We have been spending Winter Solstice at Phantom Ranch ever since the boy was 4 and a half. I conned him into that trip by telling him he could sleep on an "up and down" bed (bunk bed). Every year we try to lure one of his friends into going, but this year we couldn't get a taker, so it was just us and him. In fact, all of his friends have broken up with him once I dragged them to Phantom. Hmm... like, don't hang around with him: you won't believe what his mother makes you do.

The weather was lousy all week, but it cleared when we headed down. Very deep snow, and not very trampled. They had, in fact, canceled mule trips for several days during this storm. So it was a little dicey heading down. Robert fell once and bent his hiking stick. Snow all the way past Skeleton Point, then mud, then snow again just above the tip off.

When we got to Phantom, the men's shower house was closed. They were staggering men and women on the women's side. The next morning, the power went out. It had been out the week before, and I guess they needed to put a good fix on their patch. But the men's shower house was open, so I guess there are trade offs. Electricity came on again in the afternoon.

Both evenings we got to sit with someone who knows all about hiking and all about Phantom. He was most disdainful of those of us who were staying in the cabin, for he was backpacking, and that's harder. Though he doesn't seem to have brought any of his food, since he ate all meals with us...

How does one tell a blowhard? When he asks, "where are you from?" and you say, "from here," he doesn't want to talk to you anymore. A normal person would say, "Oh? Where do you work, what do you do, etc.". The BH immediately turns to someone he can impress, which is obviously not you.

Hiked out in four hours, even with the nasty snow. It had sublimated a little, and a few mules had been through and trampled a path. Robert did OK for not having worked out much, which of course led him to suggest that he doesn't need to work out again until next December.