CDT – Day 6 – Powerlines – Hwy. 90

5/30/15, Day 5 – Cowboy Camp 

Powerlines – Hwy. 90
25.4, 131.4 Trip Miles

Sunny, 80’s Blue Bird Day

6:20 to 6:45 pm

Critter Count

9 Lizards

3 Cotton Tail Rabbits

Totals

52 Lizrads

9 Horny Roads

5 Jack Rabbit

3 Cotton Tail Rabbits

3 Snakes

I woke up at 4:40 am. I was wide awake. Luckily I was able to fall back asleep until my alarm at 5:45. The moon was so bright but by 4 am it had set and the stars were amazing. The Milkyway was better than I had even seen.

It was a cold morning, so much so I almost put on gloves. I was too lazy to stop and dig them out. I’m serious. I will not stop for something as simple as this if I just stopped not long before. It’s stupid I know. It’s not like Canada is going some place.

Today was super hot with much less wind not a great combination. As an add bonus I had a 2000′ climb to do in the heat of the day. To say the least I do not have my climbing legs yet. I topped out at 8007′. Today for the first time I said “FUCK!” as a response to seeing yet another steep pitch.

Water was scarce today. In the first half of the day I didn’t have enough then I had too much in the second half. The second half started with a few miles of trail then it was a five miles dirt road walk.

I was like Goldielocks today on the road. The surface was either too hard or too soft. Both are a bitch on the feet. With all the water my dogs were barking!

I met a bunch of new hikers:  Pacer, Truma, Fozzy, Hojo, Wide Angle and Retant (sp). All but the last two are here at camp tonight.

Tomorrow is a 12.3 road walk into Silver City. Ugh! Only positives are the Tour of Gila time trail will be going on and I get to shower.

So far I’ve seen the following birds:  Raven, Spotted Towhee, grouse,  Black Throated Sparrow, some sort of sparrow, quail, Turkey Vulture, Dark Eyed Junco, Killdeer, Scott’s Oriole,  Titmouse, Western Kingbird

By this time in the hike my right ankle was very swollen.  I didn’t mention it much in my entries but it hurt with every step.  The dirt road walk at the end of the day sucked.  There’s nothing like an seemingly endless road walk at the end of a long hot day.  It was nice to run into other thru-hikers though.

My big climb of the day was over Borrow Mtn and I was really hoping to see a borrow but alas I didn’t see one.  The views were great though.  There was a massive mine in the area and one could get a great view of it from the top.  When I say massive I mean MASSIVE!  Impressive and horrifying what man can do. 

Back to Day 5, Forward to Day 7

Scatman