CDT – Day 62 – North Swan River to Gold Hill Parking Lot

6/25/15 Day 62, North Swan River M1778.8 to Gold Hill Parking Lot M1791.7, 9198′

Trail Angel’s House – Nights Spent Alone: 7

12.9, 1136.0 Trip Miles

Sunny w/ afternoon thunder storms and rain

Day’s of Snow: 7 – Day’s of Rain: 19 – Days of Hail: 11

# of Zero days: 6

7:12 am to 11:41 am

Gila Crossings Final Total:  221

Tick Count: 4 (4 more crawling on me)

Wanted List

Mountain Goat

Grizzly Bear

Sasquatch

Black Bear

Bighorn Sheep

Velociraptor

Mountain Lion

Beaver

Unicorn

Critter Count

2 Chipmunks

1 Squirrel

Totals

1) 530 Pronghorn*

2) 167 Elk

3) 119 Lizards

4) 116 Wild Horses

5) 110 Chipmunks

6) 73 Deer**

7) 38 Cotton Tail Rabbits

8) 35 Ground Squirrels

9) 29 Squirrels

10) 27 Marmot****

11) 26 Prairie Dogs

12) 22 Horny Roads

13) 17 Jack Rabbit***

14) 11 Moose

15) 8 Snakes

16) 8 Pika

17) 4 Coyotes

18) 4 Moles

19) 2 Rattle Snakes

20) 2 Toads

21) 1 Mouse

22) 1 Skunk

23) 1 Weasel

24) 1 Porcupine

25) 1 Fox

*181 from car, **3 from car, ***1 from car, ****2 from car

Sleep was so so. The rain came and went. As it did it would rouse me each time.

Come morning I didn’t want to get up. We finally did and it was quite chilly. It was a late start but we didn’t have far to go.

I had biked the section we were about to hike twice before so I knew what to expect. The climb wasn’t that bad. The last time I was still nursing a hangover. The descent was fun but it’s much better descending West Ridge on two wheels. On the way down we ran into Sheera. She is the first NoBo (Northbounder) we’ve seen.

We hiked a short sections hadn’t bike and soon were at Goldhill Parking Lot. I had arranged with a PCT thru-hiker named Figit to stay at her house. She has been working with a few other Thru-hikers in the area to host and help out CDT hikers.

Washpot picked us up. He had beers and cheers for us. We hit the Breckenridge PO then went to Figit’s place. She wasn’t there but we hungout with Washpot and her roommate Rifraf. Mew had burgers and chilled out. Figit came home and we finally got to meet her.

After some talking she drove us to the laundry mat. We did wash, then I got new tips for my poles, hit the food store then grabbed a beer. Our waitress turned out to be a woman we passed on the descent. Small world.

We walked home and I stopped at Chipotle for a first dinner. At home we hungout waiting for Figit to get home then had pasta. We just hungout and got to know each other. I didn’t go to bed until almost 11 pm.

Scatman

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Get out there!