Sunday, July 4th (Day 9)

10:46 AM
Ready, set, go! Me, James, Daniel and Chris just finished a round trip run to Ute Gulch to pick up our crew's food. In one hour, we made it to the Commissary, checked out the Trading Post, and booked it back to where everyone else was waiting. Normally, it's a forty-five minute hike one way. Booyah! We also picked up some fruit and took advantage of the Free Postcard Writing Service! I can't wait to get home and see what it says. By the way, we emptied our packs first.... Before we started out this morning, we had a Sunday morning Fourth-of-July chapel service. It was a good start to a new day.

The 'Free Postcard Writing Service' is something staff members will do for any trekker who asks... they'll take an addressed postcard and fill it in for you (to save you the hassle!). They excel at make-up letters and break-up letters, and any other kind of letter you want sent. The one they wrote for my family was... interesting. My mom thought I must have had severe altitude sickness. I should also mention that we had several deer grazing about 20 feet away during our morning chapel. Pretty cool.

1:33 PM
James tells his story once again. (Inside Joke.) Anyways, most of us are sitting by the camp stove listening to James spin some random tale about our Ute Gulch Run. Tonight we're camping at Hunting Lodge.

9:36 pm
Today's been pretty cool. A lot has happened since Lunch. First off, we saw a bear. It was just moseyin' along through the far side of camp, and it ended up laying down to take a nap by the latrine (?). We sent a couple people to tell the rangers, then they chased it off. After we cleaned up lunch, our crew toured the Hunting Lodge Cabin, where Mr. and Mrs. Waite Phillips (the donors of Philmont property) stayed some summers. Back at our campsite, we cooked dinner (which was an awesome Mexican Rice with refried beans and real tortillas) and saw the bear again. We named him George. It was running away from the staffers chasing it. And tonight, at the evening program, people told hunting and fishing stories. Except for our guys; they told a story about when the 'Pengins' attacked the ranch back in Texas. In general, today was a really laid back day; not much hiking, and a lot of sitting around. The adults in our crew lead a good conversation about our aspirations and plans for the future, and about when they were choosing college majors and careers. It's nice to be able to talk with older, more experienced people about important decisions like that. And we haven't seen that bear again yet...

The 'Pengin' story was at least 20 minutes long from what I heard ( I missed some of it). I'd ask James how it went so that I could post it here, but it was completely made up on-the-spot... it was kinda a one-time deal.