Day 7
Last night at the
program the staff informed us
there was a fire down the mountain from
us. Fire crews were getting it under control but we
were instructed not to leave Cyphers Mine until they had
written instructions from base camp. This worked out
well for us for several reasons. Our trek was away from
the fire and it looked like we would not be
rerouted, we still had Blacksmithing to do this morning
and we had already planned to shift our meals around to
handle the dry camp in front of us. The staff was great in
keeping us informed but not alarmed.
A night on concrete made for some long faces this morning.
Group picture!!!!
We ate breakfast and
packed up so the next
incoming group would have a camp site when they
rolled in. Then we headed off to the Smithing
program. Sam was our staff member for it and he was
very good with the boys.
I think we made a screw
driver or something
like that. This was another activity that was a great
new experience for a bunch of city boys.
Cyphers Mine was in the
process of getting a new
cabin and since we had planned to not hit the trail
until late afternoon we ask about the possibility of
some service hours. The staff found a great project
for us. We cleared the area of rocks and laid the first
stones for a walkway for the new cabin. We also
placed rocks around the bottom of the
cabin to dress it up.
This was the new staff stove. Very nice!!!
As always the staff was
right on top of the situation. Ann's
brother was in charge of the cabin construction and he
took time out of his busy schedule to give us some pointers.
We ate lunch, packed up
and took one last look
at our masonry master piece before we headed
up the mountain.
Back on the trail again
Matthew lead us though
the 10,000 feet elevation mark.
The trees were getting big and the view bigger.
Comanche Peek was our
home for the night. We found
that at 11,326 feet a sweater felt pretty good in the evening.
Hard to believe that
teenagers could go to bed before
dark but they did, and so did I.