I was up way before the alarm would have woken me. The excitement of my longest backpacking trip in years kept my mind humming over checklists, ensuring I'd brought everything I'd need, and that I didn't pack too much that I didn't. Eight days is a long time to carry extra weight, and by 5 am I'd tossed out the paperback I didn't even touch on my last trip.

Our group of five gathered in the parking lot at 7 and walked next door to the Oxbow for breakfast. Cheryl I'd meet on Utah's highest mountain almost two years ago and we had travelled to Peru together. This should have been Helen's and mine third trip together, but circumstances meant I was only now meeting her face to face. The two Tim's were both from Colorado, but otherwise quite different. I was meeting them for the first time as well.

The breakfast was little more than adequate, and the coffee was weak. Helen and Tim B headed off to the trailhead while Cheryl, Tim D and I hit up one of the little coffee shacks in Lander and picked up last minute fishing tackle. The selection at Alco was limited and we ended up with a children's "Danny the Dinosaur" fishing set.

Clouds and a light drizzle blocked our views of the Wind River range as we drove toward Dubois and our trailhead. Bags were repacked and more gear was pruned or added in last minute decisions. By 10:30 we had started moving up the Glacier trail.

The clouds continued to block our views of the range, but they also thankfully kept the temperatures low as we labored uphill with 8 days of food and supplies. Our first bit of scenery was the bridge crossing of the East Torrey Creek. We stopped for a few pictures then continued on.

We were hiking in on the New Glacier Trail, which passes water sources frequently so we carried little water with us. Where the trail stopped near the East Torrey Creek, we paused again to filter water and break out the Life Is Good frisbee Tim B had packed. The phrases on the frisbee would be our repeated mantras for the next week: "Ride Your Bicycle", "Brush Your Teeth", "Play Ultimate", "Do What You Like", "Like What You Do", and especially "Climb Mountains".

The trail now worked up a long series of switchbacks that seemed to continue forever as we walked into the clouds with no reference points. We meet a couple hiking out with their pack llamas and chatted with them for a bit. Finally the grade eased up and we walked through a high alpine meadow. Helen and I began a game of imagining what resided, obscured, behind the clouds. Tim B bought an end to our play when he suggested we camp nearby. It was only 2:30, and the group decided to continue on, up and over Arrow Pass.

We followed the trail, slowly gaining altitude, able to see little but the 30 to 50 feet of continually rising ground in front of us. We joked about turning a corner and finding ourselves in Omaha, Nebraska, not the Wind Rivers.

Finally we crested the saddle, and a few clouds parted to give us a few of the hills to our east from the pass. Almost at the same time we heard thunder, and quickly headed off downhill as the grey clouds blocked out the sun again. Passing through a burned area we meet a group of fathers and sons who we'd keep leapfrogging over the next few days.

We stopped at Phillips Lake, but couldn't find a nice campsite not already occupied, so we continued down the trail a few minutes to Double Lake. We located 3 tent platforms and quickly assembled our tents as the rain returned.

Tim B found a leaning tree that made a great sheltered dinner spot and we all gathered to cook and hope the weather would improve. After hanging our food up in the trees away from any potential bear visits, we retired for the night.