Woke around 5:30 as Hugh got up.  A cold morning - back down in the lower 30’s or upper 20’s again, with very little wind.  Otherwise "It’s Perfect Again."  Hugh and Al left around 6:00 to fish at Flat Creek in the National Elk Refuge; apparently, the season opens today - good timing (and Good Luck!)  Cat-napped til 7:25, then got up and hit the bathroom.  The guys in the lodge roused at 7:45.  Breakfast was biscuits and gravy, bacon and peaches, and the usual array of cereals.  I passed on the biscuits and gravy, and got raisin bran with honey on top.  Got some strange looks from other Scouts when I added cold water instead of milk (I rarely drink milk).  Back at the tent, completed my pack-up except for my still wet stuff from yesterday (still hanging on the lodge clothes line).  Then we all assembled at the Welcome Center for the COPE course.  We were paired with Varsity Crew 6905 out of Salt Lake City; they had a few more guys than us.  A second group was made up from 3 or 4 different Troops.  High Ropes Course for us this morning, then Low Ropes Course in the afternoon (the second group was reversed).

Our guides were Lindsey and a guy (missed his name, maybe Eric?).  We headed up to an open-sided field-tent near the top of the course (basically Cope Central), where we got climbing harnesses and helmets, then headed down to the High Ropes course.  After some basic indoctrination, I volunteered to be the primary belayer on the first climb: The Giant’s Ladder, made up of 7 - 8 inch diameter logs connected by 1/2 inch braided steel cables; the gaps between the logs was about 5 feet, so not a trivial climb.  Lindsey laid the challenge down that anyone who could make it up the ladder without touching the cables would get a kiss from her at the top (where she was the safety monitor).  The rest of the cable course ran about 30 feet off the ground, stretched in sections between sturdy telephone poles.  Each section had a separate belayer.  After the climb up, the first horizontal section was 2 parallel cables, one about 5 feet higher than the second (you walked across on the lower one while holding onto the upper one to stabilize yourself).  The next section was three cables, with the lower two forming a vertical "X;" to make it even more difficult, all three were loose.  Basically you had to make a feet-switch from one cable to the next halfway across, with all three cables swinging around with your every move.  After that was a telephone pole stretched horizontally between the two vertical connecting poles; in this case, the safety cable was well above your head, so you had to do a high wire balancing act to walk across.  The fourth section was 2 parallel cables again, semi-loose, but in this case you were supposed to do a "Commando Crawl" - an entwined hand and leg suspension from the upper cable only (that is, not walk on the lower cable).  If you survived all this, there was a ladder down made up of short sections of vertical 4x4's connected with short sections of chain, each with small U-shaped angle irons sticking out for steps, quite difficult.  Once on the ground, you walked over to another ladder up to the zip-line tower - this one was a  emergency fire escape ladder (which are a heck of a lot harder to climb than descend!).  You climbed  up 30 feet to a first platform, then crossed a small "air gap"over to an even higher platform where the zip-line started.  Here you double tied into the harness, and (after working up your nerve) headed down a 500 feet zip-wire .  Just to keep things extra exciting, several of the guys at the bottom of the run would throw water up into the air for the zip-line guys to run into (gee, Thanks!)
 
Charles was the first to start, then we alternated Scouts between 6905 and 111.  Our sequence ended up being Charles, Neil, Todd, Sam, Thomas, Luke, then (after finishing the remaining 6905 Scouts, Ted and myself.  Mark and Mike stayed on the ground watching and handling photo duties.  Todd was the only 111 guy to earn a (reluctant) kiss from Lindsey.  The guys (and Ted) all handled it pretty routinely, but for me personally, it took all I had left, plus once again I was scared to death most of the way.  The toughest by far was the fire escape ladder climb; it almost defeated me.  One of the counselors suggested that I put my feet into the rungs from the opposite (back) side of the ladder - a lot easier, but still very tough.  I also managed to somehow wrap the belaying cable around the ladder (and itself), so had to spend some extra time at the top getting things untangled.  Also took a minute to work up my nerve to do the wire - it didn’t look so bad from down on the ground, but up top it was plenty intimidating.  Down I went at last, getting a full broadside of water at the bottom, including a garden hose from Neil.  Someone hit me with one of the plastic buckets too, which stung a little.  Neil kept up with the garden hose when I swung back, too, so I ended up with about half a shower before I got him to stop.  Luke and Matt set up the step-ladder at the bottom to get me off the wire.  A good time was had by (almost!) all, and we dumped our helmets and harnesses and headed off to lunch.  Ham and cheese sandwiches today.

