Woke at 5:00 am, after a pretty solid night's sleep.  Clear skies overhead.  Roused myself at 5:25, and out the door at 5:35.  Mike was already up, and had already woken everyone in Tent Group II.  I went ahead and got the guys in my tent group up, and took down my tent.  [Forgot to check the temperature til we were already hiking.  It was 34 degrees at 7:05, so probably upper 20's at dawn, which is how it felt.]  Reasonably efficient packup; since it was our last night with the backpacking tents, we shook them out very thoroughly, unzipped everything, and folded perfectly.  Mike and Sam handled the tarp.  I snagged all the trash out of the bear-box, so it’ll hopefully be clean for a few days, anyway.  Done around 6:30, then a quick circle up for water and stretching exercises, after which I worked on Luke's boot again.  Saddled up and headed down the hill to an overlook of the lake, where I gave a minute of reflection, around 6:45; this was also much enjoyed by Mike, and (who knows?) maybe the Scouts got something out of it too.  Then we hiked quickly down to the end of the lake - 6 miles to the trailhead from here.  I looked back and got a great picture of the sun just barely peeking over Big Sandy Mountain, with the lake in the foreground.  I hope this turns out - if I never get back here, it’s the way I want to remember the Wind River Range.

The Big Sandy Trail (heading southwest) was pretty and fairly easy.  Mike got stumble #15 out of the way (but once again, he didn’t fall).  We took two snack breaks along the way, stripping clothes both times as we warmed up.  The Big Sandy River ran alongside the trail - beautifully clear water, with a rock and sand bottom, and we could see numerous trout moving and rising.  We passed by several signs detailing the trails to Big Sandy Lake and several other smaller lakes (Diamond, "V," and Meek’s) in the same area.  We also passed by several small groups heading inbound, including a small Scout group from Milwaukee, Wisconsin (which included two Webelos Scouts!); they were starting a 5-day/4 night trek to the Cirque and back (roughly 25 miles).  We finally arrived at the Big Sandy Trailhead at 9:15, after debating over some trail splits just before the parking lot (spotting the latrine and picnic tables confirmed that this was indeed the spot).  Relaxed for a few minutes [Scouts sniffing one of the few Ponderosa pines we came across on this trek: Photo], and Al and Mark (that is, the vans) arrived at 9:29 - 1 minute early!  Good timing on all our parts.  A large horse contingent walked by down at the far end of the parking lot just as they drove in.

After a brief discussion, we decided against stripping the backpacks of Crew gear, and instead just packed them up in the cargo van.  While thus engaged, Mark and Al filled us in on some enormous forest fires up near Jackson Hole, where they had dropped off Rick and Chris, and also about their trip the previous day:  After hiking out to the trailhead, they took Chris and Rick to Jackson, where Rick begged and pleaded his way into a full campground.  Al treated all four to a steak dinner at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, then he and Mark luxuriated in a condo for the night.  Up early, they picked up the gear van at Scab Creek, then re-joined us at Big Sandy.  We departed about 9:50 or so, in growing cloudiness.  A long drive out, dirt/gravel roads all the way.  A big storm suddenly brewed behind us as we departed, so excellent timing for us (not so hot for the Scouts from Milwaukee, however).  The first crash of thunder was loud even inside the van.  Kept touch with Al and Hugh (in the cargo van) by Motorola as we wound our way out to the main highway.
 
Once again, we stopped in Boulder (at the same Phillips Gas Station/Restaurant/Grocery Store) for gas and ice cream cones.  I got some (intentionally) watered down Pepsi.  There was a big Harley parked outside, which attracted Al and I.  The two riders were a large, fairly menacing looking guy and his wife (?); they seemed affable enough (even though he had a large semi-automatic pistol strapped to his thigh).  We pulled out after about 30 minutes, and headed south to Rock Springs, listening to a great classic rock radio station all the way.  We got into a discussion on the best songs we had ever heard in concert; my votes went to the Eagles’ "Journey of the Sorcerer" and Linda Ronstadt’s "Cost of Love;" both of which were light-years better in concert vs. their studio versions.  Of note, the local paper (that Hugh had picked up at the store) had coverage on the Jackson Hole forest fires and also a story about some Utah Boy Scouts destroying a set of 200 million year old dinosaur tracks in a National Park in northern Utah.  Collective opinion in the van:  "Complete Assholes."

