Up at 4:50 am - although I actually did get some sleep (surprise, surprise!), I gave up with the dueling train whistles at 4:45 (kind of like Uncle Fester playing with his Lionel set in the old Adams Family TV serial).  Beautiful, clear night, 57º.  Did the bathroom thing at the pool bathroom (per Mark’s suggestion), with Mike also in residence.  Back to the tent for a quick packup, leaving out my jacket, gloves, canteen, daypack, and headband.  Woke everyone else at 5:28, with the eastern mountains outlined with dawn - a beautiful sight.  Finished my personal packing, and Mark and I packed up the tent.  Moved the footlockers out to store the tents, and began announcing "We are leaving in..." times in 5 minute increments as usual.  A pretty fast breakdown, especially for our first day; it always helps to have a mostly experienced Crew that values speed on the trivialities.  Rick backed the cargo van right up to the site, and we loaded everything in short order.  Once we were finished, I directed all remaining bathroom breaks to the pool bathroom.  We moved all the picnic tables back, then did a very tight police search looking for Neil’s cross on a black string, lost the previous night.  Sharp-eyed Sam found it about 5 minutes later, under one of the picnic tables.  Filled canteens and hit the road at 6:12 - 3 minutes early, very good for the first day.

Off to Timpanogos Cave (in the mountains south and east of SLC), passing Utah Lake on the way.  Mark played "Best of Queen" on the CD player to give the Scouts some classic rock musical enjoyment (my guess is the adults enjoyed it more than the Scouts).  Our Golden Eagle Passes got us free admission into the American Fork Canyon National Park.  Steep uphill to the Swinging Bridge picnic area, arriving around 7:00 am.  After giving some breakfasting directions, Ted headed off to the cave to arrange tickets.  Surprisingly cold and windy in the picnic area!  We crossed the canyon creek on a solid wooden bridge - no swinging bridge here, despite the name.  Breakfast featured cinnamon buns and chocolate glazed donuts, plus gorp and Cliff bars for snacks later.
 
Ted got back about midway through, with tickets arranged.  We were done with breakfast in 15 minutes flat - no time or desire to linger!  Only 250 yards further to the Visitor Center; already crowded at 7:20.  A brief stop inside, then off to the cave at 7:30 - 1 mile and a 1,065 foot climb!  The park had a paved trail, but it was still a pretty steep grade, 8-12%, and we’re already at 5,200 feet here, going to nearly 6,300 feet at the cave entrance.  [The cave entrance, a ranger told Ted, is higher than any point east of the Mississippi!]  Carl was coughing pretty good, but was able to keep up OK; other than Chris, no one was exactly burning up the trail anyway.  There were rest-benches at the ¼, ½, and ¾ "way-points," plus a "last chance" bathroom at about the ¾ point (which several of us utilized, having been caving before!)  Super views across and down the valley ( actually a sharp "V" canyon).  Some of the drops alongside the trail were precipitous, with 50 to 200 foot drops; building this must have been a real joy....

Finally arrived at 8:20, and immediately met our guide ("Adon;" green NPS uniform including a campaign hat, warmly dressed).  Because there were 16 of us, we qualified for a private tour.  Timpanogos Cave is actually a 3 cave complex:  Hansen Cave, Middle Cave, and Timpanogos Cave.  All 3 are now joined by man-carved tunnels.  We did Hansen first - this one started with a large room with some minor formations; a shaft led 300 feet to underground pool (but we did not do).  The caves’ largest column, 13 feet high, is found in Hansen.  When originally discovered, tours were given by Hansen for several years, then the cave was abandoned (and was then pretty much ruined by miners over the next few years).  This part of the tour lasted only 10 minutes.  Then on to Middle Cave (the last of the 3 to be discovered); this one was a little more interesting, with better formations.  Middle Cave took about 15 minutes to tour. 

