A quick shower in my new room soon revealed a new, re-energized me emerging from the steam. After dressing and spiffying up, I headed out the door, on my way to dinner.

If the Northgate Inn continues to depress, the Challis Lodge and Lounge, under the care of new owners (and these guys seem to really have it going on), is a bright and shining star, welcoming me back to town. I ordered up the ribeye special and settled in with a full glass of mirror pond pale ale and readied myself for a fine evening. After that yummy meal, I brought out my journal and caught up on everything that had happened since I'd left Denver. That done, I said my thanks and paid my bill and headed back to my room for a bit of t.v. before finally, I called it quits and shut everything down for the evening.

On the morn, I worked through my routine and then grabbed a spot of breakfast, did my shopping, gassed up and headed off to the claim. I said my hello to the folks whose property I cross before hitting the outback and caught up on the goings on since last I was through. Afterwards, I headed over to the shed and off loaded my truck of everything I'd not need on the hill. As I worked, half a dozen ranch dogs made themselves known and my feet were constantly tangled as everyone sought a bit of love or closer to the truth, a scrap of food!

Finally, everything unloaded, I again turned the key and fired up the ol' S-10 and off I went. With all the clay in the soil hereabouts and all the rain that had fallen the day before, I knew it'd be a fun ride up the hill and I wasn't mistaken, even in 4-wheel drive. I swung a bit over this way and then waddled back, sliding over the other way until finally, I shifted into reverse and backed up onto the flat pad I'd call home for the next thirteen days.

Lots of prickly little scrubby plants had taken root and had obviously flourished since my last visit and removing the worst of them from my immediate camp area was my first duty as I began transforming the wilderness into a home away from home. With that accomplished, I began unloading the truck, first off loading the poles I'd use to make the frame work from which I'd stretch my tarp, creating a nice roomy independently standing living area. And so, first the poles came off and then the duct tape came out, followed by my bungee cords and ropes and then finally, I finished up with the actual tarp and after a bit of unfolding/stretching/pulling, etc., fanfare please, an instant camp! And unlike my last extended trip where the winds almost blew me off the mountain, things were perfect and not a breath of wind stirred camp during the entire time I was setting up; what a blessing!

I slept soundly that night all huddled under my sleeping bags in the back of the truck lulled by a steady rain that began soon after I'd gone to bed. In the morning after I'd finished a dozen little chores and with the sun shining, I decided to take off and explore. When last here, I'd found a wild horse trail leading off and into the hills. This super highway was clean of brush and made a great access route leading into new areas to explore. With everything packed and loaded, I was off, walking poles in hand. I took several photos of the scenic areas I walked through and was quite thrilled that in all my journeying, I did not encounter a single rattlesnake. However, washing down a small gulch, I did find several disarticulated horse bones from an animal that had died somewhere on the ridge line up above me. They'd not been there when last I'd passed through and were startling evidence, reflecting how harsh and cruel this wild area can be.

Thankfully, like a blessing, I made it to camp before the storm hit... by ten minutes! And when it hit, it was just like old times, the roar of the thunder and the screaming wind, the rain, the hail and the snow and bam, bam, bam, like a clenched fist, that storm did its best to destroy my camp. The wind came in huge whooping gusts that ballooned up the tarp like a parachute and threatened to send it flying. I had to race, grabbing more ropes and bungees and in that slashing maelstrom of whipping rain, pounding hail and blinding snow, I laid the lines that would hold everything in place. Later, everyone who visited laughed about my spiders web of support lines but heck, I didn't mind, it was from the confines of a secure camp that they teased me and inwardly, I felt quite warm and fuzzy knowing I'd survived another round on the hill!