In Rock Springs, we settled in at the Rock Springs KOA, right next to a huge Conoco tank farm - but fortunately there was little odor.  We leaned our packs up against the high fence bordering the site (set up to block the wind, which was pretty strong at this point).  Rain showers were passing by to the south, missing us for now, but we held off on setting up the tents "just in case."  Sorted gear and laundry, then hit the showers and/or pool.  Felt wonderful indeed - swimming in clear, icy cold mountain lakes has its own rewards, but a hot shower was just what the doctor ordered, at least today.  Ted and Mike headed off to a local laundromat and to buy groceries, returning with 15 copies of the newspaper that included Holly Jackman’s article about us; not a perfectly accurate writeup, but not bad.  The picture turned out pretty good, too.  Well there’s our Andy Warhol 15 minutes of fame, at least in southwestern Wyoming.

We left at 3:30 for the Golden Corral for an early dinner.  Another super buffet, getting crowded quickly, and the 2 waitresses were overwhelmed (but cute!)  The Scouts overdid it of course, but the adults were a bit more cautious.  We left around 5:00 and returned to the KOA, where we set up our tents and loaded them down with the Totelockers and our gear to prevent them from blowing away in the wind.  Then off to the Red Desert Rodeo at 5:40, arriving at around 6:00 to a surprisingly small open air stadium (basically one big grandstand, maybe 3,000 total capacity.  Traffic control by the Sweetwater County Sheriff's Department.  To our surprise, Holly and Jace Jackman were helping run the local popcorn and cotton candy concession for the "Sashay Pardners" - a local square dancing or line dancing club.  Holly offered to let the Scouts try their hand at making popcorn and cotton candy later (to which they laughingly agreed).  We headed in to grab some choice seats, passing about a dozen craft booths (frankly, I expected more commercialism, and it was good to see that the focus here was the rodeo - not just selling stuff to rubes like me.  An event like this back in Middleburg or Warrenton would have had hundreds of booths selling everything under the sun).  Thomas got a sterling silver ring, and Charles got a knife (I warned him to keep it out of his carry-on when we took the plane home); I think that was pretty much it.  Most everyone also got some snacks, even though we had finished a huge meal just 2 hours before (13th point of the Scout Law:  "A Scout is Hungry").

Inside, we grabbed seats at the 50 yard line, about 10 rows up.  Windy, but the lowering sun kept us more than warm (for now).  Talking with some of our neighbors, we learned that many of the riders in tonight’s rodeo had performed at the Cheyenne Rodeo earlier during the week.  Apparently the Cheyenne Rodeo is one of the top shows of the season, and attracts most of the best riders in the West, and that boded well for tonight’s show.  The "Pre-Show" started at 6:45, with various horse tricks by young, gaudily costumed "Cossack" cowboys:  Getting on and off a galloping horse, "triples" (3 guys on 2 horses), "towers" (pyramids of guys on multiple horses).  These were the "Westernaires" from Colorado:  A youth group dedicated to the teaching and practice of high-level horsemanship.  This was just one of their 3 or 4 traveling squads; they were very good!  This was followed by a bullwhip "drill team" doing coordinated whip-cracking.  Next up was a "cowboys and indians" battle, with plenty of riding and rifle fire.

When the pre-show finished up, we ran down during the intermission to "help" Holly with making cotton candy and Jace with making popcorn; a lot of fun, although most of the guys ended up with sticky hands (but also free cotton candy and/or popcorn).  Back in the stands in time to see the presentation of the colors (dedicated to all the veterans in the audience).  The rodeo started with four guys riding broncos bareback - or rather trying to ride broncos bareback.  Incredible effort to stay on - and I can't see how the riders don't break their backs from the incredibly violent and repetitive whiplash from the horses bucking.  Falling off is equally dangerous and one guy just missed getting kicked in the head as he was thrown off.  After various advertisements (on flags carried by horsemen), a pickup truck with organizers representing all the volunteer organizations involved in the show drove through, to heavy applause; the group included the lady who gave us our free tickets.  We also got an amusing lecture on how rodeos were not harmful to the animals involved - apparently in response to a 14 year old, female PETA activist who had been distributing anti-rodeo literature at a previous rodeo.

Next was "team" calf roping with two horsemen - one ropes the horns to stop the calf, while the second ropes off both back legs.  The second group succeeded perfectly, then sixth group too.  Seven groups altogether, so this wasn’t a trivial exercise.  Next was a wild horse race event, with five 3-man teams:  Capture a bronco, saddle, ride, dismount, and return the saddle to a central point.  Even more dangerous and two of the riders were hurt; the first guy allegedly popped some tendons in his shoulder, while the second guy injured a knee pretty badly.  They were about to stop the show because there was only one ambulance (and you had to have one on-site at all times), but the first 2 guys held their ambulance at the gate until another one showed up, so the show went on.  "Hard Core."

