Day 8

Day 8 - Copper Park to Head of Dean

Day 8 – 7-12-99 – Monday

We were up at 5:30 – left camp at 7 AM. We were going from Copper Park to Head of Dean, a distance of about 8 miles. We stopped at 8:15 to eat breakfast, and then we headed on down the trail. We were also scheduled to do our conservation project today. Logistics had told us that we would find the project site on our way to Head of Dean. So we walked, and walked, and walked. At about 11 AM, we were taking a break on the side of the road, and heard a truck coming. We flagged it down, to find out just where in the world the conservation project was. The driver said that the project was at Head of Dean, and always had been. Here was another case of poor information from Logistics. But good news! Chris was sitting in the back seat of the truck! the driver said that camp was just around the next curve. So we hustled up the road, and got into camp in about 10 minutes. Darryn went to check in, and the rest of us crowded around Chris, shaking his hand and welcoming him back. I for one found my spirits immeasurably boosted by his return, and you could see the same in the faces of most of the other crewmembers, especially his brother Cory.

The next conservation project was starting at 2 PM, and we were given the choice of trail building or tree thinning. The guys chose thinning, and we were told to head up the trail to the east at 1:30. So we had about two hours to set up camp, eat lunch, and relax a little before then.

Lou, a staff member, took us down to our campsite, that sat on the edge of the large meadow where the challenge course was located. As we ate lunch, the weather started to rapidly change, and by 12:30, it started to rain, with a lot of thunder and lightning. About the same time, Matt W. came up to me and said that he had gotten the bear bag rope tangled in the cable. Tom and I went to take a look, and found that the rope was caught in the loose end of the cable, next to one of the trees. An advisor from another crew was giving Matt a hard time about it, and started to tell us what a problem we had. I thanked him for his concern, and assured him that we could, and would, take care of it. I tried to climb up to the cable, but as it was a good 20 feet off the ground, I gave up before I caused some major damage to my body. Matt felt real bad about the rope, but we attempted to comfort him by letting him know that it could happen to anyone.

As our scheduled time to head to the conservation project was rapidly approaching, we left the rope, grabbed our gear, and hustled up to the cabin. We asked one of the staff members if they had something to help us get the rope down, and low and behold, they had an extension ladder under the cabin! They also told us that the conservation projects where being put on hold for the afternoon due to the weather. I had suspected that this might happen, but I didn’t want to tell the boys, as they were really looking forward to chopping down a few trees. Instead, we sat through a thorough and quite interesting lecture about trail building and forest conservation. At the end of the lecture, the staff signed off our conservation work on the crew leader copy, and that was that. Funny thing, though. Right after the lecture finished, the thunder stopped, the sky cleared, and the rest of the day was warm and dry. Hummmmm….

There wasn’t time left to get in the challenge course program, so most of the guys whiled away the afternoon playing games, sleeping, or reading. Tom and I put up a clothesline, and washed out some of our dirtier clothes. I also washed my hair, and sponged off as much of myself as I could. (Latter that evening I went up into the trees, stripped down, and finished my bath. Ah, it felt great!)

At 7 PM, there was an Advisor’s coffee up at the cabin, but I didn’t go. I felt like finishing my bath, and spending some time to myself. The boys were going to have a meeting, to see if they could come to some conclusion about how to handle the growing discontent that becoming more and more evident. The crew leader didn’t seem to have the skills necessary to correct these problems, and the other advisors and myself didn’t want to get involved unless it was really necessary. We were hoping that they boys could somehow take care of these issues. Time would tell.

The evening wore down, and just after sunset, we headed to bed. Tomorrow we could sleep in a bit, as our program would not start until 8 AM. As I drifted off to sleep, I realized that our trek was winding down. We would be back at Camping HQ in only 4 more days. I prayed that we could make the best of them.