I slept much better than last night, and woke up just before Robert’s alarm went off at 5am. I lay in bed lounging and finally got out of bed at 5:30am to finish journaling yesterday’s events. While I journaled, Robert and Elmer broke up and bagged the lunches we had brought for the day’s hike up to Williams Lake.

The group was to meet in the hotel lobby at 6:20am for breakfast at 6:30am. All crews arrived on time and it looked like the group was in a good mood and having fun already. At 6:30, the hostess led our group to a set of tables they had prepared just for us. Everyone had their choice of 4 hot breakfasts to choose from. I had French toast with bacon. The food was quick and good. Most of the group was finished eating and talking at 7:30am. I finished at 7:15 and went back to the room to call Pamela.

When everyone was ready and packs were re-loaded into the trailers, we took Elmer J’s and Johnny’s vehicles to the gas station to fill them up and David ran to Wal Mart to get some heavy duty sewing needles to replace the one broken while attempting to repair Clayton’s backpack – his shoulder strap had busted loose from the pack right at the top.

We hit the road for the Taos ski area at 8:15am. Everything seemed much greener than in 2002. The road was not as busy as 2002, and we made decent time up. Once at the ski valley, we took a newer, less steep and treacherous road up to the trailhead. The trailhead sits above 10,200’ and everyone could tell the air was a bit thin. We arrived at the trailhead at 9:20am and all crews busted out crew gear to be loaded into their packs, and were given their lunch for the day.

Crew 4 began walking at 9:45am. The trail was also much greener than the last trip here, another testament to the amount of rain they had received in May and June. The word of the day was “altitude.” The crew did very well on the hike, and we reached our highest elevation of well over 11,000’ at 10:40am, and reached the lake at 11:45am. At the high point, I turned on the radio on my GPSr to check on the progress of the other crews and found out that Elmer J was having breathing trouble and had gone back down to the trailhead. All other crews were making good progress towards the lake.

We broke out lunch at 11am, and then the girls went to climb the big rock on the corner of the lake while the guys ate and played with the chipmunks. The weather was perfect – bright blue sky with a few wispy clouds, a nice temperature with a warm sun, and a very light breeze. The other three crews all arrived at the lake and spread out for lunch while we ate. Some also went to climb the big rock, while others hiked over to the other side of the lake for a little exploration.

I started down to the trailhead to check on Elmer J at 11:40am. The rest of the group was to begin hiking down at 12 noon. I was able to make the walk down very quickly hiking alone, with two or three stops to talk to others as they hiked up the trail, and to take some pictures along the creek. I got to the bottom at 12:30pm. Elmer looked pretty pale. I had him drink water and walk around a bit to get his blood moving. Others in the group started arriving at the trailhead around 12:50pm.

Marshall twisted an ankle near the bottom of the trail and couldn’t/wouldn’t walk on it, so two of the advisors stayed with him while the rest of the crew split up his gear and came down, dropped packs, and went back up to help him down. I pulled the van up the hill as far as I dared take it, and a worker there took his 4 wheel drive truck up the trail to where Marshall was at and carried him down to the van. The ankle didn’t look bad – no real swelling or discoloration. We got him back down to the trailhead. By that time, the rest of the group had finished their hike and we loaded up the trailers. We began our drive back to Taos at 1:30pm.

Back at the hotel, we collected laundry from the group then all drivers took their vehicles to the gas station to fill up. After gas, Elmer, Robert, Bill, and I went to Wal Mart for needed items – bottled water, black CD’s, a photo card reader, etc. After Wal Mart, Elmer and I found a Laundromat to do the huge bag of laundry we had gathered. David and Elmer J were already there doing their crew’s laundry. The process was slow, but we had a good time. We got the laundry done at 5:30pm, and returned to the hotel for a quick advisors meeting. After the meeting, all crews left for dinner – Crews 1, 2, & 4 to Michael’s and Crew 3 somewhere else – while Elmer and I stayed back to grab quick showers before joining our Crew.

We arrived at Michael’s Kitchen at 6:08pm. Our entire group was seated in the back room, which made it much nicer for everyone. I had a seat directly facing a west window and the setting sun, so I wore my sunglasses most of the evening. The speed of the food was still a little slow – again, a group thing – but the food and the service was excellent. I don’t recommend the “Derek’s Lunch” – a Philly cheese-steak on a tortilla. It just missed, and I really wanted the chicken fried steak. I don’t know why I didn’t order it.

We returned to the hotel after dinner and began the process of cleaning up and loading everything back into the trailers and the vehicles. The two days in Taos had literally flown by. I finished my packing at 10pm and began journaling the day.

(journal of Shane Hoffman)