The hike continued past beautiful vistas. Of course, some of us looked at them as an excuse for a rest-stop... We got to Urraca, threw our packs down and joined in the program of Challenge events. It was overcast, but we were tough. Tough is OK, but when drops the size of quarters come down.. you run for cover. The smart ones ended up under roof at the Urraca cabin, swinging in the rain, so to speak.... The pictures tell only part of the story.


Click on the thumbnail for full-sized picture..

	Don't tell Mom how far down it is...		...ah, you told her.		Q-Tip and the Deepster. This is a nice picture.		The swing at Urraca. Sure felt good!
	For the first challenge, a local Ranger named "Texas" (for lack of a better name) tied the crew in a gordian knot. After a bit, Texas confided in me that the knot was impossible to break and that eventually the crew would figure it out and agree; that was the goal of this team building exercise.		The Knot.		The crew working hard on the impossible.		Well, what the crew didn't know, didn't hurt them. They untied themselves! After the impossible mission. Everyone felt fine. Ian is smiling broadly,  Deepster is trouncing Dans hat, Matt is doing his Doughboy immitation, Mooner kicks up her heels, and Texas is looking quite perplexed.
For the next trick, the crew attempts to balance on a 4 square foot platform.	Rules were simple: 11 people nine feet on contact, sing a song - quickly.		Hold on tightly, here we go!		Why did the crew always fall my way?		Anyway, we failed in the task but succeeded in the mission... and learned a song snippet along the way!
	First, Jas transports our (thankfully light) Reverend Bearbait out of the danger zone.		Next challenge, get our blinded and injured crew members to safety...		First, the Light Reverend goes over on the rope.		Then Michael goes over... the second time.
			We then started to do "The Wall". We were doing quite well ... until the rain.		It just was not a natural rain, it was a monsoon.		So we ran like the dickens... some to the shelter at Urraca, some to their sad little tents.
	Here Matt models the latest in sheik rainwear... standing outside the Crew 566 standard issue Sierra Designs Omega CD tent (we collectively had three).		Same tent, a little later.		Rainy dinner.		Jas, the master of self-sumping.

This page last updated: Wednesday, January 12, 2005