We
started out pretty well, and were out of our campsite by 7:15. But it was
8:00 by the time we started out of the canyon.
We got up at 5:45, didn't heat any water for hot chocolate, and planned to eat breakfast while on the trail. (This was suggested by the advisors of our sister crew.) We planned to be on the trail by 7.
We
started out pretty well, and were out of our campsite by 7:15. But it was
8:00 by the time we started out of the canyon.
The trail was as advertised. The morning was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky. It was warm, though, which made the hike more difficult. Also, several scouts hadn't brought enough water and ran out.
There was a new trail from the Turkey Creek Canyon Turnaround (where the trail crosses the highway) to Vaca Camp, through which we needed to pass. The trail was only opened a week earlier. We had an approximate position for it marked on our map, but it was extremely approximate. The trail was obviously done by one of the Order of the Arrow trail crews, since there were many OA symbols arranged out of rocks. Several of the water diversions, for example, were shaped like arrows, complete with Brotherhood bars.
I was struck by the incongruity of sitting eating lunch, listening to traffic swishing by on the highway below. I thought we had gotten away from all of that.
It was a much better trail than the old one by all accounts, but we didn't know where we were. We came upon a couple of first-day-out crews with their rangers who were supposed to stay at Vaca camp, but they were having trouble finding it. They had found a sump and bear cable, but no fire ring or camp number. They thought they were at Vaca, but weren't sure. We later discovered that Vaca was a couple of miles further down the trail. We think that they were in a camp that was used by the trail crew.
We finally arrived at Harlan Camp a little before three, hot, tired and irritable. It was too late to do shotgun shooting today, but we could do shell reloading today and shooting tomorrow.
Our campsite was in "Lower Harlan", over the top of a ridge east of Harlan.
It was a very nice camp, with enough scattered trees for shade, but plenty
of open flat places for tents. It is, unfortunately, in exactly the opposite
direction from our departure tomorrow to Aspen Springs.
After dinner, five of the scouts went to "Harlan Downs" for the burro racing. This was unlike the racing we did in New Abreu in 1994. There is no saddling of the burros. Each crew gets a burro, and they must coerce or cajole it from the end of the field, around a post, and back. Our crew came in near the end in their first heat, and second in the second heat. Not a bad showing.
After the races, Don, Eric, Matt, Dustin, Peter, and I climbed up to the
top of the ridge to watch the sunset. The view was spectacular. There were
huge thunderheads to the north and east of us, and we could watch the lightning
coursing through them. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy for many stars.
We stayed up watching the lightning until 9:45. It was quite a spectacle.
Coming down the back of the ridge in the dark was an interesting experience.
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