Outdoor Adventures with Ancient Brit
PCT 2002 - May 20th
Day 41: Monday 20th May Piute Mountain Road – Road SC47
“Cloudwalker” and “Billy Goat” left at 6am while I was still eating breakfast. The
weather was stormy with sunny periods and occasional heavy showers. At the Kelsey
Road I caught up with “Cloudwalker” and “Billy Goat”, who were being fed by “Honey
Bear” and Mary. My second breakfast was a chicken stew provided by “Honey Bear”, a
big improvement on my normal fare.
We now returned to the desert, but not with the normal desert weather. The
temperature was dropping and by lunchtime there were flurries of snow driven by the
increasing wind. We passed the remains of the Sunset and Danny Boy Gold Mines,
which had been operative well into the 20th century.
We camped early in the deteriorating weather. “Billy Goat” found a sheltered spot
among the rocks and I put up my tent in the partial shelter of a rock and
“Cloudwalker” tried to get shelter from a Joshua Tree. It had been a rough day for
“Cloudwalker” who didn’t like the weather and who had been struggling with a knee
injury. He was taking quite a lot of painkiller to keep himself going when he would
have been more sensible to take a rest. The wind strengthened again in the evening
and its direction shifted so that neither “Cloudwalker” nor I were getting any shelter.
I had to stone down the tent pegs to stop the tent blowing away.
Day 41: 18.1 miles 7.15 hours Camp: Road SC47
“Cloudwalker” and “Billy Goat” left at 6am while I was still eating breakfast. The
weather was stormy with sunny periods and occasional heavy showers. At the Kelsey
Road I caught up with “Cloudwalker” and “Billy Goat”, who were being fed by “Honey
Bear” and Mary. My second breakfast was a chicken stew provided by “Honey Bear”, a
big improvement on my normal fare.
We now returned to the desert, but not with the normal desert weather. The
temperature was dropping and by lunchtime there were flurries of snow driven by the
increasing wind. We passed the remains of the Sunset and Danny Boy Gold Mines,
which had been operative well into the 20th century.
We camped early in the deteriorating weather. “Billy Goat” found a sheltered spot
among the rocks and I put up my tent in the partial shelter of a rock and
“Cloudwalker” tried to get shelter from a Joshua Tree. It had been a rough day for
“Cloudwalker” who didn’t like the weather and who had been struggling with a knee
injury. He was taking quite a lot of painkiller to keep himself going when he would
have been more sensible to take a rest. The wind strengthened again in the evening
and its direction shifted so that neither “Cloudwalker” nor I were getting any shelter.
I had to stone down the tent pegs to stop the tent blowing away.
Day 41: 18.1 miles 7.15 hours Camp: Road SC47
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Piute Mountains
Mary and Cloudwalker
Billy Goat