Grand Promenade to Davis Canyon

We got up and Missy outlined the day's route on the map. Today's challenge was to set out without Missy and attempt to navigate to the camp where all three patrols were meeting to de-issue gear and spend the last night together.

We did o.k. for a while but then we got lost. Dan, Susan, Jamie and Margaret figured out how to get back on track by taking bearings and figuring out where we were. Dan actually saw the "road" we needed to get to. I didn't have a clue. Apparently I failed the map reading portion of the course.

As we were about to get going again, Missy called to us. She was perched on a high rock watching the whole fiasco of us debating the way to go. She asked us how we were doing even though it was obvious we had gotten lost. We showed her where we thought we needed to go and she agreed we were back on track. (We had lost about an hour! I was not a happy camper.)

We contoured around the pocket of the canyon and up onto the Grand Promenade. What a view! We went along the road up there for a while. We stopped for lunch then tackled the steepest part.

We got our bearing in relation to the butte we needed to stay left of. But after a while we were lost again. We were on the right track but thought we had reached the place to drop down into the canyon. We had seen the road that lead out of the park and we saw an RV and a truck. Civilization at last! We hadn't, however, gone far enough. Missy caught up to us again because she was afraid we would drop down somewhere that was unfamiliar to her. Anyway, Missy led us to safety.

When we got to camp I was elated. I thought we could rest. HA! We had to de-issue gear which took a while AND we had to wash all our stuff. UGH!

One of the other patrols made dinner. We washed up everything and regrouped. In preparation for the run the next morning, the course director tried to motivate us by telling the story about the spirit of the Marathon, citing the battle between the Athenians and the Persians and the soldier who ran back to Athens crying "Victory is ours." and then dropped dead.

We split up into our patrols and Missy said she loved having us as a group. She also shared some of her own adventure stories. Let's see... there was the whales between the kayaks story and the fishing for bald eagles story and the mom and pup otter story and the sensory overload story. All were equally amusing and told in the inimitable way that only Missy could tell them.

She asked us to think about the 5 Pillars and the OB motto tomorrow while we're running. As much as I understand her wanting us to pull this experience together before we leave, I don't think I'll be able to think about too much while I'm running 8 miles in the desert. The most I've ever run is 6.2 miles and that was two years ago.

Me / Our Patrol / Our Fearless Leader / On the Way Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4 / Day 5 Day 6 / Day 7 / Day 8 / Day 10 Things To Remember / Outward Bound / The Anasazi

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