7/15/15 Day 82, Silver Pass M2174.2 to Knoll M2203.2 10,817′
Tent – Nights Spent Alone: 10
829, 1545.7 Trip Miles
Partly Sunny – Rain and Hail
Day’s of Snow: 8 – Day’s of Rain: 32 – Days of Hail: 16
# of Zero days: 7
6:22 am to 7:00 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
Wolf
Buffalo
Critter Count
15 Whistle Pigs
7 Elk
7 Deer
6 Chipmunk
1 Pika
Totals
1) 530 Pronghorn*
2) 331 Elk
3) 159 Chipmunks
4) 125 Marmot****
5) 119 Lizards
6) 116 Deer**
7) 116 Wild Horses
8) 50 Squirrels
9) 48 Pika
10) 46 Ground Squirrels
11) 41 Cotton Tail Rabbits
12) 30 Prairie Dogs
13) 22 Horny Roads
14) 17 Jack Rabbit***
15) 12 Moose
16) 8 Snakes
17) 5 Coyotes
18) 5 Moles
19) 3 Porcupine
20) 2 Fox
21) 2 Rattle Snakes
22) 2 Toads
23) 1 Mouse
24) 1 Skunk
25) 1 Weasel
*181 from car, **4 from car, ***1 from car, ****2 from car
The tree above me was dead so it constantly kept dropping needles on my tent. The ear plugs helped but I knew the sound so it was hard to ignore. Later we got rain, but I have no idea how long it lasted.
It was another wet morning followed by about 8 miles of mud and cow shit. At times you couldn’t tell which you were walking in. It’s not like my feet don’t smell like I have Trench Foot already. I didn’t need 8 miles of Fesses Smoothy to add to the smell. It was also very hard to keep your footing as it was so greasy.
After Elwood Pass it got better and the sun was out for a good while. We made good time and had 15.3 miles in by 12:30 pm. We had lunch on a small knoll and enjoy the view.
Around 4 pm we got caught in a rain and hail storm. There was thunder too but I never saw lightening. We waited out the worse of it and moved on. We didn’t get far before we had to climb a saddle over 12k. With another round of thunder upon us we hunkered down in some large trees. More hail and rain fell but not for long.
We saw our window and made a break for the pass. We made it without incident. The view shortly after the top blew me away. I thought the San Juan’s were done blowing my mind. I was happily wrong. The view was breath taking. That same view is where I’m camped tonight. I’m pretty much just across the valley.
I saw elk, deer, marmots, chipmunks and pika today. I saw something that looked like a chipmunk but it was too big. I thought ground squirrel but it wasn’t right. I couldn’t count him. I can’t believe I haven’t seen a bear yet! I’m sure to see the by Yellowstone but I’m just surprised.
Scatman
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Get out there!
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