6/26/15 Day 63, Gold Hill Parking Lot M1791.7 to Janet’s Cabin, 11,628′
Hut – Nights Spent Alone: 7
20.9, 1156.9 Trip Miles
Mostly Sunny
Day’s of Snow: 7 – Day’s of Rain: 19 – Days of Hail: 11
# of Zero days: 6
10:39 am to 7:50 pm
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
5 Squirrels
2 Elk
2 Chipmunks
2 Cotton Tail Rabbits
1 porcupine
1 Marmot
Totals
1) 530 Pronghorn*
2) 169 Elk
3) 119 Lizards
4) 116 Wild Horses
5) 112 Chipmunks
6) 73 Deer**
7) 40 Cotton Tail Rabbits
8) 35 Ground Squirrels
9) 34 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 Porcupine
20) 2 Rattle Snakes
21) 2 Toads
22) 1 Mouse
23) 1 Skunk
24) 1 Weasel
25) 1 Fox
*181 from car, **3 from car, ***1 from car, ****2 from car
Soft and short bed last night but I woke up feeling good. As usual I was starving when I got up. We packed up and walked to the PO. On the way we hit a place called The Red Buffalo. It was okay. My burrito was frozen. Ugh! Not what I had in mind.
We met our second NoBo (Northbounder), Safety. He was at the coffee shop.
With the PO out of the way we called Figit and she drove us back to the trailhead. I told her the Scatman Story and she loved it. She also has a connection to Shamus who gave me the name. She’s going to get his contact info.
The hike started with a lot of up and not much shade. The sun was intense today. I stopped to shit and Rafiki passed right by my poles I left right on the side of the trail.
I thought he never went by so I waited some. Then I thought he was in front of me because people said a kid with ear phones was waiting up the trail. I caught said kid and it wasn’t Rafiki. What the kid, Nero it turns out his trail name was, didn’t tell me was that Rafiki was in front of us both. Not knowing this I stopped and sat down for 30 minutes. Of course during this time Rafiki was moving further away from me.
I text Rafiki to learn he was in front of me. I wouldn’t catch him until Copper Mountain Resort. Before that I had to gain the ridge of the Ten Mile Range just south of Peak 5. From there it was steeply downhill to Copper.
As we hiked to tonight’s cabin we passed Restless, Banana Pants and G-funk. All who are NoBo’s. The climb was bad but I was tired as I was hungry. Rafiki once again got way ahead of me and I didn’t catch him until the top. We cooked in a meadow as it was so pretty. We had a great view down the valley we just climbed up.
On the way up we both saw the cutest baby bunny. I’m talking it could fit in your hand. It had to be only weeks old. So cute.
The cabin is one of the Tenth Mountain huts I think. It was unlocked so we’re taking advantage of our good luck.
I went out to get water then came back in took off my shoes and then realized I hadn’t wasted yet. I put my shoes back on than headed back to the creek. As I return I ran into a big ass porcupine under the deck of the cabin. I ran to get Rafiki and the porcupine was gone. Turns out he was just inside this box that held an aluminum ladder. We let him be so he could get out and go about his business. No pictures this time.
Scatman
Brand Ambassador for: Outdoor Research, SuperFeet, Ibex, Julbo, Petzl, Dude Wipes, Platypus, ClifBar and Aqua Mira
@ScatmanAT
Get out there!
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