I caught the tail end of this trip...very cool! It was SOOOO nice getting back out in the middle of nowhere in good company, with good food and good beer. I felt so much better after the black mesa walk (hate to call it a hike.....).
While the campsites were less than phenomenal, I still got to see some cool stuff that I have never seen in the wild. Sunday morning, I took a walk down to an abandond house. While checking things out, I had an unnearving feeling that I was being watched. I kept looking around, not seeing anything, or anyone. As I turned to leave for camp, the corner of my eye caught a pair of yellow eyes staring at me through the window of the house (seriously). Not what I was expecting to see, to say the least! It took a couple of seconds for my brain to process the information, and realize that there was an owl inside the house, watching me and the dog! I have never seen an owl in the wild, and this little guy was perfectly content to have a staring contest at a distance of about 3 feet. Very cool. Pics have to wait...my card reader is in Tucson.
After wandering around a bit more, I made my way back to camp and somem coffee. After sitting for a bit, I noticed 3 black "objects" on the hill across the trail from camp. I had walked through there earlier, and didn't remember them. I started to think I was losing my memory, when they started to move! They were still in the shadows, and were simply black...."things". As they moved into the sunlight, I realized that they were wild turkeys! Again, I have never seen them in the wild...and these guys weren't small. They would have made one heck of a meal, but Cherokee didn't want to go get one for us. They passed on by, within 50 - 75 feet of camp, and headed on up the hill about the time Scott crawled out of the ExpeditionsWest condo. It was a awesome way to start the day.
The rest of the day was relaxed with nothing more than a general destination. Route finding was left for Scott, and was done on the fly. He did an awesome job, and we reached our destination with little difficulty, and a short hike.
On Sunday night, I discovered I had a frozen brake caliper, which destroyed the inner pad on the drivers side front brake system...which destroyed the rotor in the process. Of course, I just put new pads and rotors on it about 10 months ago. Not happy. I limped it into Golden yesterday and put on a new set of pads and replaced the bad rotor. All is well now, getting ready for the next one.
Pics will have to wait....
