Journal July 14th Meadows and Forests Forever
We continued our walk along FS road 274, passing an old RV trailer with no one home but a horse and an underfed and overly friendly dog. Likely a shepherd’s camp. The dog, a puppy really, follows us for over a half mile wanting companionship or food or both, but we finally convince it to return to it’s vacant camp.
The road was a roller coaster walk keeping at the 9,500 to 10,000 foot level for the first 8 miles. One section was cross country cutting off a big, unnecessary loop in the road. It was rough with a lot of brush and downed trees as well as a small ravine. Although it was shorter than the road it didn’t save much time, but it was at least a nice diversion from road walking.
From the occassional view point, we could see more mountains in the distance. But for most of the day the views were limited to fields, nearby ridges and knolls and the abundance of wildflowers. Several elk and deer added a diversion to scene.
Back at mile 8, where the road ends, a new trail for 2009 eliminates a diffficult bushwhack. The new trail has reasonable tread but with a fair amount of up and downs and it’s longer than the map shows, by a couple of miles. A couple of miles may not sound like much, until you’re racing the setting sun to see if you can make it to a spring and flat spot to camp.
As the sun set, we walked into the evening up Rio Vallecito, or as close to the Rio as the barbed-wire private property fence would allow. Much rougher walking the fence line than the jeep road beside the stream.
We don’t make it to the spring we had set as our goal, missing it by a couple miles, so we settle for a “make do as we can” camp at Placer Creek where it meets Rio Vallecito. It was simply getting too dark to walk further up the tree lined canyon with more vertical than horizontal land in sight.
It’s a cold and damp evening by the creek. Both cold and damp are conditions that are unusual for this trip so far. The novelty wears off and discomfort sets in quickly. At least it’s cold enough to keep the swarm of mosquitos from staying out once it got dark.
Coyotes howling in the distance echo off the canyons as we settle in for the night.
18.5 miles
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