[From the Philmanac - Head of Dean derives its name by being located at the start of the Dean Canyon, which runs east all the way to Dean Cow Camp; the Canyon is named for Bob Dean, a one-time cattle foreman in the area.  Another Canyon that runs north down to Pueblano is called Doe Canyon.  Head of Dean is located midway between Baldy Skyline Camp and Upper Dean Cow Camp, and was first operated as a staff camp from 1971 to 1976; the original programs were Lumbering and Astronomy.  A flapjack breakfast was also featured from 1974 to 1976.  It returned to trail camp status from 1977 to 1982, and reopened in 1983 as a staff camp, with the program being the "Dean Challenge" (a COPE Course.)  This proved so popular that similar challenge courses were subsequently added to Urraca and Dan Beard Camps.  A new staff cabin was added to the camp in 1992.]

[From the Philmanac - Santa Claus is located in a pretty little meadow at the west end of Santa Claus Canyon; its name derives from the southwestern legend that Santa Claus comes out of a canyon rather than from the North Pole.  Santa Claus was a dry trail camp until 1991, when a solar powered well was drilled.  It became a staff camp in 1992, featuring the Mountain Technology program (a combination of Astronomy, Forestry, and Meterology.)  A new cabin was constructed in 1992.  However, continuous problems with the wells returned Santa Claus to trail camp status in 1997.]

Officially up at 4:35 (again), but in fact I had been up for an hour already, looking at the stars - it had been a beautiful night.  42 degrees, so quite a drop from when we hit the tents.  Chris did the wakeup duties, at 4:45.  Coop's Crew was already up and at `em, but there were no other signs of life around the camp.  Coop came by at 5:05 to say goodbye, and they immediately headed off to Baldytown; unusually, they took (I think) the trail back towards Baldy Skyline, then continued down to the Baldytown road (that is, down the trail we had come up from Ute Meadows.)  I'll have to ask him on this later.  For some reason, Matt was slow this morning, but we went ahead and circled up at 5:15, and did our stretching exercises while he continued packing.  Not a good day to be late.  Finally on our way at 5:30, pushing hard down to the Baldy Skyline intersection, then left to Five Forks.  Surprisingly, there was some uphill on the way; I would have guessed it was all downhill - not so.  Back to Five Forks at 6:10, stopping again for breakfast.  No other Crews today - but we are rather early at this point.  15 minutes and we're on our way again, pushing hard.  Bright sunshine promising a hot day, so I'm glad we chose to hit the 8 am slot for the conservation project.  Arrived at 7:15, so we made up some time on the way.  No staff on the porch, but 2 or 3 Crews were already present, waiting for the 7:30 assembly.  We set up our pack line well away from the cabin, and I headed over to the cabin to read the informational signs for the 2 conservation projects.  All Trek 30 Crews were working on the extender trail from Head of Dean to the Maxwell - Miranda trail - this was the same trail project we had helped start back in `98.  One of the other Crews already present were also slated for trail work; they were from the Pennsylvania Dutch Council (the former Lancaster/Lebanon Council.)  Everyone else was assigned to the T.S.I. (Timber Stand Improvement) project, which was clearing infected Ponderosa pine trees off the Dean Skyline ridge (heading towards Elkhorn camp.)  [Aside:  This was being done to reduce the fire hazard along the ridgeline, and clear the land for other species of trees to get started as replacements for the dying Ponderosa's.]  "Jason" (the conservation guy) led us on a blistering pace down to the site - which was a heck of a long ways off.  It is simply amazing how far they had pushed this trail in just 2 years - and Jason indicated that they were expecting to finish it before the end of the summer.  This is likely to be a very heavily used trail, getting people off the jeep road and offering a much nicer hike to Five Forks and the Maxwell/Miranda trail.  Not only that, but the views of the Ute Creek Valley (that is, the Atwood Ranch) from the extender were just spectacular (whereas the jeep road offers few views.)  Once we got to the actual work site, we had to wait about 10 minutes for the last stragglers to show up.  Finally, the second Staff guy (Craig) started in on the standard spiel on trail building, going through the 5 basic steps:  Surveying, Pioneering, Rough Cut, Fine Cut, and Maintenance.  [Inside Joke:  I  know a Park Naturalist in Arlington who could use this lecture!]  Once we got this out of the way, everyone grabbed implements of destruction, and we all headed down the trail another 150 yards to do some final pioneering and rough cut work.  As I told Jason and Craig, we came to work, and we went to it hard.  Chris, Hank and I used sledgehammers to pound large rocks into golf-ball sized chips to fill in large holes in the trail where trees had been removed.  Steven, Andy and Dan worked nearby on berm relocation, and Brad, David, Matt, and Neal were a little further down doing tread work.  Jason and Craig very impressed with our work ethic, and paid us the by-now familiar (if rather sad) compliment that we did the work of 3 or 4 "normal" Crews.  Despite our protests, they had us stop just after 10:30, since several other Crews were already waiting on the tools ("and travel time counts towards your 3 hours.")  OK!  Everyone headed back up to the tool drop, where Craig gave a group thank you, then spent about 15 minutes covering other programs and job opportunities at Philmont.  We said our goodbyes, then headed back to the cabin, arriving around 11:15 to quite a crowd - at least 10 - 12 Crews milling around.  Lightly washed our hands and faces at the tap, then grabbed lunch under the trees.  Just before 1:00, the Crew headed down to the old Staff cabin to start the Challenge Course; I stayed behind for a few minutes to finish compacting and dropping off the trash.  Arrived at the old Staff cabin just as the Crew was starting the Trust Fall, off the porch (a pretty good fall!)  The guys all notified me that I missed another rattlesnake; Andy and Dan nearly stepped on him on the way down.  