Then we moved on to Timpanogos Cave - by far the largest and best of the 3 caves, with many elaborate formations.  [Photos: 1, 2, 3]  Better than Luray caverns (and much less commercialized, and with much less lighting too).  I took lots of photos in this cave.  It was also the coldest of the 3 caves, at between 42-45 degrees (much colder than caves in the east).  Timpanogos was also very wet, so still a growing cave.  It had some unique, gravity-defying helictite formations that deserve mention.  Helictite is a relatively rare formation that twists and turns unpredictably in all directions.  Usually less than 1/4 inch in diameter and a few inches long, they are as delicate - and fragile - as hand-blown glass.  Helictites are created in a much different way from stalactites or stalagmites.  Like crooked straws, most helictites appear to have a tiny central canal running up and down their length.  Water is apparently pushed and pulled through this canal by capillary action and hydrostatic pressure.  Together these two forces override the usually dominant force of gravity.  Controlled by these forces, water slowly seeps through the canal to the tip of the helictite where it then adds a crystal as the water evaporates.  Some scientists believe that the crystals do not stack neatly, but arrange themselves haphazardly one on top of the other, accounting for the apparently random nature of their growth.  We were treated to forests of these unique formations clinging to the ceilings.  We also were treated to more common stalactites and stalagmites and draperies.  The "Great Heart" of Timpanogos Cave - 5 1/2 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 4,000 pounds - is composed of three or more tremendous stalactites that have grown together.  The best drapery formation was the "Frozen Sunbeam," a thin translucent sheet of orange-colored calcite.  There were also flowstone formations called the "Cascade of Energy" and the "Chocolate Fountain."  Finally, we saw "popcorn" formations where water seeps slowly through walls or ceilings.  Although present in all three caves, these knobby lumps were particularly abundant in Timpanogos.

Done at 9:30, and after giving our thanks to Adon, we headed down an exit trail which rejoined the main trail near the 3/4 mark (several Scouts had to split off here for a rather desperate bathroom break).  Lots of folks were heading up as we were heading down, some with babies (definitely not a good idea!)  Al and Matt debated the merits of skiing down the precipitous slopes in the wintertime (count me out, thanks anyway).  Back at the Visitor Center, we ate a snack brunch in the pavilion; Ted brought patches for everyone even though they were awfully pricey ($3.75 each).  This was one of the very few places where we didn’t get a volume discount.

Back in the vans and off to Park City (north to the SLC beltway, then east on I-80).  Ted spent part of the drive clipping discount coupons from a circulation flyer "This Week in Park City" (these ended up saving us $256!)  We passed Park City Resort (where we could see the Olympic Ski Jump area), and headed up to Deer Valley Resort - lots of building going on, many new houses and condos - obviously in anticipation of the SLC 2002 Olympic Games.  At the resort, everyone went heavy on sunscreen again - because it was blazing again.  I talked Carl into participating (he wanted to sit it out).  There were 2 check-ins, 1 for lift tickets, 1 for bike rentals.  Got everyone outfitted with bikes, and buddied (or tripled) up.  After identifying the camera guys (Mark, Rick, Mike and myself), and giving everyone a final warning not to make a $1,500 error (i.e., don’t hurt yourself to the point where we have to send you home), we let everyone go.

Thomas decided to join Carl and I, and the three of us started off with road work while everyone else headed directly up the lifts.  The lift chairs had hooks on their sides which allowed the attendants to hang the bikes; the bikes were placed on the lift chair(s) in front of or behind the rider(s).  After a minute, we figured out that Carl’s bike needed repairs on its gear shift lever, so we traded it in for another - then did about 20 minutes on the local roads around the resort.  Once everyone was happy with the bikes, we headed over to the "practice loop trails." Carl had some difficult negotiating a sharp downhill turn, so we ran him through the loop 4 times, then tackled another loop that included more uphill.  Then we finally decided to try one downhill run on "Nail Driver" - an "intermediate" slope trail.

At the lift, we heard from Luke, Todd, and Neil that Charles had managed to wipe out at the start of his very first run, and was banged up pretty good; Mike had taken him in the Gear Van to the local clinic to get stitched and bandaged up (it was more than the First Aid Station at the resort could handle).  Let’s hope it wasn’t a "fatal" error; we’ll see.  Long, slow lift up to the top.  Very windy and surprisingly cold; great views.  At the top, we got out of the wind behind a boulder pile, ate some snacks, and looked at the ski map again, since "Nail Driver" was certainly no picnic.  After a minute, it was clear that there were no "bunny," "beginner," or even "intermediate" slopes on the entire mountain, so we decided to take the access road down instead.  Todd, Luke, Neil came off the lift, and I got some nice pictures of everyone present with the valley as an impressive backdrop.  We all started off together on the road, but Luke, Todd, Neil, and Thomas quickly headed off a side trail looking for  "Homeward Bound" - supposedly a nice trail.  [Photos: 1, 2]  Carl and I continued down the road, walking down the steeper sections.)

