Working our way towards Baldy from Deer Lake Mesa

On day 6 we departed Deer Lake Mesa at about 6:50am and began our gradual climb down towards the Cimarron River. We saw a buck on the way, keeping our deer-spotting streak alive at 7 straight days.

Crossing the highway and river towards Baldy

After crossing over the river and under the highway we took a break. Feet are sore. The mileage isn't bad (no big climbs) but clearly we're seeing wear and tear on the feet.

Hiking out of Santa Claus

We had a restful lunch in the Santa Claus valley, likely hanging out there too long as it was hard to get moving again.

Hiking through the Ponil fire wasteland

After climbing out of the valley we entered the wasteland remnants of the Ponil Fire in 2002. In middle of the burn area, Jacob yells “FROG!”. It was actually a squirrel climbing a tree. During the entire hike we were dogged by a crew we passed earlier coming up from the river – it made us keep pushing because we hate to be passed.

Matthew lands in the Head of Dean rope challenge

Our program area was not the final camp, but Head of Dean where we would try out some team games (or rather, the boys would). They opted for the shorter course with the highlight being Matthew's face plant into the wall climb (video coming soon).

Posers on the wall

Our last very long day ended at Baldy Skyline camp. We had an outstanding fire ring area there with good sitting logs, though the camp was too slanted for our taste. Here we had probably our favorite meal: Stovetop stuffing with canned chicken.

Updated: