I woke up at 4:30am after a surprisingly warm night.  After the hail and rain of last night, I expected a cold night, but never had to zip up the bag.  I got the crew up a little before 5:00am, and as usual we began hiking at 6:00am.  The trail was downhill and followed a creek through mixed pine, aspen, and hardwood trees. 

We took a mandatory side hike to the Ute Gulch Commissary to pick up our last food of the trail.  We reached the commissary at 7:55am, perfect timing since they opened at 8:00am.  We were the first crew in line to pick up food, and staff was agreeable to trading us a lunch for a dinner for the last day on the trail at Tooth Ridge, it being a dry camp.  We re-counted our food bags, a good habit for all crews to get into, and then sat about preparing hot water for our last “cooked” breakfast of the trip.  I wrote my last postcards of the trip here during breakfast and mailed them from the commissary.  We ate breakfast at the commissary, compacted and deposited our trash, and were back on the trail by 9:00am.

We came upon the Crew 3 on the trail at 9:30am at the Ute Gulch trail intersection, and continued on to Cimarroncito.  The hike into Cito follows a wide trail through a huge, beautiful meadow.  We arrived at the cabin a little before 10:00am.  We got checked in, and were told the next available time for the rock climbing and rappelling program was at 1:00pm – three hours to kill.
 
Three hours at “Club Cito” turned into three hours of fun.  A couple of the guys went to the shower house to wash some clothes.  Most of the boys and a few of the leaders began playing volleyball – yes, they had a volleyball court there.  Hampton and I began playing Frisbee.  An advisor from a Plano, Texas crew joined us for a while.  And of course, Elmer found himself a shady spot and did what all good Elmers do, went to sleep.  Just before lunch at 12:00 noon, a grudge match volleyball game began between Crews 2 and 3.  Crew 3 took a big early lead (10-5), only to have their hearts broken by the amazing comeback victory of Crew 2 (15-13).  We ate lunch and cleaned up our mess, and then a huge game of Frisbee broke out.  About 15 of us played with up to 4 different flying discs.  Luckily no one was hurt.

We left for the rock climbing area at 12:45pm.  It was all-uphill, with a little rock climbing involved in just getting to the program area.  After a short demonstration, the boys and a few of the advisors, including Elmer the great, climbed and rappelled.  We finished and returned to our packs by the cabin at 2:15pm. 

We began hiking to the Hunting Lodge at 2:30pm after canteens were filled.  The trail to the Hunting Lodge stayed in the huge meadow, and was all-downhill.  We arrived there a little after 3:00pm and set up camp, then sat around and talked until dinner at 6:00pm.  Hampton and I had a nice talk with a ranger near the Hunting Lodge, and got a lot of information about the fire.  Dinner was okay, and the advisors went to advisor’s coffee at 7:00pm while KP was being finished up.  I met Glenn Cummings and his wife, who were the camp directors there.  They had headed up the Hunting Lodge restoration, and had staffed there since 1999.  It turns out Alvin Williams (my Scoutmaster) was Mr. Cummings’ coach-counselor for Wood Badge, and we shared a few other mutual friends.  We went into the Hunting Lodge at 8:00pm for a short program.  Allen and I bugged out early.  I had much journaling to do, and I was tired.  I got to bed after 9:00pm.