April 16, 2014
Cowboy camped by Holcomb Creek last night. Very cold, water bottles froze and hoar frost covered everything this morning. Up around 6:30; on the trail by 7am as the sun rose and warmed everything up quickly. Hiked eleven miles through fire-scared Holcomb Valley without seeing another soul; very peaceful and remote. Stopped at Splinter's Cabin where I dried out my gear and ate a bit of lunch. Ran into Whiskers and Jack-a-lope (formerly Ryan and Jack respectively) who were arriving as I was departing. Stopped for a few photos at mile 300. As I was removing my camera from my hiking pole, it jumped from my hands and over a precipice; plummeting 15 feet before smashing into the first of several rocks, bouncing off and down another 10 feet before getting snagged by the wrist strap on a small bush just shy of the 50-60 foot drop to the creek. I scrambled down the cliff (mainly) to retrieve the memory card and was amazed to find the camera still in one piece. Made my way back up to the trail and, after a bit of cleaning dust and grit from the lens, was utterly stunned to find the camera still worked! Trail magic? Continued on to mile 306 and a tributary of Deep Creek where I ran into The Count and Bill (of Drew and Bill). Filtered water and took a refreshing dip as Whiskers and Jack-a-lope joined us. Made the last two miles to Deep Creek Hot Springs where I found a sandy spot to cowboy camp. Whiskers and Jack-a-lope soon joined me. Did a little hiker laundry the dinner of pasta puttenesca with meat sauce. Went for a soak in the hot springs (alternating with the cold creek) before turning in for the night.
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