| Leave No Trace
camping was becoming routine by now, so when the Brumbys
packed up to head back south to Ring Place and then to Iris
Park there was no sign of where they camped except for slightly
flattened grass. The freedom of hiking anywhere in the Valle
Vidal was great, but it was accompanied by the responsibility
to behave so no one would even know we had been there. |
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We followed
a compass bearing south toward Ring Place, crossing broad
flat meadows with a view toward Baldy in the distance. We
spread out, practicing "meadow walking" so we
wouldn't create a new trail through the grasses. The terrain
was so flat that when we had to climb a 40-foot rise after
crossing McCrystal Creek it felt like a hill. |
| The Ring Place
staff was as welcoming as they'd been the day before. They
had jugs of bug juice and boxes of fresh fruit. They also
had three programs to offer and we took them up on daylight
astronomy and a navigation course. We passed up the complete
history of Ring Place, which was the old Ring family ranch.
Everyone cued up for the $30,000 Forest Service outhouse,
with a real seat which made the Philmont red roof inns look
downright primative. |
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In the navigation class we discovered
old and new ways to navigate. First, we learned to navigate
by our shadows. Then we each got a GPS, instruction in
how to use it, and a little practice with it. The fun
part was the navigation course, a timed event with clues
scattered across nearly a mile of terrain. You had to
find each clue in order to get to the next one, using
the GPS. It turned out to be a lot of fun.
Back at the cabin, there was a hiker's
lounge in the back with maps and books and well-worn comfy
chairs. It almost seemed like civilization, and the Brumbys
lingered a long time. It was after two o'clock when we
finally headed south toward Iris Park.
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The boys entered the coordinates for
the Iris Park windmill in our GPS and we followed very
nearly a straight line across more meadows and dry lake
beds. Dark clouds came across the sky and we put rain
covers on packs, but it never rained enough to bother
with rain coats.
We passed cattle, calves, and at least
one bison grazing in the distance. It had been a while
since we had fresh meat, so there was some speculation
about whether a pocket knife would suffice to butcher
a calf for dinner. Fortunately, no one wanted to carry
the extra weight and the calf never knew what might have
come of it.
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The crew was
getting very comfortable with all this flat-land hiking.
It was fast and easy. Maybe it was the storm clouds that
really kept everyone moving fast. |
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After crossing upper Seally Canyon
on the dam for an empty pond, the route headed uphill.
The boys opted to follow an old road for a more gentle
climb rather than go straight up through the woods. Neither
way was steep, but we'd gotten out of the habit of climbing.
No need to make it more difficult than we had to.
Iris Park sits in a shallow tree-lined
valley with a meadow and creek down the middle. The GPS
took us straight to the windmill, but we picked a nice
campsite with a pine-needle carpet, well away from the
fragile meadow.
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| This was the
first of our unstaffed camps, so there was no program and
no one to tell us where to camp. The windmill tower had
tumbled and the pump had been electrified by a solar panel.
The stock tank was clean, so it became an attractive bath
tub (no soap, of course). |
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Everyone took
turns getting clean, using our water bucket for actual washing.
There was time for frisbee in the meadow before dinner,
too. |
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Most of our
dinners were one-pot affairs, but this night we actually
cooked mashed potatoes and a rich BBQ beef sauce with peas
in two separate pots because we'd heard that this meal was
much better that way. We even prepared the cooked dessert,
which we often didn't bother to do because they didn't sound
all that great. |
| Each evening
the crew spent a few minutes reviewing the map and planning
the next day's route. As advisors, our job was to sit back
and relax, confident that our crew knew what they were doing
and working well together as a team. |
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At some point in the early evening
we realized that it was Sunday, so we got together for
a short devotional program after dinner. Ours was not
a strongly religious crew, but it seemed important to
spend at least a little time reflecting on the bigger
picture in life.
We went to bed comfortable in our
plan to sleep in the next morning because we only had
a few miles to hike to our next camp.
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