Wow!  What a day!  Our plan was to get up at 4:00am for a 5:00am start on the killer hike today.  I was awakened at 3:30am by large amounts of thunder, and the rain followed in short order.  Our early start had officially been scrapped.  I was in and out of the tent a couple of times between 5:00am and 6:00am, but had to return to the tent each time by more rain and lightning.  I went back to sleep finally at 6:30am and woke up a little after 7:00am to a lull in the storm.  We decided to break camp quickly, but weren’t as quick at the next incoming storm.  Most everybody got something or other soaked before the packing was finally done.

We started hiking at 7:40am, heading for Clarks Fork.  The trail was mostly flat and we got to Clarks Fork at 8:25am (pretty fast for muddy hiking).  By the time we got there, the rain had stopped for the most part.  We ate breakfast under their huge porch cover, and some of the guys did a little branding.  Clarks Fork was our last available water stop for the trek, so everyone drank as much as they could, then filled all of their canteens.

We left Clarks Fork at 9:36am under quickly clearing skies.  The trail immediately started climbing quickly and by 10:00am it was clear and hot, and we stopped to pull off rain gear.  The climb past Upper Clarks Fork and Ponderosa Park was hard but quick, with little or no caterpillaring.  Past Ponderosa Park, the trail got even harder and the caterpillar kicked in.  We reached Shaffer’s Pass around noon and the crew decided to continue climbing on to the beginning of the Tooth Ridge before stopping for lunch.  We found a nice spot for lunch just before the saddle onto the ridge and ate lunch at 1:00pm, after hiking hard uphill for almost two and one-half hours.  It was a well-earned break.

Memory is a funny thing.  I had hiked this trail in 1981, and it seemed much shorter and easier then.  The hike along the ridge was very beautiful, with views both north and south.  It seemed that we would never get to the base of the Tooth of Time.  The trail was built over large rocks and threw in a switchback every now and then to confuse you.  We reached the base of the Tooth around 3:00pm and dropped packs to climb up to the top. 

Jan and Glenn went on down to Tooth Ridge Camp to pick us a site.  Once again, memory was wrong.  As a boy, it seemed we dropped our packs right at the Tooth, and a two-minute hike got us to the top.  The climb up the Tooth was hard – pretty much 45 degrees uphill, climbing over boulders, and gaining about 500 feet to reach the top.  It took about 20 minutes to reach the top from where we dropped our packs, but the view was worth the entire struggle.  It is always pretty neat to be up on the Tooth of Time.  The wind was howling up there, and a storm was passing to the south of us.  We took a few pictures and looked around for about 20 minutes.  As we were starting our climb down, Chad dropped his camera into a fissure at the top.  Somehow, Brad got it out for him.  We climbed down a different way and got a little lost, but found our way back down to the packs.  From there it was a 10-minute walk down to the Tooth Ridge Camp. 

We walked almost all the way through camp before I spotted Glenn.  He had found us the perfect campsite.  It was located near the edge of the ridge, with a huge open flat area for our tents.  The best feature of the campsite was the pilot to bombardier, and the wonderful view that the user was given overlooking base camp and the plains beyond.  Crew 3 was camped just across from us in an opening between two huge rock formations.

We set up camp at a leisurely pace, letting our wet tents dry in the sun before putting them up.  It was pretty windy as we set up – guessing 20 mph sustained winds.  We ate our dinner – Philmont Lunch #3 – and had our Thorns, Buds, & Roses at 6:00pm, but had to finish hurriedly as another storm was quickly approaching.  The wind continued to grow in intensity.  Jan clocked a gust at 63 mph before he got into his tent, and it just got stronger after that.  I was in and out of the tent, talking with people in both crews, and finally got in the tent for good at 8:00pm.