It’s 8:29pm and COLD. This was a very challenging day for crew 4 and the crew did great!

I went to sleep last night to the sound of the Rayado Creek around 9pm. The rain hit about 10:15pm – just enough to wake me and get me to zip the rain fly closed. I don’t think this shower lasted 10 minutes. I awoke again to rain at about 4am. I stayed awake, hoping the rain (actually just light showers) would end before it was time to wake up the crew. It didn’t. I got the crew up at 5am. We changed our morning rituals a bit to ensure that everyone’s personal gear stayed as dry as possible. By 5:30am the rain had stopped, allowing for a faster pace in breaking camp. The crew did very well under these conditions and we were hiking towards Clear Creek at 6:15am.

The hike up to Clear Creek was easy and gorgeous. We were still hiking along the Rayado Creek, and the scenery as the valley came to an end got even better. We reached Clear Creek Camp at 7:30am, and found a nice spot in the Ponderosas just up from the cabin to eat breakfast while we waited on staff to wake up.

We saw staff moving around at 7:45am, and a staffer came and gathered us for our porch talk at 8:10am. The staffer invited the crew up onto the porch and had Travis join him at his work table. As is the custom at all back country staff camps, the staffer asked Travis “Do you want your crew leader copy stamped?” When Travis said “Yes,” the staffer politely asked Travis to hold his coffee cup. Travis took the cup and set it on the table. The staffer said in a fairly haughty voice “Son, I asked you to HOLD my coffee cup,” so Travis picked it back up off of the table. The staffer very meticulously inked his Clear Creek stamp, and then before we knew what was happening, grabbed the tomahawk that was laying next to the ink pad and gave the crew leader’s copy a mighty chop, rattling the table underneath. He lifted the copy to observe the damage done, didn’t like what he found, and gave four more strong chops, hitting the table so hard that it bounced up off of the porch. Needless to say, by this time the crew had busted out laughing, almost hysterically. The staffer then politely stamped the copy with his stamp and retrieved his coffee from Travis.

At 8:20am, after finishing his porch talk, the staffer walked us over to the tomahawk yard, taught us the basics of hawk throwing and warned us of the “Bog Monster” that lived in the bog beyond the wooden targets. If you threw your hawk over the targets, you had to yell in a very loud voice “I’m sorry Bog Monster,” before you could retrieve it. Sarah & I both had to apologize in this fashion. I am sure there were still sleeping crews at Clear Creek that awoke to the apology. I placed my hat on the targets and it was hit multiple times, but did not suffer any hawk damage except for the close range shot I gave it. Elmer tried close range chops, but could not cut the hat – the wood underneath was too soft and all used up. The kids continued to throw hawks until time to depart for the black powder gun range.

At 8:50am, we went up to the range and were given a very entertaining talk by two of the most backward staffers I’ve ever seen. I put my hat downrange, and thought I had hit it with my first shot because it was gone, but I must have hit dirt just under the hat – no holes. Sarah placed her pink bandana downrange and it suffered tremendous damage from many hits.

After shooting, we returned to our packs, dropped extra food and trash and loaded up to maximum capacity on water (I carried 7 liters). Crew 2 walked up just as we prepared to depart, so we shook hands and said a few words, and left Clear Creek at 10:15am for the summit of Mount Phillips. The hike up Phillips is always hard, but our slow pace kept most from ever really breathing hard. As we began the hike, low clouds moved in, and as we got higher the clouds got lower until we were walking in them. This caused the temperature to cool considerably. Near the first false summit we were hit with a pretty hard rain. By the time we had stopped to put on rain gear, most everyone was cold, so we decided to set up the crew fly there and eat lunch – hoping that the time spent would let the rain pass on. By this time it was very cold and my biggest fear was hypothermia. About half-way through lunch the sun broke through for a bit and warmed us back up. Steam could be seen rising from the ground, our rain fly, and our rain gear and packs.

We pushed on after lunch, arriving at the summit at 1:30pm Sarah did just awesome on the climb – laughing and singing the whole way up the mountain I struggled to finish when I was her age. We stayed up on the summit for a little over an hour taking pictures and enjoying what little views were granted by the rolling heavy fog/clouds that socked in the area. Robert and I found a dedication plaque for Waite Phillips and a steel time-capsule further on the trail a little bit. I signed the crew into the notebook found in the time capsule. I am sure that had I dug down into the notes deep enough, I would have found the 718L note from 1981 inside. We met a crew from San Antonio – mostly older boys and their advisors – up on top who could sing like a barbershop quartet (we would meet the advisors again at the advisors’ lounge late on day 12).

It was windy and cold on top and began to spit rain as we readied to leave. The rain stayed away. The walk to Comanche Peak seemed longer than in 2002, and was fairly tedious, unless you enjoy boulders in your trail. That said, I’d rather walk down this side of Phillips that up it. We arrived in camp at 4pm, about an hour later than I expected. We set up camp in site 6, the same site I stayed at in 2002. After camp setup in the chilly conditions, I changed into my dry clothes and walked out to the point. The stone chairs that were fashioned in 2002 had been torn down, but new ones on the southwest side of the point had been built. I tried to call Pamela and the girls with Elmer’s cell phone, but only got the voicemail. I sat on one of the new stone chairs watching the clouds for about 20 minutes, getting some warmth when the sun would poke through. Elmer found me and joined me for a while.

We ate dinner (a lunch traded for a dinner at Phillips Junction) at 6:15pm. No KP! Marshall led a devotion, then we had our TB&R while eating the 2 pounds of M&Ms I had been carrying with the intention of eating on the top of Phillips – oops! My thorns were missing my hat at Clear Creek and the vandalism of the rock chairs out on the point. My roses were the campsite and enjoying watching Sarah climb Phillips. My buds were a warm sleeping bag and shooting rifles at Sawmill.

After chores were done we went to the point to watch the sunset and the clouds. Once the sun finally went behind the last ridge it got cold quickly. Sarah & I got into the tent at 8:15pm. The rain started at 8:40pm while I was journaling – light showers, and I could hear thunder coming from south of us. I went to sleep hoping for a warm night and dry morning, but expected neither.

The crew did a good job today under some trying circumstances. Their performance in getting to Clear Creek early after the rainy start was much better than expected, and they kept their great attitudes up the hard hike and during the cold evening.

(journal of Shane Hoffman)