Woke at 7:00, but laid there til 7:30, then got up and neatened the tent.  Did the bathroom thing  til 7:50, then visited the lodge (3 - 4 Scouts still in bed).  Breakfast at 8:00 - pancakes, bacon, peaches, and donuts.  Lindsey came over to see how we were doing; indicated that nearly all the staff would be in town tonight, and we were free to go into town ourselves if we liked - Ted suggested we hit the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum in Jackson.  At 8:30, we attended the Leaders’ Meeting.  The remaining camp staff would be showing a movie at 7:00 for all hands still in camp (ironically, it was "Return of the Titans," the movie about T.C. Williams High School’s first integrated football team - so come all the way to Wyoming to see a movie about a school that’s all of 10 miles from where you live!)  They also pushed the Venturing program.  Finally, they made a plea for adherence to the 10:00 pm curfew; apparently, some of the more hoity-toity local residents are trying to close the base down on any and every pretense, and the camp was definitely not quiet after 10:00 last night (so it could get really wild tonight with no staff around).
 
We have pistol shooting and canoeing this morning, and mountain biking and (again) canoeing this afternoon.  Interestingly, we were the only Troop in camp that allowed our Scouts to split up for different activities - every other Troop did all their activities together.  I went back to the tent to get my daypack together, then headed over for the pistol shooting orientation at 9:00, again with Dave (surprisingly, I had to remind him to check the status of his demo pistol as he started his lecture.)  We left at 9:40 for the Jackson Hole Rod and Gun Club, arriving at 10:00 after an "adventurous" bus ride! (Dave was the driver too, and I laughingly asked him if he’d be selling peanuts at the range between relays).

We had the place all to ourselves (as you’d expect on a Tuesday morning).  Got right to it - first, paper targets on little portable stands at 12.5 yards.  Annie Oakley we ain’t.  After the first relays, we were allowed our choices of targets at whatever distance we liked (there were markers at 12.5, 25, 50, 75 and 100 yards):  paper targets, bowling pins, or little metal silhouettes of various big game animals (bighorn sheep, bears, chickens, etc.  Chickens?)  18 of us shot 1500 rounds in 1 1/2 hours.  My partner was Neil; the other pairs were Ted and Todd, Hugh and Thomas, and Matt and Mike.  Lot of fun.  After the first relay, almost everyone went after the bowling pins and silhouettes, but I shot paper targets on all but my last relay, when I went after the bowling pins at 75 yards.  Got 3 on 6 shots, not bad for a shot-out, single action, Ruger revolver.  Once all the ammo was gone, we cleaned up the brass, and returned the stands and targets.  Back on the bus and back to camp by 12:20, where we spent about half an hour cleaning all the guns.  An osprey flew over during the cleaning session.  Once their cleaning sessions were done, our guys played frisbee with Lindsey.  Windy, but almost cloudless skies, warm in the sun but cool in the shade.  Sam, Charles, Luke, Al, and Mark returned from their Snake River Canoe trip (which the rest of us would be doing in the afternoon).

This brought us up to lunch - ham/turkey sandwiches again, plus soup.  We again discussed going to Jackson Hole tonight, and checking out the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum and whatever else the town had to offer; some of the guys were thinking about buying cowboy hats and T-shirts.  At 1:35, everyone headed back and got ready for either whitewater canoeing or mountain biking (I had the canoeing for this session).  At 2:00, we reassembled at the aquatics warehouse, and everyone selected PFD’s and paddles.  Ted had to send Todd back to get our canoeing group medical forms.  We had three canoeing groups, with 10, 8, and 10 canoeists, respectively.  We were the third group, with 4 Scouts from another Troop (missed which one).  Our guides were George-Anne and Mark; George-Anne was the lead, Mark was the trailer.  Our canoeing pairs were Hugh and Thomas, Luke and Todd, and Ted and I.

Surprisingly, the start point was just below the warehouse, with a short but steep trail down to the river (surprising because the first set of rapids was all of 50 yards downstream, and wasn’t trivial).  As with the whitewater rafting the previous day, we got going with minimal training or fanfare, and a number of the boats had immediate problems.  Ted and I did not do well together, and we shipped a lot of water over the bow and gunwales and nearly capsized as well.  [We found out later that Al and Mark had capsized at this very spot during the morning run, so it must have been an "Adult" thing.]  After beaching and draining the boat, we did it again 5 minutes later, at which point we were well behind the rest of the group.  They waited for us, however, and we caught up in a few minutes (at which point, I requisitioned the bailer from Mark).  Things improved from that point, and we were able to enjoy the river a little more.  Saw an osprey carrying a large fish, 2 ducks, various fishermen, and riverside campers.  One of our compatriot Troops’ canoes capsized, but no harm done.  We also enjoyed some water fights.  Then everyone reassembled on a beach just before the primary rapids on the trip (about Class II), for a brief lecture from George-Anne on how to approach it - we all hit pretty well and no one swamped or capsized.  The remaining rapids were all pretty easy.  The entire float took place under bright skies but with stretches of pretty heavy wind.

