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I'm not going to tell the story of the trip day-by-day. But a lot happened on our very first day with NOLS, and I have a lot of commentary, so "Day 0" gets its own entry.

I arrived in Lander around dusk on August 4th. The whole group met up at the Noble hotel, then walked over to NOLS "Galactic Headquarters" to formally introduce ourselves to the group, talk about our goals for the trip, what to expect from NOLS, our instructors, and the Wind Rivers, and find out the plan for the next day.

In the course of discussing our expectations, I mentioned that I wanted to be explicit that I was there primarily to learn, and that I'd readily sacrifice some fun for the sake of learning. (Woo, foreshadowing!)

The first day was frantic. 7am breakfast, then over to "The RM", or NOLS Rocky Mountain Headquarters to prep for the trip.

We all needed to take stock of what we'd brought, buy or rent gear to fill in the gaps, and get everything squared away by around 2pm for our bus ride to the roadhead. Sounds simple enough, but with 11 campers and 2 instructors, it was slow going, and the whole day felt extremely rushed.

In the "debriefing" after the trip, our biggest complaint was that the first day was rushed. All the NOLS course material and personell repeatedly assured us that they could provide all necessary gear for the trip. We could show up with just a toothbrush if we wanted. We found this to be technically true, but we all agreed that we wouldn't recommend it. So here's my offical gear advice for a NOLS trip:

The NOLS gear shop is not REI. They stock one or two varieties of all gear. Need a synthetic t-shirt? They have capilene in blue or green. (Just blue if you're a size L.) It's like that for everything. All the gear is solid, but you're not going to get anything that expresses the inner you, if you know what I mean.

So, bring everything that matters to you. If, like me, your sleeping setup is near and dear to you, bring your own bag, pad, and whatever else you need. Bring everything you have that is tested and proven. Give yourself options.

Because of the brevity of the trip, our guides, Manu and Colleen, had made our food decisions ahead of time, so our food bags were already packed and ready to go. We complained later about a lack of chocolate and veggies, but everyone agreed that the food offered a variety of tastes and textures, and kept us all interested in dinner throughout the trip.

We packed "shower bags" with a fresh change of clothes everything we'd need to get cleaned up once we got back. I dropped in my jeans, fresh socks and boxers (no shoes- I planned to just put my boots back on), and the "MAINE" t-shirt I'd gotten for my birthday. Everything else that I wasn't taking with me went back into my luggage and stowed in a locker at the RM.

Then it was back to the Noble for lunch, and to pack sandwiches for dinner. (Manu, clever bastard, packed two sandwiches: one for dinner, and one for the trail the next day. I wish I'd thought of that.)

I had time to do a fast run around town looking for last-minute gear, then we were back at the RM packing the bus for our trip out to Boulder Lake, about a 3-hour drive.

The driver was a blonde girl in her 20's, and played Paul Simon's Graceland for most of the ride. I love the album, but it's been years since I heard it, and it brought back a flood of old memories. Complete contentment together with the abandonment that followed all wrapped up together. So much time has passed since then, and so much has happend. I felt old. I felt like I was going out into the mountains to get young again.

On the way to the roadhead, we stopped off at the Three Peaks Ranch to meet our horsepacker, Nikki, and to drop off our food bags. We would cary food for the first two days, and Nikki would meet us on day 3. The ranch was a spectacular sight, perched among three points just a few miles from the Wind River mountain range. The dogs there are fully adult dogs. They don't care to be petted, generally. They want to play, or they want food. This threw me at first, and didn't really register until the end of the trip. It was only the last time I saw Nikki's dog, Gus, that it clicked. I had thought he didn't like me (or hold much affection for anyone not offering food). But on the last day I spotted a play bow, and responded in kind, and Gus and I finally understood each other.

Anyway, that first visit to the ranch was short, and we were quickly on our way again (after I'd jumped into my wind pants and bumped my head several times on a hanging scale).

At boulder lake we ate our sandwiches and some cookies thrown in by NOLS (bless whomever did that!), and then moved into a meadow to set up our camp.

Opening my pack, I discovered that the pressure in my pack had exploded my tube of sunscreen. It was all over the inside of the pocket I'd put it in. This was to be my first lesson in the utility of bandanas: I wet the bandana, cleaned out the pocket, and put the tube of sunscreen into a zip-lock bag, where it would live for the rest of the trip.

As we were setting up, my tentmate Aaron noticed that we didn't have any fuel for our stove. All the expedition's fuel had been stowed together in a box on top of the bus, so he went to ask Manu and Colleen about it. He returned with bad news: we'd left all our fuel, and all our bear spray (a concentrated pepper spray for deterring bears) at the ranch.

Manu got on the satellite phone which he'd hoped never to need, and we got busy setting up our tents. A car with replacement fuel and bear spray arrived a short time later, and we had our our tents up and gear stowed just as an evening thunderstorm rolled in.

I took that opportunity for one last visit to the latrine, which I wouldn't normally mention, except that it was the most peace I'd had in two days. I'd slept with three roomates at the Noble, eaten with the group at breakfast, lunch and dinner, and every moment in between had been a frantic rush to take care of everything before we headed into the mountains for two weeks. So I took a moment to savor being alone, and under a proper roof for the last time for a while, and listened to the rain for a few minutes before turning in.