The Staff guide was David Kopsa, a quiet and taciturn guy.  After the Trust Fall, we did the "All Aboard" (aka "Beam Me Up, Scotty!), the Bear Claw (Human Pyramid), Spider Web, Porthole (Tire Pass-Through), Nitrous (Rope Swing, which Steven did while carrying a canteen of water), and The Wall.  For many of the events, David K. had one or more of the guys blindfolded or unable to speak (or both), which significantly increased the challenge.  Only injury for the day was to Chris, who painfully ripped the scab off his arm doing the Porthole; Hank did the First Aid duties on him.  Great time; I think David K. was surprised how much we enjoyed ourselves.  After a few wrap-up comments on working as a Crew through the rest of our trek (not a problem!), he headed back to the starting point to start another Crew, while we headed back to the main cabin.  Still a marvelous day - just a few clouds in a deep blue sky, hot in the sun but cool in the shade.  Almost no breeze, though, so the hike to Santa Claus was looking to be a sweaty one.  Compounding this, the staff said the well at Santa Claus was dry, so everyone filled up on 3 liters of water each, plus we filled both 2 1/2 gallons jugs and the 1 gallon drink jugs.  Next decent water is at Visto Grande Camp, unless you don't mind drinking out of the Cimarron River (and we most certainly did!)  Chris asked my permission to do the Stump Ball game again (tossing a small but heavy medicine ball between 2 Scouts perched on stumps about 10 feet apart.)  We had experienced some personnel problems with this in 1997, so I was reluctant, but relented when Chris indicated that they wouldn't let things get out of hand.  That went on for about 45 minutes, with things staying civil.  [Meanwhile, half the staff was treating a Scout on the porch who was suffering badly from dehydration, constipation, and exhaustion.]  When everyone finally got arm weary, we bagged out and headed back over to the packs.  I took one of the 2 1/2 gallon jugs inside my pack, pushing me over 55 pounds (and giving me an instant reminder of why we work so hard to minimize our carry weights; hard to believe most Crews inflict this (or even more than this) on themselves as their average carry weights.)  Hank carried the other 2 1/2 gallon jug, while Brad and Chris carried the 1 gallon drink containers on their sternum straps.  Off at 3:00, with a parting "Thank You" to the Staff members sitting on the porch.  As expected, a long, hot hike to Santa Claus; no animals, but lots of birds for some reason.  In deference to my overly heavy pack, I took the lead on this one (in self-defense!), with Hank 2 or 3 slots behind me.  We pushed it hard all the way, with just 2 brief water breaks, plus a quick stop to review our 1996 Crew's trail building (4 heavy duty water bars in line with the trail), since Dan and Neals' older brothers Tim and Nathan had worked on those.  Pulled into Santa Claus at 4:25; surprisingly, only 1 Crew was in residence.  We took a site on the left side of the meadow this time, but everyone was already talking about meadow crashing tonight, so we held off on tents for now.  Brad and Chris did the cooking today - Santa Fe Beans and Rice, Cream of Broccoli Soup, plus Oreos and the last of the Baldytown Commissary cookies.  Yum.  Much to my surprise, the well was full to the top and running perfectly - so much for the comments of the Head of Dean Staff!  This made 2 treks in a row where they had it wrong - but I'd rather the pump was working rather than not at all (like in `98.)  But I think they owe an apology to my lower back!  Dinner kicked off at 5:30, and was history by 6:00.  Cleanup went quickly, and led directly into a massive pine cone war, with Dan, Chris and Andy duking it out with Matt, Steven and Neal; Brad, David, Hank and I were noncombatants.  There was certainly no lack of ammunition - the entire camp was carpeted with thousands of cones.  This ran until 6:45 with no-one hurt or mad.   Everyone then took advantage of the water to wash clothes (and ourselves), which we took advantage of - after a very long and overly sweaty day, we were certainly a little funky by this point.  By 8:00, we did a group decision to meadow-crash, since the sky was nearly clear, with just a very thin, high mist preventing perfect viewing.  Per my advice (hard-learned from years past), everyone yanked their mosquito netting out, to frustrate the usual swarm of hungry critters that always arise here around dusk.  After we set up, 3 more Crews came in and set up, including our buddies from Indiana and a much smaller Crew that was also starting to look familiar - I guess we have a third brother Crew on Trek 30 this year.  We'll know for sure tomorrow, since I'm pretty sure only Trek 30 Crews camp at Deer Lake Mesa.  2 Scouts from the last Crew (unknown) marveled that we were willing to camp out under the stars "with all the bears around here."  I assured him that we'd be fine, adding that 4 mils of rip-stop nylon (that is, the thickness of his tent) wasn't much protection either.  Guys got a little goofy as darkness fell, doing the usual sleeping bag wrestling routine, but calmed down as darkness approached.  I did a few classic Bob-stories to pass the time, until one of the Adults from the neighboring Crew asked us to keep it down because they were trying to get to sleep early (we obliged.)  Things quieted as we watched dusk fade into stars - but proving that best laid plans oft go awry, most of the Crew fell asleep long before it was dark enough to see anything!  Guess they were a lot more worn out than they knew.  Hank, Steven, Dan and I were, I think, the only ones who stayed up past about 9:30.  Just as well, since the night was a bit of a disappointment - early on, we only spotted 2 meteors and 4 satellites.  One of the satellites was unusual in that it was virtually invisible until the sun caught one of its solar panels - at which point it flashed brilliantly.  I gave up and rolled over around 10, waking a little later when a deer trotted up the meadow.  Otherwise a very pleasant night, with a nice breeze coming up the canyon.  A long, tough day - but well filled from end-to-end.  Tomorrow will be more of an R&R day (and we probably need one at this point.)