HIKE DAY 2 Sunday, 7/9/00 Old Abraeu Camp (7600') to Urraca Camp (7960') via Urraca Mesa (8430') 830 feet elevation gain/470 feet elevation loss 4 miles hikedIt took our crew about 2-1/2 hours to break camp and hit the trail this morning. Certainly no speed record here. These boys are DEFINITELY on vacation. I spotted a large deer grazing below our bear bags, and we all had to stand and watch it as if it was the first deer we'd ever seen.
We had to hike back through New Abraeu on our way to Urraca Camp via "the Mesa". Our crew started off on the wrong trail again, and Ryan let it go for a while before stopping the boys. We turned back and went up the other trail, and it was at this moment that he chose to tell us this, "You've got the hardest second day itinerary!". Yippee, I droned. I urged him to expand on his statement. He explained that the Mesa, Spanish for "table", goes up- straight up- 830 feet. Great. By the time we get there we will be climbing right during the heat of the day. (It was still morning, and already pushing 80 degrees.)
Yup. Getting a late start on the morning definitely proved to be a bad thing. We were going straight up the Mesa- the south side of the Mesa. Ugh. I am not a big fan of uphill- but that is another story entirely. Compounding the difficulty we faced was the fact that we come from sea level, and our bodies were still trying to acclimate to our already 7600 feet!
I was having a lot of trouble getting air... the boys were barely breathing. What was I doing wrong? I finally got moved to the front (to set the pace), and Bob was right behind me, gasping for oxygen. We climbed the mesa this way until one of the boys (my son) declared that he HAD to go #2... and NOW. Being his mom, I knew what that meant, and expedited his way to the front of the crew. He and Kyle ran up ahead of all of us to take care of things. Ran? Must be nice to be young.
We reached the mid-point of the mesa- the cutoff to Toothache Springs Camp, and took a short break near the water reservoir. The adults needed it anyway. Then, it was back to the uphill battle. When we finally reached the top of the mesa, Oh! What a feeling! And what a view! We sat on the edge and ate our lunch consisting of Ritz crackers, canned chicken salad spread, Oreo cookies, and Gatorade. Ryan started priming us for the Urraca campfire, by telling us the legends of the mesa, and how it is haunted. If you look on a map showing the mesa, you can see a side view of a skull on the top of the mesa (in the contour lines). You can also see an "eye", which has many legends associated with it. Ryan told us we'd hear a lot more about it later at the campfire.
It was very hot, and the hike down the north side of the mesa was a relief after the grueling uphill earlier in the day. We arrived at Urraca Camp just in time to set up camp and get the boys to the program offered here: The Challenge Course. I chose to nap, while Bob did the "Art Wolfe" thing with the wild turkeys. Oh. I mean the boys.... There were also REAL wild turkeys to take pictures of. The boys enjoyed the course, especially the last event involving getting the group over the wall. I can't wait to see the pictures.
This camp also has an animal fondly called "squabbits". They are actually long-eared squirrels, but their funny ears make them look rabbit-like, hence the name. Philmont is full of minibears... Philmont's friendly name for squirrels.
We had our last dinner with Ryan, and knew we would be leaving him behind in the morning. I guess he figured we were ready to turn loose, or else he was just plain sick of us. We asked him what his plans were, and he said he had a few days off and would be meeting up with a couple of friends to sleep on the skull of the mesa- just to have bragging rights. (Was he just trying to scare us?)
Bob and I again attended advisor's coffee. It was getting hard to make coffee in the mornings since by the time the boys got the bear bags down, they loaded up their stuff and wanted to leave. Advisor's coffee was our only hope for caffeine. After the coffee we met the boys for the campfire, which was long, and dry, and very long. I think it lasted about 2 hours, and that's a long time when you're sitting on a log. We were all glad when it ended. The ghost stories were pretty cool though, and several boys refused to walk alone-, which was a good thing in my eyes, due to the buddy system.
It was getting rather late, and we were all glad when the bear bags were finally hung for the night. It had been a long day, and there were more to come. We would need every minute of rest we could find.
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