At 7:20 Larry and I left the campsite and waited in the sun for the rest of the crew at the sunrise viewing site. They were still moving exceedingly slowly and we didnít want to be harping on them to move faster. Perhaps our positive example did some good, because at 7:30 the guys arrived and we got on the trail.

It was a relatively easy hike and we reached the trail crossing for Cimarroncito and the Ute Gulch Commissary at 9:00. We sauntered into ëCito at 9:15 and immediately got some good news. We got the last slot for the 10 AM rock-climbing program.

Julie was the staffer who escorted us to site 4. She told us that the showers would be open until 5 PM. The fire ban was still on, but the showers were heated with propane so that didnít matter much to us. There was "putrefied" water at all of the faucets in camp, which was good news. However, she warned us that there was a bear in camp so we would have to exercise extra caution. Mail was to be picked up that evening.

We started to set up camp, hung the bear bags, then hauled off to the rocks program at 9:45. As we were walking to the program site we met up with Sandy Byard and her crew from George Washington Council. They were in a campsite next to ours. Sandy told us that Harveyís crew was due in later today. We also met Craig Burns (he was on our 1997 JLT staff and his dad was on our 1996 Wood Badge staff), who is in Sandy's sister crew.

The rocks program was excellent and the staff was very friendly. All of our crew except Larry and I climbed and rappelled (we were the designated photographers and cheering section), and they all had a ball. The staff did a great job, and their instruction was both informative and funny. As it turned out, swapping Harlan for ëCito was what we call a good thing.

At noon we were back in our campsite for lunch and completion of our site set-up. Blake had to chide Adam for being somewhat careless with his peanut butter and jelly crackers (he was lining them up along one of the logs at the fire ring). Nathan reminded Adam about the bear warning and made him clean up the spilled PBJ (use your imagination to figure out the method). Adam, Blake, Dave Thomas, and Dave Weisenfeld left at 1:00 PM with two empty packs (aside from their "10 essentials") and hiked out to the Ute Gulch Commissary to replenish our supplies.

Larry and I showered at 1:15 and did some laundry. Of course, clouds began to gather overhead. This morningís hike was rough on my hip, because the guys were practically running down the trail. Also, my insides still werenít back to 100% either. The obvious solution was some I-B-Hurtin and Adviserís Nap Time (a favorite phrase of Larryís), so at 2:00 I wrote my last postcard (to Dee) and went "toes up".

At 3:00 I walked down to the staff cabin to drop off my postcard. I noticed that crews 5, 6, and 10 were checked in and camping in North ëCito.

I walked back to our site and worked on my MSR Waterworks. I scraped down the carbon element, then took it to the shower house for a thorough wash-down. I cleaned the pre-filter screen with Efferdent. The water filter now seems to work fine.

At 3:40 the guys got back from their commissary run. As a bonus they got oranges for the crew. Unfortunately, Adam was making a real mess with the peels, which were getting scattered around. At least he was eating at the fire ring. However, it appeared that he probably had orange juice all over himself and the fire ring. We chased him over to the shower house to clean up. He just didnít get the point that he was endangering the whole crew by his carelessness.

We had a good dinner, despite some contentious moments between a few of the guys. Fortunately, they worked out their differences. It was a long day and some tempers were getting a bit thin. It was good to see, though, that Nathan and Blake were able to manage the group dynamics to keep things under control.

At 7:00 Larry and I went to Advisersí Coffee and had a great time. We met up with the advisers from crews 5, 6, and 10 and Sandy. We swapped trek tales and took turns cracking jokes. Two of the staffers told a weird shaggy-dog story, but they got some serious competition from the MCBSA gang.

While we were having our coffee and camaraderie, the guys in our crew had fun on the climbing wall, tossing a Frisbee, and playing volleyball. In fact, they convinced us to extend our stay at the staff cabin until almost dark. Larry and I were amazed at their resurgence of energy.