The rain last night lasted about an hour. It really never got much cooler than when I went to sleep. The 20 degree down bag was more than enough for the night. Sarah also slept warm once I convinced her to take off her wet clothes and put dry on. I woke up four or five times to listen to light sprinkles or to make sure Sarah was warm. I woke up for good at 4am and listened as the wind knocked water out of the pines and onto the tent. I got the adults up at 4:45am and got the crew up at 5am. We moved fairly slowly this morning, getting out of camp at 6:15am. A combination of the cold morning temperature and the lasting fatigue from yesterday probably played a large part in the slow breaking of camp.

We hiked to Thunder Ridge fairly quickly. We ate breakfast there at 7:30am in the cold fog. Every now and then the breeze would pick up and knock water onto the kids sitting under a short pine. The crew was cold, and kept the breakfast stop short. We were hiking again by 8am. Another very easy, very beautiful walk got us to Sawmill at 9:15am. We walked in the clouds and fog most of the day, so views were very limited and the walk seemed surreal at times. Marshall took the haunted feel out of the hike by singing all the way to Sawmill.

We dropped our packs up by the Sawmill shower house since all known campsites are near there - up the long walk from the main staff cabin. Once all was stowed, we walked down to the main cabin to check into camp. We were met by John Schroeder, the camp director for Sawmill. He started off his porch talk by claiming that Sawmill had the most friendly, helpful, and courteous staff – and in the day we were there he was proven correct over and over. We were the first crew of the day (Sawmill only had two crews that day) and arrived about an hour & one-half earlier than staff was used to receive crews. He was so impressed by the crew he gave them a box of powdered doughnuts – a big hit with the kids. He let the crew choose our own campsite, and got us signed up for the 1pm shell reload and the 2pm rifle shoot.

We chose a great campsite near the shower house and the trail to the cabin. Camp set up went fairly quickly – a bit of comedy around the bear bags, but I wasn’t there to hear the jokes. After camp was set up, we loitered around playing Frisbee, talking, and resting until lunch at 11:30am. No one was really interested in showers because no one wanted to gather and cut firewood to feed the Tobasco donkey hot water heater. The temperatures were still rather cool, although we could tell the soup-thick cloud cover was quickly burning off. After lunch Elmer, Robert, & I walked down to the cabin to get warm by the fire burning there. The rest of the crew arrived at the cabin at about 12:15pm and began playing horseshoes. Although no ringers were thrown, it looked like they were really having fun.

At 1pm we began reloading the .30/06 rifle shells we would be shooting later on at the range. The reloading went very quickly – our crew and another crew finished reloading three shells per person at 1:30pm. At 1:35pm we began walking up the hill to the rifle range. This is the only range in the Boy Scouts of America dedicated to shooting high powered rifles. After the safety talk by “the Padre,” targets were placed downrange and the fun began. The shooting was fun, but most of our aims were off (in 2002 the rifles were sighted dead on – these were not nearly as accurate). I missed my hat with my first two shots and missed Elmer’s hat with my third (I did hit the metal target that his hat was set on though). Sarah’s already damaged pink bandana was ripped up pretty good.

The weather was beginning to really break as we returned to camp. Once we had re-secured camp, all of the advisors walked back down to the cabin to enjoy the 50-mile view and to just get out of camp. Elmer challenged me to a friendly game of horseshoes (for the usual ice cream bet). I won the first game in the best 2 of 3 set handily, but lost the last two by large margins – Elmer is a horseshoe sandbagger – and I owed Elmer an ice cream cone. While we were playing, John brought out a plate of hot brisket for us to nibble on – staff’s leftovers from the previous evening meal. We began our walk back up to camp at 5:20pm anticipating dinner, but the crew was messing around and we didn’t eat until 6:20pm.

At 7:20pm, the advisors again walked down to the cabin for the best advisors’ coffee of the trip. During the afternoon, the weather had warmed and cleared nicely, but it was beginning to cool quickly as we arrived for the coffee. We were served our coffee, tea, hot water, and cookies, and entertained with songs, stories, and a poem:

"The Truth For Me"  by John Schroeder

I drove in from Springer
On the last of a 23 hour trip.
Then there it was - Tooth Ridge -
And the first sighting of home.
A home I didn't know I missed this much.
And yet, there it is -
Majestic, graceful, and unforgiving.

My life has been permanently altered for the better.
I'm closer to God, closer to man.
I have made great friends from all across the land.
I've touched the sky on top of these mountains.
I've talked to God.  I have drunk from His fountains.
The purple-pink hue of the twilight sky
Makes a man think and be grateful that he is alive.

Thank God for this land, thank God for my friends.
May we all meet here together again.

The coffee was closed with a prayer and an evening flag lowering ceremony. The staff at Sawmill bent over backwards to make sure every camper was enjoying their time there and they were the best staff we encountered on the trek. During the coffee, the crew wandered down to see what was going on, then wandered back up to camp.

When the coffee was over we returned to camp and had our TB&R. My thorn was the bad dinner preparation performance. My roses were the horseshoe games and the singing walk we took this morning. My bud was the conservation project tomorrow at Cimarroncito.

I got into the tent at 9pm and journaled until 9:45. It was beginning to get cold again but there were no clouds in the sky to worry about.

(journal of Shane Hoffman)