The next event was steer wrestling:  Chase down a (small) running steer, jump from the horse to the steer and wrestle him (by his horns) to the ground.  The third guy was great (4.9 seconds), the sixth guy was also very good (5.4 seconds), but the ninth guy took the prize at 4.1 seconds (unbelievable).  Ten guys total participated.  Next was another intermission, featuring a comedy act with vintage police car, with a cowboy clown and police officer holding a running discussion with the rodeo moderator.  Then an Indian and a construction worker got into the act, leading to a rousing rendition of the Village People's "YMCA."  Done in a quick enough sequence that it took you by surprise; most of the crowd (including us) got involved in the Y-M-C-A singing and pantomime.  Then back to the action.

Next up was "Saddle Bronc Riding."  Really tough bucking bronc riding, the most dangerous event yet.  This was more the classic rodeo event, with the rider and horse coming out of a gated enclosure, and points awarded on style and length of ride.  15 riders in all.  One guy didn’t even make it out of the gate, his horse was so violent.  The scoring seemed very capricious, and the crowd booed some unpopular scores.  Next up was the calf run - which to me seemed the most harebrained stunt of the night.  All kids under 10 years of age (maybe 150 of them, including our buddy Jace) were brought out into the arena, then a herd of 5 or 6 calves (each with a ribbon attached that was worth up to $100) were let loose.  Idea was for the kids to chase the calves and grab a ribbon.  They did have a couple of big wranglers out there to "make sure" things didn't go (too far) wrong, but my heart was in my throat the whole time watching this herd of fairly large animals go tearing around through a bunch of little kids!  Well no one got killed or injured, and the kids all seemed to have a good time, so what do I know?  Once that event was cleared away (and my anxiety level came back down), they moved on to single man calf roping:  A calf it turned loose out of a gate, and simultaneously a single rider is turned loose about 20 feet to one side; the rider has to chase down and rope the calf, bring it to a halt, dismount (the horse keeps pressure on the rope), drop the calf, and tie off the back legs.  The horse then releases the tension on the rope, and calf is given 6 seconds to see if he can get free (if he does, it’s an automatic disqualification).  Requires extraordinary teamwork and skill by both the rider and his horse - all the more so because the calves know what’s up, and take off like they’ve been shot out of a cannon when the gate opens.  There were about a dozen guys competing in this one.  I didn’t keep track of the times, but the guys who succeeded were amazingly fast.  But on the fastest time of the night, the calf worked free after about 4 seconds (to much groaning from the crowd).  In addition, the world champion (who went last, to much hype) was unable to catch his calf at all it ran so fast.  Still and all, a very entertaining event (and no-one got killed!)

Next, a cowboy clown did "Swing Daddy" (basically a Michael Jackson imitation).  After a prize drawing for a $500 silver belt buckle (no luck for us), they held a timed "barrel race" with 7 female wranglers:  Each had to complete a mini-course, circling 3 barrels, then racing for a finish line.  Again, superb horsemanship skills, and the crowd really got into it.  The last event of the night was classic rodeo bull riding, and this may have been the most heart-stopping of all, extraordinarily dangerous, not only in the vicious whiplashing, violent falls, and possibilities for getting kicked by a 1 ton animal, but in a few cases the bulls actually made half an effort to gore the fallen riders before being warded off by the standby riders and runners.  14 riders competed, and my hat was off to every one of them.  A few were dumped almost immediately, but a few more managed to stay on all the way til the horn blew (10 seconds?)  The scoring seemed a little more consistent on this versus the bronco riding earlier in the night, but there were still some unhappy campers in the crowd on a few of the scores.

Finally, they ended the evening with one last saddle bronc ride, making up for an earlier washout; as I mentioned above, this wrangler had drawn a horse that was so mean it literally threw him out of the holding pen - twice! - before they could even open the gate.  Well, he insisted on trying again, and once again the bronco threw him off inside the pen.  But he got right back on again and they finally got him his ride.  He did pretty well, but (unfortunately) still finished out of the money.  If I was him, though, I think I’d get the name of that horse and forward it to the Purina Dog-Chow Company!  With that concluded, they announced the various winners and we exited the stands about 9:55.  After a lengthy goodbye to Holly and Jace, we spent about 15 minutes in the parking lot waiting for the crowd to clear.  Matt managed to get a conversation going with a couple of young ladies in the next car over, and they actually came over into the van to visit for awhile (where, amazingly, they did not pass out from the suddenly intense concentration of pheromones within the vehicle).  Matt’s prize was a photo with an attractive young lady on each arm.

After a slow drive out of the lot, we headed back to the KOA, where two other Scout groups had set up since our departure earlier that afternoon.  Both groups had already crashed for the night, so we took some pains to keep it quiet, and everyone racked out between 11:00 and 11:15.  The highway noise kept me awake for awhile, but it wasn’t too bad - still reasonably warm, too.  Still later (well after midnight), another Scout group came in and set up next to us; fortunately, they also did their best to keep it quiet.