Mav, Gaucho, and I had breakfast at the Leadore restaurant, which was delicious. I then walked across the street to the general store and picked up some shredded cheese for making burritos. I also took a trip to the post office to mail some pants and unwanted food back home.
Sam drove 10 of us including Airplane Mode, Boot Scoot, Compass, Dickhead, Underwear, Neon, and others. We all fit in his pickup and headed to Bannock pass. The youngsters immediately took off while the three of us took it easy, and Airplane Mode was dead last. She doesn’t like the heat and hills and goes very slow during the day, but covers a lot of ground when it cools off. On these exposed ridges you can see for miles, so it’s entertaining to watch fellow hikers spread out as they obtain their optimum pace.
The terrain was very tough with the trail climbing up Elk mountain (10,000 feet) followed by a big downhill, followed by another hill, then repeat. Over and over. At the same time it was beautiful. The valleys below have absolutely no sign of humans. No roads, no logging, no houses. This is a very remote and beautiful place.
Eventually Mav, Gaucho and I became separated. I knew Gaucho was behind me and thought Mav was in front, so I kept going until after 8:00 to catch up with him. Eventually it started to get dark and rain so I reluctantly decided I was going to be alone and set up my tent in a draw off the ridge we were walking. I was preparing my dinner when I heard faint voices in the distance. I looked out my tent and here comes Mav and Airplane Mode! They were at a spring off the trail a ways when I passed them earlier. They saw my tent and now all three of us are camped here 😁. Poor Gaucho is still several miles back by himself. I feel bad for him – there was some confusion about where we all were and he got led astray. I hope to see him tomorrow.
We did 19.3 miles today which isn’t bad considering the 10:45 start and the tough terrain. We will need to pick it up though if we are going to make it to Lima by the 30th.