We finally took out where we put in the rafts yesterday for rafts - lots of people coming and going.  But the camp only had 1 van and canoe rack waiting for us (enough for Group I only), so the rest of us had to wait.  George-Anne passed the time with a complex game of "Simon Says" (she’s very good!)  Thomas was last survivor out of about 14 people - he lasted 7 minutes (George-Anne had bet no one could last more than 10 minutes, and she obviously knew what she was talking about).  I stretched out on the ground, flexed my knees (pretty sore), and tried to nap.  Our bus and canoe rack came about 20 minutes later.  We quickly loaded up, but there were still 3 canoes left, so some of the staff had to stay behind to watch them.  Reasonably fast trip back to camp, but it was already nearly 6:00 pm when we arrived - 30 minutes late for dinner.  [Luke, Charles, Sam, Al, and Mark were already back from their mountain biking hike - a fairly tame ride down some Forest Service roads, well away from the burned areas.]  Fortunately, the Dining Hall had stayed open for us, waiting, just like they did last night for the Jenny Lake hiking crew.  We went in without changing - steak, mashed potatoes, corn, roll and salad.  Very good, even if "rushed" and not quite hot anymore.  I let them know they still had some staffers awaiting pickup yet (I think they set some stuff aside for  them).

After a quick change at tents, everyone headed up to the to the vans.  I stopped by the showerhouse and fortuitously interrupted a minor confrontation between Matt and a half-dozen Scouts from one of the rowdier Troops; fortunately nothing more than words.  Off to Jackson Hole at 6:50.  Driving to town, we soon got a distant overview of the burned off areas from the previous week’s enormous forest fire.  There were still thin plumes of smoke here and there on the hillsides, and helicopters with suspended water tanks were flying to these hot spots.  Coming into town, there were numerous signs thanking the firefighters for their efforts in saving the town.  We arrived at the town center at 7:15, where there was a mock gunfight (tourist entertainment) going on in the street.  Last time I was here was about 1980 with Steve Mawn (a Georgetown buddy who crossed the country with me that year).  The place had grown "just a tad" over the past 20 years.

We parked in a municipal lot close to the main town square, walked back to the Ripley’s BION Museum.  Thomas and Hugh headed to a local fly-fishing shop, while Al and Mark wandered the town.  Most of the Scouts, plus Ted and I, went ahead and took the BION tour - simultaneously intriguing and completely weird.  Probably the most interesting thing (for me) was a documentary style film covering Ripley’s life, which included many "shorts" of the places he’d visited and ceremonies he’d witnessed.  The man had explored (if that’s the word) nearly 200 countries during his life.  We took an hour on our walk-through, but you could spend two or three times that long if you really wanted to check everything out.  Once we exited, we headed down to the drugstore for a shake (per Al’s hearty recommendation).  Ran into Al and Mike outside, so we all headed in together.  Pretty crowded (including about half a dozen other Scouts from the THAB); took about 20 minutes to get served.  We chatted with other Scouts while we were waiting (mainly, they were trying to mooch some money from each other, then from me, to buy more junk food).  Mark was "caught" by Neil exiting the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, where he’d been looking for Al, and was berated by his son that "he shouldn’t be going into bars on a Scout trip!"
 
We reassembled back at the vans at 9:00, leaving at 9:10 back to camp.  I managed to miss the entrance, so had to U-turn on Rt. 89.  We held a quick Crew meeting - Ted discussed the next day’s schedule, and I reminded everyone to be cool if any additional Matt-like confrontations with the resident Scouts (i.e., walk away, report them to us to handle, we’re the outsiders here).  Gave Al the key to the passenger van so he and Hugh could go fishing near Jackson Hole the next day.  I headed up to the office to discuss with Dan (the night staff monitor) our semi-confrontation, just so we were on the record.  Back to the lodge, then my tent.  Wrote diary til 10:45.  Nice night, 7/8 moon, but cooler than last night.