Day 5 – 7-9-99 – Friday

Tom was up at 5. I spoke to Chris F. and asked him if he could make it for the next 2-3 days, or if his toe was so bad that he needed to go back down to camping headquarters and have it taken care of. While he thought about it, several of us went to the yurt to ride mountain bikes – the program at Whitman Vega.

The bikes are all brand new Trek full suspension bikes. They were a gift from AT&T. The mountain bike course is five miles long – one mile uphill, and four miles down. It includes technical rock, trees, and single and double track. It took us an hour to ride, and then it was back to camp to pack up. The weather was cool and drizzly at this time. A nice change from the heat we had experienced the day before.

Chris let me know that he felt he needed to go back to camping headquarters. We had checked with the staff, and knew that a truck would be at Ring Place this morning. So while the others bushwhacked back to Ring, Chris and I slowly walked there. By the time we got to the road, the others had flagged down the truck, and were waiting for us. Chris quickly transferred the tent and other crew gear to others, and with a wave, headed off down the road in the truck. We were all rather sad to see him go, and hoped that he could rejoin us in two to three days.

We got to Ring Place in about 15 minutes, got our food, water, and some fresh oranges. I got the bright idea to take a short cut across a field rather than go out the way we had come in. BAD IDEA! The field turned out to be a swamp – about 4-6 inches of smelly, dirty muck. By the time we got across the field, climbed a fence, and found the road, we were all muddy, wet, and tired. Not one of my better attempts at leading! I should of let the boys lead!

We backtracked our route of the day before to Seally Canyon, where we ate an early lunch. We then headed west, and followed a series of old roads to the west. During a rest break, we heard a terrible noise from the hillside. It turned out to be a huge black bull, and was he ever angry about his territory being invaded by a bunch of backpackers! Darryn decided that it would be fun to shout at the bull, but it was not an idea that the rest of us supported. I for one did not wish to spend the afternoon up a tree!

As we slowly approached the crest of the hill before dropping into the Middle Ponil drainage, Matt M. spotted a bear off the side of the road. It was a blonde male, around 250 pounds, with a cinnamon chest. The bear ran off into the trees, and did not seem to want anything to do with us!

At last we made it to the top of the rise, and descended into the Ponil canyon. Thankfully, it was a short hike into the canyon, but then we had to follow the river to the point it intersected with Greenwood Canyon. But we had a very scenic walk downstream, and soon came to our campsite.

Greenwood Canyon is a wilderness site, with no latrines, fire pits, or the like. After we ate dinner, we visited with our sister crew that had set up camp across the stream. Some of us washed some clothes and ourselves. It was also the first night that it didn’t rain. Darkness came early down in the canyon, and we fell asleep to the sounds of the rivers, and with visions of bears and bulls in our minds.