While at lunch, Lindsey told us that our afternoon session was moved up to 1:30, so we left the Dining Hall at 1:10.  Did a quick packup of the tent and remaining gear, and dropped everything in the cargo van so we could leave right after dinner.  Most of Crew 6905 wasn’t present at 1:30, so the guys tossed a football and a frisbee for a few minutes.  Ted and Mike headed off to Jackson Hole to buy food.  We finally got going around 1:50, even though some of the 6905 guys still weren’t present yet.  Lindsey was our primary guide with another staffer (Adam) as her assistant.  We had 3 "ice-breaking" games to start: "Ball Toss," "Amoeba Tag," and a 2 leg/2 hand/3 man race.  Several of the 6905 guys were very unhappy to participate, but they eventually relented.  Todd, Luke and I easily won the 3 man race.  Luke was last man standing on the Amoeba Tag (I was second to last - not bad for an old coot! - and one of the 6905 guys was next to last).  Everyone grabbed some water (and we all needed it, too!), then we did some more standard COPE course team-building activities: "Over the Wall," "Spider Web Escape," "Over the Log," "Trust-Fall," "Log Assembly," and "Tire-Swing."  Most of a Projectoree in just an afternoon!  Good time, even if a bit hot and dusty (and despite 6905's lack of enthusiasm).

We all grabbed quick showers, then hit dinner at 5:15 - very early because most Troops were leaving immediately (or had already left - the Dining Hall was more than half empty).  Spaghetti and meat sauce, corn, and salad (and lots to drink). We were out the door at 5:30.  I took a couple of extra minutes to give our thanks to the Kitchen Staff and the 10 remaining Staff Members eating behind the Dining Hall (as best as I could tell, I was the only Leader who did so; pretty sad).  Up to the vans for our final packing, organized by Mark and Mike.  A few new Troops were arriving as were getting ready to leave, so the parking lot and especially the office were both a bit chaotic (I guess these new Troops were the early arrivers for tomorrow morning).  Al and Hugh showed at 5:45, after Hugh’s (unsuccessful) effort to give away a large trout he had caught that afternoon (the fish had hooked itself too deep to release).  Mark and Mike headed off with the cargo van (to set up our next campsite while the rest of us stopped one last time in Jackson Hole).  Said our final goodbye’s to Lindsey, and took off (me driving).  

We ended up spending just 20 minutes in town looking for T-Shirts (at the same place the guys had found last night).  I passed, and continued writing diary sitting in the van.  Al bought me a "Jackson Hole" T-Shirt.  Got misdirected coming out of town - easily corrected, and we headed down towards Moose Junction (a small commercial village/road junction at the base of the Tetons) to pick up our climbing shoes at "Moosely Seconds Mountaineering."  This was a high end camping and climbing gear store - and there was lots of neat stuff for the guys to check out.  Took about 45 minutes, and we headed back to the Gros Ventre Campground.  Took awhile to meander our way through the campsites to find the youth camping area - where Mark and Mike had already set up all the tents.  It was 8:30 as we finished unpacking and setting up, with the sun setting over the Tetons - beautiful.  There were several other groups camped nearby, including a coed Venturing Crew, a group of young Scouts, and a Senior level Girl Scout Troop.  Mark and Mike relayed some stern bear warnings from the Rangers - apparently local Scout Troops were notorious for ignoring bear safety (!!!), and a Troop had received the maximum fine ($500) the previous weekend for leaving all their food out on the picnic tables overnight.  [Well that’s just fine with me!]  Ted ran through the list of stuff needed for tomorrow’s rock climbing session, and we semi-packed our daypacks.  I am still weary, and crashed around 8:45 - but everyone else stayed up til past 9:00.  Clear skies, little breeze - I suspect it will be cold again tonight.  A very full day!  [After things settled down, Mark walked up to the campground amphitheater to catch the last part of the campfire-illuminated ranger lecture on the geologic forces that shaped the Tetons, which towered in the twilit background.]