Woke at 4:25 am, cold!  Laid in the bag til 5:10, then got up and did the bathroom thing (Rick already in residence).  Back at camp, checked my thermometer:  34 degrees - yow! - we ain’t ready for this yet. Woke the rest of the crew at 5:40, and everyone got going in short order.  We broke camp by 6:25, then ate breakfast (bagels, donut holes, bananas, plus a large bag of plums given to us the previous evening by one of the local residents).  Light breeze, songbirds singing, no mosquitoes now - "It’s Perfect Again!"  Packed Carl up to go.  Circled up the Crew to discuss Carl’s situation (most of the guys didn’t know yet); everyone gave Carl a round of applause for sticking it out til this point.  Then we reviewed the day, particularly the stopover in Rock Springs.  Matt popped the last of the donut holes "like a slot machine" (we all feared the potential payoff!)  Charles’ knee was stinging pretty good (17 stitches!), but he said he was OK, and insisted he could still backpack despite the injury (and his physician back in Park City had agreed).  Finished with a quick camp sweep - Carl found house key/whistle combo (the whistle was slightly rusty, so it had obviously been there for some time).  Started vans and loaded up; Rick, Mark and Carl in the cargo van, heading for SLC airport, the rest of us in the passenger van.  Dropped the key and whistle off at the office (no one there, it opened at 8:30), and hit the road (I-80 East) under brilliant, cloudless skies.

Fortunately, Mark, Rick, and Carl did not run into any problems at the airport.  The FAX from Carl’s doctor had reached the check-in counter, and the staff was aware of Carl’s medical emergency and arrangement to return early.  Unfortunately, FAA regulations do not allow the airlines to accept checked bags until four hours before flight time, so Carl had to wait with his bags near the counter until 10:35 am (his flight was at 2:35 pm).  Mark introduced Carl to the supervisor at the counter, and SWA promised to make sure that his return went smoothly; Fred was poised to meet him at BWI that evening.  With that arranged, Mark and Rick left to rejoin us in Rock Springs.

Meanwhile, on our way to Wyoming, Al played an NWA song which got some laughs from the Scouts (the adults were less thrilled).  Lots of road work on I-80 in Utah.  We stopped in Coalville for gas - the van was already near 1/4 tank for just 233 miles, so "F" at the rental depot was not actually "Full" after all (big surprise there).  Some impressive rock formations in northeastern Utah, with some of the gray sandstone areas in particular being quite desolate.  Also saw several large freight trains as we headed into Wyoming.  Still 75 mph speed limit, so the miles went by quickly.  Into Rock Springs at 9:55 (Exit 102); the WalMart was right off the exit, so we stopped there first for groceries, food, fishing licenses, and Conservation Stamps.  Changed into full Scout Uniforms for lunch (or rather, for the newspaper interview).  Surprisingly, we got everything we needed at the Wal-Mart, so no need to go anywhere else for supplies.  As everyone was reassembling, a Sheriff’s SUV with handicapped tags drove around the lot - now there’s something you don’t see every day!

We left at 11:10  Two minutes to the China King Buffet.  Wonderful spread, including some items rarely seen at Chinese restaurants back east:  cheese mussels, Chinese pizza, and a full American style salad bar.  We were first in, but were rapidly followed by many locals and soon a bus full of Chinese tourists.  Rick and Mark showed up about 15 minutes after we sat down, so excellent timing.  Ted called the local newspaper reporter who wanted to interview us, Holly Jackman of the Daily Rocket-Miner.  She said she’d be there by about 12:15, so we went ahead and finished up on lunch.  When Holly arrived, she interviewed Ted for awhile, then we posed as a group in front of the restaurant for a couple of pictures, including one shot with Jace Jackman (Holly’s son), who was already a bull rider (at age 8!)  Mark headed back to the newspaper office to download his digital photos (to date) back home; we sat in restaurant waiting on him, just relaxing and chatting.  He finally returned at 1:40 (later than we had expected it would take), and we moved out to the vans to change out of our uniforms.  After a quick gas stop (Exxon) and a Post Office stop to drop off letters for Al and Ted, we hit the road.  Three minutes to Exit 104, Rt 191 North.  Immediately slow traffic; for some reason, they had miles of the second lane blocked off for construction, even though there was no construction going on anywhere (not even any equipment!)  Finally cleared and we were able to pick up the pace a little bit.  I pulled over a little later, and Hugh took over driving duties.  A little later we got our first view of the Wind River Range to our front right, in the far distance, rugged looking mountains with an obvious tree line and some snow-capped peaks.

Into Boulder, Wyoming, a small roadside village at the intersection with Rt 353 (our access road to the Scab Creek Trailhead), for a final fill-up on gas.  We also filled up on water (despite the name, Scab Creek Trailhead was dry), and grabbed a bathroom break and some ice cream cones.  Also chowed down on some more of the plums.  Still brilliant sunshine.  Then back on the road again.  A mile or two down Rt 353, then left onto the Scab Creek access (gravel) road.  Dusty, but not too bad.  Didn’t see a single house the whole way out, but we were passed by several other vehicles going the other way, so some folks obviously live out here; eventually we passed several "driveways" with ranch signs.

