Up at 5:40, after a pretty decent night’s sleep.  49 degrees, "It’s Perfect Again."  Headed over to the showerhouse to get cleaned up, then woke everyone around 6:15.  Ted said that the Teton High Adventure Base (THAB) did not have a uniform policy, so I cut the guys a break and let them wear regular clothes (but I wore my uniform anyway, just on general principles).  Packed up the rest of my gear, but held off on the tent, since Al was still at the showerhouse.  Went ahead and started in on re-packing the vans while waiting.  The older gentleman running the campground asked if we had heard a ruckus during the night - evidently some young guys had been roaming around the campground and he had called the local sheriff.  He had chased the guys toward our end of the campground and thought it might have been our Scouts.  But then he looked in our tents, though, and saw that everyone was asleep, so he shifted his suspicions to a group of young Germans tenting near us.  Well, at least the sheriff didn’t roust us out of bed!  

Everyone finished up with their backpacks and duffel-bags by 6:55, and we were ready to roll.  After a quick camp sweep, we left at 7:00 for the "Ranch Hand Trucker’s Stop," apparently world famous as the Number One Trucker’s Stop in all of America (which is really saying something!)  Gassed up and cleaned the windshields before heading in.  Todd enjoyed using the trucker’s window washers (which have about a 10 feet long handle on them).  There was a large store in front of the restaurant, which attracted plenty of interest from the Scouts (I resisted all temptations).  In the restaurant, "Jackie" placed us all in a side section, and gave a general warning about the size of the platters (which are enormous).  Despite this, however, the guys ordered "as usual," and were soon astonished at the food - single pancakes that were 15 inches in diameter and an inch thick, cinnamon rolls that were 10 inches across and 3 inches thick, covered in butter and icing, etc.  We were all absolutely stuffed to the gills, and everyone agreed the place certainly lived up to its reputation.  After another 20 minutes wandering around the store, we hit the road for THAB at 8:45.

An hour later, we stopped in Afton ("Home of the World’s Largest Elkhorn Arch") for 30 minutes in the Swiftcreek Trading Company (Western Wear).  We bought a few items (not much), the most notable of which was Neil’s white cowboy hat - which immediately became a fixture for the rest of the trip.  At 10:15, we got back in the vans and headed directly to THAB, driving up the Snake River Grand Canyon.  Mike drove the passenger van on this stretch.  Nice views, still cloudless and getting hot.  Our first view of the camp were the staff tents, off to the right of the highway, then some cabins and a larger block of tents behind the cabins.  The camp sits between the highway and the river, and (for a BaseCamp) is surprisingly small.  Very picturesque setting, though. We pulled in at 11:25; the parking lot was already crowded.  

Everyone exited to stretch their legs, while Ted, Charles and I went in to register.  Our camp guide (Lindsey, a very gregarious and enthusiastic young lady) took Charles and the rest of the group on a quick camp tour, while Ted and I handled the paperwork.  We got a break on Carl, forfeiting only the $50 deposit - but most of the savings were immediately devoured by switching additional Scouts to the whitewater rafting trip (which cost more).  We were also informed of various schedule changes; nothing critical - basically, they flipped Days 2 and 3 on us.  As it turned out, we were the only out-of-Council Troop in camp for our half-week - in fact, I think we were the only non-LDS, non-Utah Troop in camp.  Of note, we were also the only group in camp with Scout uniforms; I found out later that most of the Scouts in camp didn’t even own uniforms, and even some of the staff weren’t fully uniformed!

Done at 12:00, and we headed over to our cabin (half of Elk Lodge) - very tight bunk-bed quarters with a single 60 watt light bulb (think Stalag 17 without the barbed wire, searchlights, or armed guards).  The other half of the cabin (a separate room) went to a Troop 1490 from somewhere around Salt Lake City (I think).  After looking it over, Mark, Mike, Hugh, and I decided to sleep in our tents outside (certainly more room, and a lot quieter).  Ted and Al volunteered to be the designated martyrs and chaperone the lodge.  We all transferred gear from the van to lodge til about 12:25, then immediately headed over to the Dining Hall for our whitewater rafting orientation (30 minutes long, with a staffer "Dave" (who was also the Assistant Camp Director)).  Once that was finished, we all exited and got right back in line for lunch (around 12:40).  Turkey/cheese and/or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and bug juice - a little thin, but after this morning’s mammoth breakfast, not a problem!

