October 17th
I packed. Lucky and I went to the Gathering Place for breakfast. We discovered another way to tell CDT hikers: smashed smart phone screens. It was a dead heat between which one looked worst. His had more shards, but my screen’s damage spanned a much larger distance.
We ate, got our resupply packages from the post office, and went back to the Toaster House. I repacked and left. Lucky was going to stay for a while. The odd fellow was outside again with a roaring fire, unresponsive to any hello or good-bye.
By 10:30 I was sweating. I retrieved some trail angel water from an animal shelter. It was hot, dry walking along roads without much traffic. The terrain gradually evolved from scrub pines and oaks to Ponderosa and taller trees. I saw a few old abandoned log cabins. I also came across an ironic place. So much of the land is marked with barbed wire and No Trespassing signage. Very law-and-order. I came to a place in the country the owner had decided to name the “Robber’s Roost.” This shrine to the rebellious and unlawful was, of course, surrounded with barbed wire and Private Property, No Trespassing signs.
In the afternoon I came to a water source. The local landowner kept an electric pump near the road where hikers could turn on the pump and get fresh ground water. It was great and cold and I filled up my stomach and my bottles.
Late in the day, the road took me high into a ponderosa public forest, out of the private lands. Sometimes, the transition is not immediate and there are patches of private land. I came across an interesting one. It must’ve had 3o vehicles in various states of repair. There was initially an old bloodhound chained up and he announced my approach. Repeatedly. Later, around car 22, a huge mastiff mix came running towards me with a deep, intimidating bark. We eyed each other, but when I walked past and broke eye contact, he came at me. I reached for my manly umbrella and turned towards the dog and yelled “No!” I couldn’t believe it. It worked. He got a little hurt look in his eyes and stopped short.
I met the owners of this menagerie of cars. Nice beer drinking guy. Told me some good places to camp. He didn’t offer me a beer though.
At last, I reached a crest. A series of utility poles ran up the ridge line. Many times these are a good place to look for camping sites because the utility company will trim trees away crating open spots. I found a great clearing among some pinons and oaks. As I was putting up my tent, I found bear scat with a ton of acorns in it. Great. What is it with bears on this trip? It was old and I figured they are smart enough to know when an area is exhausted, so I didn’t do anything different except hang my food far away.
I did have a small fire using some of the great firewood. Sometimes it is nice and relaxing to have a fire before bed and I enjoyed this one until about 9:30 before putting it out.
backpacking over the hill 