SUMMARY:  We carry 2 sets of maps—”J-Ley” and “Bear” plus our Garmin GPS. “J-Ley” is good for notes, advice, and suggestions for alternate routes. We did one of those this morning so we could get some water. The “Bear” maps are the ones we use constantly, and the mapmakers do their best. But due to map error, we ended up doing more bushwhacking today.

Up on Black Mountain, the map did not show a trail that was there and could cause hikers to miss a key junction of the CDT. On Nevada Mountain, the map showed a trail that was not there and caused great confusion. We finally got both of those figured out, but it was frustrating.

The trail itself for most of today was horrendously rocky, with steep, long ups and downs. But aside from all that, most of today we had spectacular views that went for miles. There are mountains all around us, and the Divide is not always the highest. But wow such awesome scenery!

DETAILS:  This morning we did a lot of roadwalking, and met a lot of cows and a lot of hunters.  The hunters were all camo-ed up and looking very impressive as they drove by in their pickup trucks.  Some just waved at us, and others stopped to talk.  I meant to ask one of them, but kept forgetting:  “Do you carry a gun at all, or just your bows?  What do you do if you knock down an elk/deer with your bow, but when you get to it, it’s not dead?”  Oh well, I guess some day I’ll find out.

We were on a J-Ley alternate route, because it has water, while the “official” Bear route does not.  That water was our only opportunity for water during this entire day.   We had “where’s the trail??” issues three times today, though, due to map mixups.  The first one was when we were climbing Black Mountain–a long, rough, steep uphill on a FWD dirt “road”.  According to the maps, near the top, the trail would turn off to the right and go onto the east side of the mountain.  We were huffing our way up the steep road, and looking hard for where the trail turned off.  But there was no sign of it, so we kept going, still looking.

Finally the FWD road started heading DOWN the mountain.  This should not be.  For SURE, we had missed the trail.  We turned around and went back, looking very hard for the turnoff.  No luck at all.  So we fired up the Garmin and just started bushwhacking till we finally found the trail again, and yes, it was on the east side of the mountain.  But the maps had not shown the route of the FWD road correctly, so we’d been looking in the wrong place.

A little while later, we’d reached Nevada Mountain.  Here the map showed the CDT had a junction next to the mountain, where we needed to turn right.  Well, we got to where the junction was supposed to be….and there was nothing.  We hunted and we puzzled and finally concluded that the map was wrong and was showing us a junction that wasn’t there at all.  Grrrr.  Out came the Garmin again, and we bushwhacked again for awhile before we finally located the CDT.

Late in the day, the “trail” became a route across the ridgetops in a very cold wind–brrrrr!   But wow, the views!  I tried to take pictures, but the camera just can’t seem to “see” the awesomeness of these massive landscapes.  And the mountains are changing again–becoming more “dramatic-looking”, with rocky cliffs and big drop-offs.  As far as we can see up ahead, there are more and more mountains, crowding higher and higher.  Down below, we get glimpses of valleys.

We were glad to “get horizontal” tonight, though!  We are exhausted from the steep climbs today, and all the bushwhacking.