I heard myself saying after yoga yesterday that “summer’s half over”, in response to, “What big plans do you have for the summer?”, and it was only July 1st.  A lame answer, considering it’s just really warmed up, the tomatoes on the deck are just reaching the top of their wire cages, and the snow’s not yet melted enough to get up in the high country of the San Juan’s.  But on the horizon is our new tradition of late summer hiking in Switzerland and that’s just around the corner (…not too late to join us). It sure feels like summer’s slipping by.

We’ve now had our 2nd Warmshowers guest cross-country cycle tourer stay with us, and that always puts things in to prospective.  They’ve already cycled half way across the states by the time they reach Durango and it’s easy to wonder, once again, what we’ve done.

Felix is a German cyclist who just recently graduated from university in Geology and is starting his Master’s in the Fall.  He started on the East Coast and with occasional help from AmTrack ($10 to take your bike) has seen more of the East Coast than I have, and still has 3 months left to devour the West. His bike was fitted with the latest in German cycle technology: front dynamo hub for charging all his electronics, rear 14 speed internal hub so he didn’t use a derailleur, and all the kit in-between.  I couldn’t lift his bike loaded and he still had a newly purchased Osprey backpack filled with about 7 liters of water for the upcoming desert sections.

The day Felix arrived from Pagosa Springs I’d just finished an epic overnight backpacking trip.  Eager to get back on the trail, I chose a loop I’d done previously in the lower San Juan’s adjacent to our newly designated Hermosa Wilderness Area.  The earlier trek started from the northern access and measured approximately 24 miles.  Definitely doable, especially since I was going solo and trying out a near SUL backpacking setup.

SUL is Super Ultra Light and means a base weight of under 5 pounds. The pack, and load on by shoulders, weighed in at 6.38 pounds, however I was also trying out a minimal fanny pack with 24 ounces of gear that is normally in my back pack, so in honesty the base weight was 8.15 pounds including 1.15 pounds of electronics.  This was by no means minimal as I still had a 2 person tent with mosquito netting and floor, a 20° sleeping bag, pad and down parka, long pants and rain suit, however quite a contrast to Felix’s 100 pounds of gear.

I wanted to start in the south closer to home and there by neglected to add in the access mileage to the bottom of that previous loop that we drove to: an extra 5 miles each way.

I never realized this fact until I arrived at the Loop’s Trailhead some 4.78 miles in a that gave me the incentive to “knock-off” at 16 or 17 miles the first day.  As it was I logged 21.5 because I wanted to get back down to a creek-side meadow with water and flat ground.

The next morning trail map says “Route finding may be difficult in this area” and it was. Late spring rains produced tall grasses and the seldom used trails became even more obscure every time the trail flatten out. The GPS track on my iPhone came in handy when trying to make a choice on which meadow exit track to follow.

It was in one of these lush meadows that I almost bumped into a small bear standing inside a young 6′ pine pursuing I know not what.  The tree was jiggling and I stopping to discern if it was wind and soon realized that the light brown shading inside the rich green needles was the cause.  Backing off with arms raised I retreated to the creek bank to reconnoiter an alternate route thru the valley.  As I was considering the choices I looked up to notice another bear just above the same trail I’d walked toward the first.  Not sure if it was just the same bear moved or a second and possible “mama” bear, I decided across the creek was the best option.  Neither bear seemed to notice me.  [Photo from Earth Times . org] I didn’t think it was prudent to pull out a camera.

Other than a two day hike, a little electrical sleuthing for my brother-in-law Chris (switching a 3-phase compressor over to single-phase) and an evening with Mike Taylor practicing flycasting in a local lake (I now caught 3 fish 5 attempts in 10 years), one wonders how you ever had time to work.