Unfortunately, the injury count continued to rise.  We ran into Al - he was also nicked up pretty good from a fall, with several cuts on his face (his expensive sunglasses had shattered and given him multiple cuts); he also had other scrapes on his elbows and knees.  Then Thomas hurt a knee, and Sam got various hand and knee/elbow cuts, and Neil scraped his elbow.  This downhill mountain biking thing is obviously trickier and more dangerous than it seems!  Everyone got themselves bandaged up at the First Aid Station.  Mark, Neil, Luke and I went up for one last run down Homeward Bound (which they had discovered on their previous run); lot of fun, but I rode it scared the whole way.  At the bottom (4:00 pm), we made a collective decision to call it a day (before someone got killed!), and turned in our bikes.  We were rejoined by Charles and Mike at the bike hut, with Charles sporting some truly impressive bandages covering the 19 stitches it took to close up his knee and hand wounds.  The knee wound was the more worrisome one, since we would soon be backpacking, but Charles indicated he’d be OK.  In all, he figured it was a $400 mistake (the clinic charge), not a fatal $1500 "go home" error.

Once everyone was reassembled, we headed out to Park City Resort for the Alpine Slide.  [This is a "sluice"-type track that you go down while perched on small, wheeled sleds; hairy but fun.]  After some discussions, we decided on one ride only, since it was already pretty late.  Ten of us went for it:  Todd, Neil, Luke, Chris, Matt, plus Rick, Ted, Hugh, Mark and myself.  The rest headed back out to the local outdoor supply stores to pick up some propane bottles (needed for cooking our next few nights’ dinners).  At the slide (actually 2 slides side-by-side), you got in the lift-line, and headed up on the chairs, with the slides hung on hooks on the following chairs by the attendants.  At the top, two other attendants removed the slides and gave them back to you, at which point you wheeled them over to the sluice runs, about 200 yards over to the left of the lifts.  Once we got in line, I went down about 150 feet below the starting point to grab photos of the guys as they screamed on by.  The slides were very fast - in fact, some nearly left the track if the riders were unbalanced or were not braking.  Neil especially almost lost it, with arms and left flailing, but managed to re-gain control just after nearly launching himself over an edge.  Apparently "crash and burn" disasters are pretty common - in fact, when the nurse at the clinic had first seen Charles, she asked if he had been on the Alpine Slide.

I ended up being the last one down, and took it easy.  Rick took a photo of me at the bottom.  Everyone excited, having enjoyed their ride, and of course they all wanted to do more runs.  Unfortunately, it was already past 6:00 pm at this point, so we had to call it a day.  Off to Hidden Haven campground.  After a 20 minutes check-in, we headed down for the very last campsite, an open, grassy area by a small stream.  It was shielded from the main highway by the upper camping area; the latter was on a berm.  A ridgeline to the immediate north loomed over the site.  Blazing sun still, and we were grateful for 2 shade shelters in the campsite.  After a quick setup, Ted, Chris, and Al headed off to Albertson’s Grocery and Rite Aid (the latter for Al to get some antibiotics for his cuts and to buy a copious supply of bandages for Charles for the next 10 days).  Thomas managed to catch a fish in the stream, while some of the guys headed up for showers.  The mosquitoes were pretty fierce here - not too surprising, given the proximity to the water.

After setting up, I had a long chat with Carl, who had been a reluctant participant the past 2 days, and was clearly still hurting from a serious illness he had been suffering from the week before.  Although he had been taking antibiotics for a week, things hadn’t improved as much as we had hoped, and he was still coughing pretty steadily.  Since we were heading up to the trailhead the next day, this was the last chance for him to withdraw, and he felt that was probably necessary.  After a couple of phonecalls to Fred and Regina C. back in Arlington (who was in turn talking with Carl’s physician), we all agreed that discretion was the better part of valor, barring a sudden recovery overnight.  Ted spent quite a while on Al’s and Mark’s cell phones booking Carl back on a flight back out of Salt Lake City airport the following afternoon; fortunately, there were still 3 seats available on the only reasonable flight.  After much discussion, Southwest cut us a break on the non-refundability of the ticket for a medical necessity (based on a FAX from Carl’s doctor to their SLC Office), which was very nice of them.

Dinner tonight was Chicken Teriyaki, salad, and brownies.  The Chicken Teriyaki turned out to be a bit of an adventure in that we added way too much water.  Well, Ted and I managed to strain most of the excess off using our sump colanders, and it worked out OK.  Cleaned up and re-packed as much of the Crew equipment as possible, and continued on with the showers.  Got nippy pretty quick once the sun went down, with a beautifully clear, starlit sky overhead.  We saw a couple of satellites and one meteor in about 30 minutes of looking.  After grabbing a shower myself, I wrote diary in the passenger van til 10:20, at which point my eyes started to cross and I hit the rack.  A good, fun day, but we may need to rethink downhill mountain biking on future treks; I suspect we all underestimated the hazard of biking on ski slopes.