What's this? Guys getting up at 5 AM? What's wrong with this picture? Pat B. and Mike J. got up to see the sunrise. The rest of us crawled out at 6 AM. We got our breakfast, and the advisors quickly put up their gear and were ready to go by 7:15. But we had a LONG wait for the other guys to break camp, pack up, and hit the trail. Finally, at 8:25, we started up. The first 2 miles or so follows a road, then we swung to the Southwest and followed our first real trail.

Three and a half hours, and many stream crossings later, we arrived at Lambert Mine Camp. The trail wasn't terribly tough, but we did gain about 2000 ft. of elevation. Lambert Mine Camp is a trail camp, without any purified water. We couldn't even find a latrine. We set up camp, ate lunch, and headed up to Cypher's Mine Camp for our first staff camp program. First, we took the mine tour. The mine goes 480 Ft. into the side of the mountain, and is cold (about 50 F.), damp, and totally dark when the lights go out. The tour leader gives quite a history about the mine, tells some interesting tales about mining in the area, and shows everyone how the miners did the work back in the 1800's. When we got out of the mine, it had started to sprinkle, and was thundering heavily. So we took refuge on the porch of the shower house, and waited out the storm. At 4 PM, it had quit raining, so the blacksmithing area opened. There the crew all worked on making a "S" hook, which was hand-forged on an anvil.

At 5:15 PM, we headed back to Lambert's, cooked dinner, and cleaned up. All of the advisers and several of the boys washed their hair, themselves, and their dirty clothes. Kyle was so impressed that he called us the "Mr. Clean" crew. Then we hung the bear bags, and had a "Thorns, Roses, & Buds" session with Kyle. Each of us in turn talked about the good and bad things that had happened to us over the past two days. Then we talked about what we hope to get out of the trek. The most touching thing came from Brett G.; he dedicated the trek to the honor and memory of his grandfather, who had always wanted to come to Philmont Scout Ranch, but never made it here. Kyle then made some closing remarks, and complemented us on the way our crew was shaping up. Kyle will be leaving us tomorrow, and I for one will miss him. But we will struggle on. A really nice way to end the day. Bed time. 9 PM. Tomorrow, a tough one.

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