Day 42-Road Walkers

After leaving the trail the night before it started to snow--really snow.  We could only imagine what it was like for the hikers up on the mountains.  We had a mostly pleasant walk on a road along a lake.  

It snowed through the night leaving a light dusting of fresh wet snow on our tent.  We hung around camp waiting for the sun to come out and dry our stuff.  

Two sleeping bags and a tent drying in the sunshine while Portrait and I had breakfast--also in the sun.  

Red Mountain:  the site of past gold mines.  Not much gold was found in the area and the prospectors moved further west.  We walked on a road climbing upwards towards a pass and the trail although we had no intention of rejoining the trail.  

Eventually we hit snow on the road.  We put on the snow shoes and walked on.  It wasn't the same type of snow walking that we would have encountered on trail--there were no traverses and no exposure--just heavy wet snow that stuck to the snow shoes, drenched our feet, and weighed us down.   

Near the end of the day the road we had been following started to descend.  In the valley below was a river and on the banks enjoying dinner was a lone black bear.  We were on the road, thirty feet above him, and able to just watch as he foraged.  After a few minutes he did notice us and he took off running for the trees...the same trees we planned to be camping near.  When we finally arrived at the river crossing we found no bridge.  My feet were dry for the first time since we left Chama five days ago.  We took our shoes and socks off and crossed.  We didn't hike much further before finding a treed area to camp in.