ), especially since they humped them over Mt. Phillips!

We had a brief but very good Thorns & Roses session at 7:20. Tonightís personal descriptive item was our favorite book. I was going to say Tolkienís Lord of the Rings trilogy, but two of the guys already used that so I said: "anything by Tom Clancy."

Adviserís coffee also was brief, but interesting. We ate fresh watermelon and saw a huge rainbow way out toward Colorado with lightning in the same general area. The only catch was that there was no real coffee, only instant. I opted for hot chocolate.

An adviser from Indianapolis asked me to take a picture of him and three other advisers from his contingent. He then reciprocated and took a picture of Larry and me. Larry gave him his address to mail us a print of the photo (but we never got it).