What a day!

The rain that gently put me to sleep last night before 9pm was the only rain of the evening, but was enough to cool the temperatures nicely. The bag was definitely needed. Again I awoke often, mostly due to the 10% grade our tent was set up on (we had one of the flattest tent sites in this camp site). I remember moving Sarah back up the hill three times and was awake many other times in the night.

I woke up for good at 4:30am and waited for the 4:45am alarm before beginning my chores (seems to have become habit). The kids were awakened at 5am. As usual, they grumbled a bit like tired bears, but got moving, again in high gear this morning. We were packs on and hiking at 5:50am in a cool morning with no clouds.

Our first stretch of trail took us up out of Black Mountain and over the ridge that separates Black Mountain and Beaubien. It wasn’t the most friendly way to start the morning, but the crew did very well. Near the top, Sarah – our navigator for the day – made a correct trail decision that I would have missed (I read the map too quickly). The trail going down was all new with beautifully crafted switchbacks – lots of rock work here.

We ate breakfast on the northern edge of the Beaubien meadow, almost to the Phillips Junction trail. The views were breathtaking – Beaubien cannot be described, it has to be seen.

From there, we hiked down to Phillips Junction for our first food pick-up of the trek – 45 bags. PJ was not very busy even though quite a few crews were in the vicinity. We didn’t have to wait to pick up food, and staff was willing to trade a lunch for dinner for our dry camp on Comanche Peak. While Travis and the crew were taking care of the food, I bought 3 postcards to write to Jason, Dad, and Pamela. As I was writing, crew 2 walked up for food, showers, and laundry. They were having a great time, but were getting around very slowly in the mornings. The commissary manager, Kyle Schneider, talked me out of one of my maroon crew t-shirts for three Toblorone bars and a custom patch (I know I got rooked here, but the Toblorones sure were good). We talked with crew 2, ate oranges, and wrote home, all the while enjoying the beautiful, cool morning. We said goodbye to crew 2 at 10:25am and began our hike towards Comanche Camp.

The trail up through Porcupine and up to the Crooked Creek trail junction was slightly uphill and followed the Rayado Creek through a wider valley than we walked yesterday. The views were great. We were planning on a hot hike, but the clouds built up and moved in keeping the temperatures just below “warm” when the sun was blocked.

We made the walk up to the Crooked Creek trail junction much faster than we anticipated (about 30 minutes), so the crew chose to drop packs, get out lunch, and walk to Crooked Creek for lunch and program. The half-mile hike to Crooked Creek included a small up and over switchback into the next valley, and a walk through a wildflower-covered meadow. We arrived at the cabin at 11:45am. Our porch talk was given by Josey. She looked very familiar, so when she was done I asked if she had staffed here in 2002, and she had. After the porch talk we went to the west side of the cabin to eat lunch on the “yard.” By this time, dark clouds had started to build in the west and the wind was picking up. During lunch two chickens found us eating lunch and began getting into everyone’s food. They were big chickens, and now we knew why.

After lunch, the crew began participating in the Crooked Creek program which was basically doing the day to day chores required to keep the staff happy and alive. The boys took to the axe yard, splitting wood for the staff’s wood-burning stove/oven. Elmer made a hand-dipped candle. The guys also figured out how to work a two-man jigsaw. At 12:45pm we were given a cabin tour by Josey. The cabin’s furnishings had changed greatly from 2002 – staff must bring furnishings with them from year to year.

We left Crooked Creek at 1pm. On the way back down to our packs, a crew coming up the trail said that mini-bears were in our packs, but when we arrived we found no mini-bears and no pack damage. We loaded up packs again and began the final climb up Rayado Creek to Comanche Camp. This hike was very similar to the first part up from PJ to Crooked Creek. Our pace slowed a bit and we arrived later than I thought we would. We looked at a couple of camp sites on the south end of camp, but the crew decided to walk on to the north end to camp. I believe that the crew picked the same campsite that I camped in as a kid in 1981.

Camp setup was routine. Our tent was about 15 feet from the creek and I was really looking forward to sleeping with that sound all night. Once completed (rather slowly – we all felt the miles), I sat on my stool by the creek and journaled for a long while until it looked like rain was imminent. The clouds had thickened and the wind turned cold, so I prepared our tent and packs for the rain. It didn’t come. I then spent some time on a quest to find the far P2B. After 20 minutes of traipsing through unused camp sites I found it. Whew!

Dinner preparation began at 5pm. It was spitting rain by then, so everyone sat under the fly while dinner was made. We had a good time joking and talking. After dinner, we drank the gourmet hot chocolate I had been hauling around for the last 6 days (that lightened my load quite a bit). After KP we had our TB&R. I could not think of a thorn for the day. My roses were my crew’s attitude during the long hike and the campsite beside the stream. My bud was seeing the flagpole on top of Mt. Phillips tomorrow. When TB&R was done, I asked the crew what they had learned about themselves in the first six days, then told them the story of my 1981 Mt. Phillips night hike. I tried to impress on them how special tomorrow could be.

The crew was awesome today!

(journal of Shane Hoffman)