We were out of our tents, with sleeping gear put away, by 6 this morning. We had a cold breakfast and were on the trail at 7:40. (I'm not sure why it takes that much time to eat a cold breakfast and get packed up, but that's pretty much been how it is on all the treks I've been on.) Another crew came through, heading north before we left. The nearest camp to the south is Porcupine; they must have been on the trail by 6:30.
This part of Rayado Canyon was much prettier than the upper part. We passed through a string of meadows full of wildflowers and grass in a beautiful valley. I've said it before: who or whatever created this area did a damn fine job.
We had to cross the river a number of times, and many of the crossings were pretty tricky. One, in particular was quite a challenge. There was one spot where there was just no crossing without getting water over our boots, so the guys happily built a bridge using dead logs from the woods. The bridge was pretty precarious, but it got us across.
Colin twisted his ankle on the trail. It doesn't seem too bad, but it has been bothering him off and on during the day.
We saw a string of wild turkeys right near Porcupine Camp. We also saw a number of cows.
At Phillips Junction (8920 ft.) we picked up food for the next two days and took showers. Some of the guys also washed clothes, which slowed us down a lot since they wanted to wait for the stuff to dry.
We left PJ at noon and headed on down the canyon. At the turn up toward Buck Creek Canyon (8800 ft.) we had to cross Rayado River again, and there was no decent way to cross. There was one small tree down across the river, but it was very small and hard to balance on. I ended up taking off my boots and standing in the water to balance people as they crossed. I then waded across with my pack. Now I remember why I had originally planned to bring a pair of sports sandals instead of tennis shoes for my secondary footwear.
We had to climb a fairly steep 4WD road up the side of the canyon. That intersected with a pack trail that went up still further over a hill (9500 ft.). Then onto yet another 4WD road that we followed to the trail down to Buck Creek Camp.
Well, we were supposed to. Unfortunately, we missed the turn. The Scout at the head of the line saw the trail but didn't think that Buck Creek was where we were going. He didn't stop, and the ones behind were too busy following and didn't notice it. We went about a half mile out of our way before I noticed that the road was going in an entirely wrong direction and called for a map check.
We backtracked, and then went on thru Bear Creek 8800 ft.) and Turkey Creek Canyons to Apache Springs (9400 ft). We'll be at Apache Springs for two nights.
Apache Springs features a large meadow. There are a couple of teepees in the middle. The campsites are in the woods around the edge. We were put in a fairly small campsite, but it is comfortable and pretty close to the central part of camp.
While we were setting up camp, a Scout from another crew (one that came in from Buck Creek Camp to do program) came bounding into camp looking for the Red Roof Inn. We pointed him in the right direction, and he headed off at a high rate. He was obviously in quite a hurry. When he came back thru our campsite, we told him that everyone was wondering which dinner he had had. He said that he figured it was the Fig Newtons. We were skeptical that Fig Newtons could have had quite such a powerful effect, when he said "Well, I had 14 of them."
The weather today has been absolutely perfect. We haven't seen a cloud all day. The temperature has been in just that perfect range, warm enough that you're comfortable without resorting to long sleeves, but hiking was still pleasant. I hope that the crystal clear sky holds for tonight; we plan to look for remnants of the Perseid meteor shower.
The guys are wondering what I've been writing in my little book. I told them that I say "Do you know what that idiot Andrew did today?" There, it's true. I did write it.
We had a tasty dinner tonight, and built a fire, the first on our trek. Peter had picked up some Bisquick at PJ and planned to cook pancakes. He never quite figured out how to do that without any kind of oil or grease. He ended up eating the Bisquick raw and dry. Very strange indeed.
At 7:30 we took the hike up the hill to the edge of Philmont to watch the sunset. Since there were no clouds, the sunset was unspectacular. The view back into Philmont was great, though. Not having brought a map up, we couldn't figure out what we were looking at, though.
When it got dark, the view of the sky was phenomenal. The Milky Way was very obvious, and there were zillions of stars. I wish I had a star atlas with me.
We turned in early, planning to get up early to watch for meteors. We were serenaded to sleep (yeah, right) by cows and coyotes.
It was a long hard hike, but a great day. The guys had a grand time building a bridge over Rayado River for one of our stream crossings. (DW)
Today was a long hike, but we made it. Two nights, yeah!!! (MD)
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