It was wonderful to wake up and see the flowers outside my door. Not so wonderful were the gazillion mosquitos! My theory is that after the deer and elk left the mosquitos had nothing to eat except us. Luckily most of them did not even land on us, and the ones that did land did not always bite.

It was time to make a trip back to the truck for more gear, so we grabbed empty packs and started up the trail.

Waking up with frost on your blankets is a treat. It warmed up quickly once the sun cleared the trees around the meadow.

Tarps and more covers would make this a more comfortable camp, for sure.

According to the signs all over the place, the stream was filled with eggs - the future hope of the Cutthroat Trout, an endangered species. I saw only one person in the stream the whole time that I was at the gathering, everyone else respected the water. Bridges were built where each trail crossed the stream.

Not much activity though by now it was mid morning. I paused for another panorama.

This pan is the north and east sides of the meadow. Click it to see a larger version.

When we made it to the top of the trail (no easy task when you're six thousand feet above "normal" and found this cairn. We hiked down the nearby road through "High Holy Hill" and "Upper Bus Village" and then caught a shuttle to Welcome Home and then back to where we had parked. We drove some stuff to Welcome Home and then returned the truck to parking. While I was waiting at Welcome Home, I saw a confrontation that ended with an arrest. The Brother in question was asking the LEOs to please quit blocking the road, and they didn't like it much. A reporter from the SL Tribune was taking pictures, as I was.

I don't know if any of his pictures made it into the papers, but I suspect that he may have had something to do with the multimedia presentation at the Salt Lake Tribune that seemed favorable to the family.

I've seen this bus at other gatherings. Nice woodwork and stained glass.

After hiking back in and dropping things off, I explored some. Here's a pan of the meadow from the west. Click it to see a larger version.