I slept well listening to the Dinwoody Creek roar by near my tarp. Tim B had nicknamed it "the doily" in contrast to his expedition worthy mountaineering tent. Once again I was up first, and I set about retrieving the food bags from the trees and then served as the alarm clock for the 6:30 wake up call.

We hit the trail at 9am, right on schedule and with another blue sky day. We quickly came to Big Meadows and had to stop and admire the wide marshy valley.

At the junction with the Inkwells trail, we paused for snacks and to admire another bridge over the Dinwoody. The Inkwells trail is the shortest approach to Gannett Peak, but requires special permits and extra cost to access as it begins on the land of the Wind River Indian Reservation.

Tim B herded us forward to our first views of Gannett Peak. Rounding a corner and a few steps up a rise, and there it stood, a high glacial wrapped peak on the spine of the continental divide. A really beautiful sight and worth walking 3 days for.

Just as we reached Floyd Wilson Meadows, we pulled off the trail onto some rocks with a great view of Gannett Peak for lunch. I took the time to dry out my condensation soaked "doily" and Tim D set out to discover if any fish lived in the silted Dinwoody. We also finished off the last of Cheryl's home baked chocolate chip cookies before they were crushed to crumbs.

As we left our lunch spot, I discovered that one of the two prongs of the buckle on my hip belt had broken off. Thankfully, the one prong held it closed, otherwise I'd half to shoulder the whole weight, literally. I hoped it would hold for the remainder of the trip.

The head end of the Floyd Wilson Meadows contained numerous side streams to cross. Some involved rock hopping, others required a steady balance across bare logs. We all crossed safely, and continued up a trail following the main stream.

Tim B lead us to a perfect spot well below the moraine were most groups camp. We still had some tree cover, lots of grass, and only a little longer hike up to the glacier.

Everyone took advantage of the sunny weather to wash clothes and lounge by the stream. Tim and I tossed the frisbee until dinner. Then the five of us walked up the trail to the moraine and had our first look at the route. We passed a few others camped in fairly exposed spots, also ready for tomorrow's ascent of Gannett. Tim pointed our our path up to the glacier and the various snow and rock fields we'd use to reach the crevasse and snow bridge that lead to the snow gully crux of the climb. From there we would scramble up rocks and narrow snow ridges to the summit.

We all hoped for good weather and returned to camp.