6/27 Friday

Here it is DAY 5.

We hike up 1200 then down 500 feet today. I was ready to go home after the day 3 ordeal. Since we have to do 4 miles if we do 1 mph maybe I won't feel like collapsing this time.

We slept in (7am). It's 9am now. Today's vertical debt is 1200 and we've paid 600 of it before breakfast!! The last 400 will be tough and then we will have +200 -200 spots till we get -500 down to Miranda to prep for our ascent of Baldy tomorrow. At 9850 feet at Baldy town. A wrong turn brought us here today. We were supposed to get here tomorrow after Baldy. Now back down to 8900 feet at Miranda sitting on porch. Veging. My favorite Philmont activity. Now August is over throwing tomahawks by himself. I wish he was more engaged with the other scouts. He plans to hike down with me if I have problems tomorrow. I can hear our scouts over there shooting black powder rifles. They already threw tomahawks but August didn't go with them at the time. August finally hit the target. He's been close but now he's hit it. He is very pleased with himself. I love this porch. Sitting is the thing to do after walking up 1200 and down 1000 feet.

Nobody's cell phone works here so I can't call Michele and see how she is.

We arrived about 2pm and they took us to site 3, a dusty wooded site and it was already occupied so they took us to site 7. The "Presidential Suite". Bear bag distance: 50 feet. Red roof distance: 50 feet. Sump distance: 35 feet. about 1/2 to 3/4 acre grassy lawn surrounded by tall pines for our tents. Everybody is taking empty packs with rain gear and 7 liters of water except me. I've been the slowest so Chris is acting as my shirpa and lugging my rain gear and 5 liters of my water. I'm just taking a fanny pack with a 2.5 liter camel pack. Everybody is dissapointed we were not told ahead of time we would be expected to swallow toothpaste rather than spit it out. We would have purchased "Tom's of Maine" or some other "edible" brand. We should have bought tampons for nose bleeds. At 10,000 feet today there was another nosebleed. Luckily we found a trading post that had tampons in stock. The boys were all joking about walking around with a string dangling from their nose. It beats swallowing blood or digging for the toilet paper on the trail.

On the first day, everybody made fun of Danny for bringing baby wipes on the trail. Now I think they should be on the list of "Philmont Essentials". They boys wanted to play "Mountain Ball" but it was cancelled. So they went to get the frisbee I bought for Chris at Ponil.

Bear sighting!

By the teepee and the dead tree at 7:08 pm (mountain time) a large bear was wandering by our camp about the time we saw a turkey walk by. One of the other dads snapped a photo of the bear. It was a big one! Now the boys are playing frisbee on the very spot where the bear was sighted. All six boys are playing together. A first.