CDT – Day 64 – Janet’s Hut to Tennessee Pass

6/27/15 Day 64, Janet’s Hut to Tennessee Pass M1829.3 10,508′

Tent – Nights Spent Alone: 7

15.7, 1172.6 Trip Miles

Mostly Sunny

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

# of Zero days: 6

6:39 am to 11 am and 7:23 pm to 8:20 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

2 Marmot

2 Deer

2 Prairie Dogs

1 Fox

1 Chipmunks

1 Squirrels

1 Mole

Totals

1) 530 Pronghorn*

2) 169 Elk

3) 119 Lizards

4) 116 Wild Horses

5) 113 Chipmunks

6) 75 Deer**

7) 40 Cotton Tail Rabbits

8) 35 Squirrels

9) 35 Ground Squirrels

10) 29 Marmot****

11) 28 Prairie Dogs

12) 22 Horny Roads

13) 17 Jack Rabbit***

14) 11 Moose

15) 8 Snakes

16) 8 Pika

17) 4 Coyotes

18) 5 Moles

19) 2 Fox

20) 2 Porcupine

21) 2 Rattle Snakes

22) 2 Toads

23) 1 Mouse

24) 1 Skunk

25) 1 Weasel

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

The hut was nice but I slept very warm. As usually I didn’t want to get up. Then the thought I had to get to the PO before noon motivated me.

The hike up to Searle Pass, 12,044′ wasn’t bad as it was only three tenths away. We sided hills through some beautiful high meadows and cross a few high points then descended to Kokymo Pass, 12,024. From there it was all downhill. Well for a while.

We climbed along Hwy. 24 to Tennessee Pass. Short on time we hitched to town from the first road crossing which was three miles short of the pass. It worked out as I made the PO and went back out to hike those three miles later.

In town it was frustrating at first as planning my mail drop on July 4th was proving hard. Then as things do it fell into place. I stood around in the sun a lot in town as Rafiki and I kept running into NoBo and other curious soles. We had beer and BBQ as there was a festival going on in town. Main Street was closed.

Around 3 pm I was crashing and we made our way to a pizza place for food. There Tony Quinn a guy we meet from VT who worked at UVM (Rafiki works there) joined us then Moist, Abu, and Cookie Monster joined us.

I decided to hike solo so when Rafiki walked to the store I followed and planned to hitch back to the trail. I came out of the store and found The Gumps, Seth and Genny. Us three hitched backed to the trail and Rafiki stayed in town to meet a friend.

I got a hitch first, from three very nice kids. Asked lots of questions and were super cool. Once to the trail I powered out the three miles. Along the way I stopped for water. When I packed my water on my pack I thought I saw a pile of rocks in the field near me. I looked again and it moved. It was an amazingly beautiful fox. Big bushy tail and he/she had a coat that was red and brown. Almost spotted but big patches of color. Very cool.

I found The Gumps not far from the pass, I cooked a small dinner in a sea of mosquitoes and here I am.

Scatman

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Get out there!