Author: Jim, Sagebrush

Day 7, Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Start 02-135XR, mile 1550.3
End near 04-029RX McCarty Canyon Road, mile 1571

A few minutes on the trail, the forest parts, and a mountain meadow comes in view, with wildflowers and small round cacti.

No path is worn through the grass, so cairns mark the trail.

The trail alternates several times between meadow in the heights and forest in the low areas.

Ahead we can see a transition to a vast area of rolling grassland in a great basin. My camera can only capture a tiny bit.

Grassland with sagebrush is the order of the day, with a few scrub trees in low areas, and infrequent creeks.

Antelope stay in the distance, too far for my camera to capture well.

The path is two-track dirt road most of the day. This horned toad likes the dirt.

The CDT delights once again with a rather sharp transition to a different ecosystem.

[Finished audiobook The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson]

Day 5, Sunday June 21, 2015
Start 01-128WT creek on Stock Driveway, mile 1528.4
End Battle Pass 01-212TH, mile 1536.8

My hiking plan showed the first trail town, Encampment, as optional. It is only three days away from the next trail town, and I do not like to space them too close together. For one thing, hikers overeat in towns to make up for lost calories, and too much town food makes a hiker bloated and sluggish when stating the trail again.
So Encampment was optional, if my food supply could stretch all the way to Rawlins, which might happen if I was able to hike several days of twenty-plus miles. But the trail had other ideas…
Also, Encampment is known as a tough hitch. I like to avoid those.
But I do not have enough food to last to Rawlins, so Encampment here I come. Besides, a hamburger would be mighty fine after six days of hiking.
The descent down to Battle Pass was wet with snow melt, making the trail a creek. No mind, I’ve gotten rather used to wet-foot hiking these past days. My new shoes dry out quickly when the path is dry again– just hike for a couple of hours and the wet sensation is gone. And wool socks have kept my feet warm enough though miles of slushy snow.

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