Wow this was a very long and tough day.  Lots of PUDs (pointless up and downs) on the official CDT around Mt Taylor.  We didn’t take the Mt Taylor alternate over the top because Pat was concerned about his infected foot.  But with all the PUDs I suspect we actually did more work than the alternate.  Damn – I really wanted to see the top and the views. I should have just taken the alternate by myself and then met up with Pat on the other side. We haven’t been walking together all that much these days anyway – just meeting up for snacks now and then and camp.

There were several beautiful sections where the trail entered park-like grassy fields under ponderosa pines.

At one point I took a nap in my mosquito shelter. This is a small pyramid of mosquito netting that I hang from a branch and anchor the bottom with my pack and shoes. It was awesome.  No flies or skeeters can get to me!😁

We finally made it around Mount Taylor and are camped at the edge of a clearing in some trees near a cow water tire (which is our water source).  These water tires are common out here and consist of an old tractor or mining truck tire laid flat and filled with water. This one had a pipe in the center and a float so it is somehow connected to a spring or well. There are a lot of creatures in the water and my Sawyer micro squeeze sucks!  No throughput.  I have to squeeze as hard as I can just to get a trickle through that POS.  Barb is mailing my full size Sawyer to Ghost Ranch. The water tastes terrible.  Kind of an acidic lemonade aftertaste.  If you shake it in the bottle it will form a 1/4 inch layer of foam.  Yuck!

Doubledown, Smackdown, and Human Torch are also camped here tonight.  A guy named Ecstasy got some water but left. I noticed a lot of wild chives all around.  These should be good to add to my dinner tonight. The mosquitoes have finally caught up with us and this may be the end of cowboy camping for me.