Submitted by Pat

We awoke to the sound of Roberto yelling, "Coffee!" at 5:30am. I ate a breakfast of oatmeal and fruit. The eggs looked inedible so I didn't even try. Nancy didn't eat much of anything. We packed our gear and hauled it down to the kayaks where Roberto gave us vague or incomplete instructions as to how to pump the kayaks full of air, tie on our dry bags, and how to paddle these two-person boats. So it was chaos - the guides all trying to get their boats packed, people yelling out questions, and since there were five single people in the group, I didn't have a paddle partner. Nancy was frustrated and angry about the whole mess. Finally I was paired up with Greg, one of the guides, but initially I stayed behind helping others pack their boats and shove off.

The kayak to the camp site took a little under two hours for Greg and me. Despite the fact that we were the last ones out of the gate, we were the first ones who arrived. Of course, it turned out that Greg had no idea where the actual camp site was so we landed on a spit of beach and waited. Everyone else landed near us as well. We all stood there with our mouths open as Roberto who was part of a team of four - two kayaks tied together with a steel pipe connected like a square - went past us into a hidden cove to the camp site.

We all got back in the boats and headed to the real camp. Because we were half a day behind, and trying to catch up, we were moving at a fast pace. We unloaded the gear, packed up our hiking clothes and headed across the lake to the left of the glacier. The view of the glacier was spectacular. Every so often we heard a huge boom when a piece of ice fell or calved off the front or crashed down somewhere above or below the glacier. The paddle took an hour or so and we landed around noon. Folks were hungry so they gave us lunch - cold gluey inedible pasta that must have cooked at breakfast. Yuck - neither Nancy nor I could eat it, although I did manage a couple of bites. I was really hungry. We chowed down on peanuts, almonds, blonde raisons, cookies and chocolate instead.

Roberto explained the two hike options while we changed into our hiking clothes. It was hot and cloudless. Those who didn't want to attempt the strenuous hike up to the Earth River Lake could go with Greg and do a shorter hike and then a relaxed paddle in front of the glacier. The rest of us were to go with Eduardo and Roberto up the ravine. Brad and Justin, the brothers, Kate, Frank, Curtis, Nancy, Don and I decided to try the ravine hike. No trail - just boulder hopping, sketchy scree and sharp thorn bushes as we paralleled a huge ice melt cataract. The ravine offered an incredible view of Lago Leon and of the far side of the glacier, but the day was so hot and the hike so grueling that I felt concern for the three of us hiking in our Merrell's and not really having a great day with our balance.

Don, Nancy, and I brought up the rear and Eduardo was the sweep. He was funny and encouraging, but we were kind of cranky at this point. Turned out that the river was too high to cross where they normally cross so we kept climbing until we came to a possible crossing that offered two hugely technical rock climbing moves to get across. Just getting up onto the rock meant taking a huge leap and grabbing a person's outstretched hand. I hated that. Roberto, so full of himself and his climbing prowess, showed us the two technical moves and we just stood there with our mouths open catching horse flies. No way - not me - uh uh. It did not feel right. Don started to try but I could see his nervousness and knew it reflected mine. Nancy wasn't interested either. We finally told Eduardo that we wanted to head back. The brothers also joined us. Frank, Curtis, Kate and Roberto went on. I was done and knew the walk back was not going to be easy. I took a small spill but over all I did ok, but my Merrell's didn't offer any support and my feet were really sore.

We finally made it back and then Roberto suggested we stop and do another short hike that would give us an incredible view of the glacier. He said we could do it in our river shoes and then proceeded to change into his hiking boots. I was done with my Merrell's so I hiked in river shoes. Another rock climb bushwhack. Nothing is easy. While the view was incredible I was pretty much at the end of my strength - well, maybe that's a lie, but I was pretty tired and the hour and a half kayak back to camp was not something I was looking forward to. It was clear at this point, that the guides had a very different definition of what is hard and what is safe. Disorganization was rampant and affected everything. Don, Nancy and I were pretty fed up by the end of the day.

We made it back to camp but I had to work awfully hard since my kayak mate was also exhausted. Don and Nancy, however, missed seeing the turn off for the camp and a guide had to whistle them back. Just what they needed, another ten minutes of paddling. They looked pretty wasted when they finally came into camp.

Back at camp we found our tents had been set up by Karen whose knees were bothering her and elected to stay behind. Before dinner, Nancy and I sat on one of the beached kayaks and checked in with each other - how hard the trip was so far, how poorly described on the web site, and what poor group management we were seeing from the lead guide. Dinner had been started but we didn't eat until 9pm - steamed veggies, chicken and rice - the best meal so far but not enough food for me to feel comfortable taking seconds. Around 10, I fell into my sleeping bag.