Some of the adults, including myself, got up at 5:00am for showers in the state park.  We got the rest of the group up at 6:00am.  Camp was broken down quickly, and the trailers were repacked.  We rolled out of the park at 6:45am.  The sunrise coming over the canyon walls was spectacular, giving off rays of light radiating from the sun’s central location.  Sometime during the previous evening, Chad had been bitten by what we assumed was a brown recluse spider, and his forearm was swollen.  He said it hurt a little, and said there was another bite on his knee but it had not swollen up.  We kept an eye on the bite for the rest of the trip.

We ate breakfast at the McDonald’s in Canyon, and then began the drive to Philmont.  We took the southwest loop around Amarillo which made the drive much easier, then got in I-40 west and drove to San Jon, New Mexico, before turning north.  We had a couple of gas and bathroom breaks, and arrived at Philmont about 1:40pm.  You could see the smoke from the forest fire on the horizon from the little town of Roy, New Mexico on.  It was heartbreaking to see Philmont burning.

We turned the boys loose for lunch in the snack bar, and for purchases at the Tooth of Time Traders trading post.  Some of the adults went down to the administration building for another roster, and stopped by logistics to check the water board and find out any information about our “new” itinerary (At that time a major forest fire covering almost 90,000 acres, 20,000 of which were in the Philmont north country, was burning.  All of Philmont north of US-64 was closed to all use.).  The entire contingent was ready to leave Philmont for Taos at 3:15pm. 

We drove on to Taos, arriving at the Quality Inn about 4:30pm.  After a quick check-in, Glenn got busy finding us a restaurant for dinner.  We loaded up a little after 5:00pm and headed for Michael’s Kitchen in the old town district.  The food and service was excellent.  After dinner we returned to the hotel for some swimming.  Our plan for tomorrow had changed.  We were going to try to hike Wheeler Peak, but with the fire danger, the only public lands trail open was the trail to Williams Lake – a lake situated just south of Wheeler peak at about 11,400 feet of elevation.  Everyone spent some time that evening preparing their packs for tomorrow’s hike before hitting the bed.  It was a very long, full day.