After lunch, we did a quick group change into swimwear, except Hugh and Thomas, who had opted for the Jenny Lake Hike; they left around 1:45.  About 6 guys got wetsuits - the water is supposed to be around 52-55 degrees (I passed).  Sunscreen all around, and we headed over to the warehouse around 2:15 for paddles and jackets.  Everyone (roughly 45 of us) loaded up on a schoolbus, and we headed downstream around 2:30.  Talked with some of the other adults and Scouts about Scouting in Virginia and our trek up to this point; they were pretty impressed with our itinerary.  We arrived at the launch point at 2:45.  Our guide was Ami; we had our 11 guys, plus 5 more from another Troop, plus Ami - a very full raft!  To my surprise, we launched almost immediately - no on-shore counseling or training - just get right to it.  I had to hustle to get my camera up back up into the bus (it wasn’t waterproof, and the camp trading post hadn’t had any wet cameras left.)

We were the first of 3 rafts.  A 1 1/2 hour long float.  We started off with some paddling training, then headed into a series of fairly tame Class II rapids.  After that, we had a quiet stretch with multiple raft versus raft waterfights (which I really enjoyed, as always), then we headed through the only Class III rapid on the float (the " Big Kahuna"), then another quiet stretch with some minor splash-fights with 2 rafts from another, unrelated group (missed the name).  Matt, Neil, Sam, Todd went swimming briefly after Big Kahuna, then we ended with two more Class II rapids.  Fun, but not exactly the Arkansas or Lower Youghiogheny.  Most of the time I sat on the front center seat and bailed after each rapid, tossing past Neil or Matt to either side (oddly, the rafts were not self-bailing).  5 minute walk up to the buses, where we enjoyed tossing each successive raft higher and higher up onto the trailer.  A surprisingly long drive back to camp; Mike and Ted engaged other leaders from the Great Salt Lake Council talking about other local high adventure opportunities.  Again, all were impressed with our "extreme" itinerary, and also indicated they rarely see East Coast Troops in this area.

We finally pulled into camp at 5:10, with smoke pouring from the backside of the Dining Hall (where they were grilling dinner).  After we turned in our wetsuits, lifejackets, and paddles, we headed back up to the hut and changed into dry clothes.  Al left to go fishing on a small feeder creek (to the Snake River) just north of camp (passing on dinner).  At the office, I asked Dave about borrowing someone’s guitar; he suggested a staffer named John.  Dinner was at 6:00 (burgers and salad); I was the only person present (Scouter or Scout) in full uniform, although some of the staff (eating separately behind the Dining Hall) were at least wearing their green Venturing shirts.  Stopped outside briefly - Lindsey linked me up with John to borrow his guitar - he had injured his finger working on a truck, so couldn’t play.  After we were finished eating, Lindsey set us up in groups to do our service project - cleaning the grounds between the Welcome Center and the aquatics warehouse.  We got a fair number of small items (as we dodged around the lawn sprinklers), but the staff had done a pretty good job the previous morning before everyone arrived, so not much around (yet).  We’ll see how it is tomorrow.

Back at the lodge, the guys took the adults’ tents and set them up (Thanks!)  [Photo: Scouts on climbing wall at camp]  I hooked up with John and got his guitar - a small "Seagull" in a nice hard case.  I headed over to the Welcome Center and played for about an hour and a half, a few Scouts (mostly 111 guys) stuck around to listen.  Matt got me some lemonade from the Trading Post.  Todd had the only request: "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," which I played first; after that I went free form.  Hugh and Thomas (and the rest of the Jenny Lake Crew) came in late from their hike; fortunately, the kitchen had stayed open waiting for them, and everyone on the hike got dinner.  They had seen a bear during the hike, which was pretty cool.  Most guys played volleyball for an hour and a half , while a few instead went up to the showerhouse to try out the mega-sized hot-tub.  After dinner, Hugh and Thomas tossed a frisbee around instead.  I returned the guitar to John’s tentmate at 8:30 and shot baskets for about 30 minutes (haven’t forgotten how yet), then sat and watched Todd and Luke play Matt and Sam in a short  game (til dark); we’ll call it a tie.  Back to the lodge, picked up my set-out clothes (now dry), hung up my still wet sneakers on the lodge clothes line, and set out my gear in my tent.  Inside the lodge, I briefly counseled the guys to keep their stuff organized, watch the language, and keep the noise down after 10:00.  Oddly, some Units had prayer services going on, while other Units were being quite noisy and disruptive - quite a contrast!  I headed back to the tent to work on my diary.  Hugh showed up around 10:15.  I wrote til 10:40 and crashed.