At the Scab Creek Trailhead, there were a surprising number of cars and horse trailers in residence (at least 50), but no signs of life.  We passed through the parking lot and into camping area, which was partially shaded by aspens and several types of pine trees.  We’re already 8,400 feet here, and this is the low point of the trek.  Somewhat level but only a few, small clear spaces, and no clearly defined campsites, just picnic tables and fire-rings placed rather haphazardly here and there.  After a slow recon, we settled on two small adjacent areas straddling one of the loop roads.  After quickly emptying everything out of the vans, Mark and Rick immediately took off to relay the passenger van to the Big Sandy Trailhead (the end-point of our trek, 8 days hence).  Since it was about a 3 hour round trip, and it was already 5:20, there was no time to dawdle.  We quickly started in on organizing ourselves - first setting up tents, then consolidating our carry-on gear in our duffels, then pulling and consolidating our crew gear.  Since Carl was no longer with us, we were now able to go as a single Crew of 15 instead of 2 Crews of 8 (15 was the maximum size allowed in the Bridger Wilderness).  We were therefore able to dump some food, fuel, 1 stove, the second tarp, and lots of other items.  All told, we stripped nearly 25 lbs out, quite a bit of weight savings.

Once this was done, I did one last, slow read-off of personal gear - everyone claimed to have everything, even the items they "borrowed" out of their backpacks during the past few days.  With that, we divvied up the crew gear, then the food - trying to give heavier items to the guys with the smaller packs, and bulkier items to the guys with the larger packs.  Chris handled Rick’s pack, while Neil handled Mark’s.  After playing with it for awhile, we ended up with about 45 lbs. average; Charles was at 35 in deference to his cut knee, Thomas was at 39 in deference to his knee (bone) problems, and Hugh (50), Al (50), and I (48) topped out the list.  This was very gratifying, and much better than we had expected (or rather, feared!)  This took us to 7:55, and we finally started in on dinner - late! - but still lots of light even as the sun went down over a ridgeline to the west.  Visiting the latrine, I was sobered by 3 "have you seen?/missing" posters on the bulletin board there - apparently, people just disappear out here without much publicity or search (compare this with the extensive coverage back in Washington over Chandra Levy).

Back at the site, I asked the guys several times to set up a cleanup arrangement, but (somehow) they never got to it.  Matt and I consolidated all the unneeded gear in the empty Totelockers for storage in the van for the duration.  Then we "finalized" the packs.  Al’s turned out to be too heavy (55 lbs) from the addition of the first aid kits and some other stuff he hadn’t had on the first weigh-around.  I exchanged a light meal for one of his heavy ones, which pushed me to 50 and brought him down to 53; then he gave 1 more meal away to Chris, getting him back down to about 50 or so.  Rick and Mark came in about 8:30, right on schedule.  They said it had been a long dusty road to Big Sandy Trailhead – and in fact the cargo van was just about yellow with road-dust.  They started in on finalizing their packs and duffels immediately, picking up where Chris and Neil had left off.

Dinner was served at 8:50 - beef stew this time, and again, with a little too much water - but we just shoveled it in, and polished off with some of the leftover snacks we had laid out.  I went up to chat with a couple in the next campsite, the only other people at the trailhead, to see if they could give us any updates on conditions and/or problems in the area.  Very nice folks.  They claimed bears were rarely seen at this campsite, but that there were many bears farther north (especially in the Green River area), including half a dozen grizzlies.  One grizzly had been shot the previous Monday.  They also reported that most of the lower elevation streams were dry, and the lower elevation ponds were lily-padded over, due to very little rain the previous month.  However, there had been no forest fires that they had heard of, at least in the areas we were going to be visiting.  They had heard about bears at the Cirque of the Towers, and about lots of bears at Big Sandy Lake; in fact, there were bear-boxes installed at Big Sandy Lake now.  I went through our basic itinerary, which they were impressed with - they said they expected us to have a great trip; claimed lots of elk, big-horn sheep, etc., on our trek.  They were going home the following morning.

I finally headed back to our camp at 9:20, and was badly disappointed to see that nothing had been done on cleanup, not even laying out the gear.  The guys were playing cards as the last of the light faded away.  I asked once again for them to set up the KP - someone laid out the drying tarp and they all sat back down to play cards again.  (I counted to 10, unsuccessfully.)  So, despite Ted’s protests, I got going on it, angrily.  With Ted’s prodding, everyone else eventually everyone joined in, and we got everything clean, air-dried, and repacked.  Also put the last of the backpacks and duffel bags in the van; I managed to slam my head against the edge of the van roof as I raised a duffel bag inside - hurt like hell for most of the rest of the trek, so I guess I gave myself a minor skull fracture, or at least half concussed myself.  We finally shut it down at around 10:00, with nice stars overhead, still warm - much warmer than this morning in Park City.  We turned the first lantern off, and turned the second way down (just barely on as a beacon for any night runs to the latrine).  The mosquitoes were pretty fierce, which seemed unfair given how there was allegedly no water for miles and a drought to boot!  I took two Advil and some water for my now ferocious headache.  Bed at 10:15; despite the throbbing, I managed to fall asleep fairly quickly for a change; maybe 30 minutes.