I was done with my very first crew and now it was time for me to find out how hard it was to catch a bus back to base. My plan was to hike from Crags to Zastrow turn around. A pretty straightforward hike, really. The catch was that the two buses scheduled to come that day were both pretty early in the day. I had passed through Zastrow and Carson Meadows a day earlier and both camps had said they'd let me know of the official bus schedule as I passed back through. Carson Meadows had even invited me to lunch.
I packed up and hiked back up to the main trail from Crags camp with my crew that morning. I said good bye as they went one way and I went back the way we had come the day before. I set off at a clip towards Carson Meadows to hopefully go relax for a couple hours. I got there in just under an hour and dropped my pack under a tree near the cabin. I went up to the porch, poked my head in the cabin and asked if anyone knew the bus times. One of the people in the kitchen pointed to a white board on the wall with times scribbled on it. I had already missed the first bus and the second one was scheduled to arrive in about an hour. I definitely didn't have time to stay for lunch. I thanked them for their help and ran back to my pack.
I arrived at Abreu 20 minutes later and scrambled up to the cabin to ask which way would be the quickest way to Zastrow. They told me which path to take and I continued to hurry in that direction. Now, if you aren't used to Abreu's camping area, its quite easy to get lost. It took me awhile to find my way though and get to the path. Once I had, I began running.
Unfortunately, I wasn't completely accustomed to the altitude or the extra weight of my pack yet so I couldn't run for long before I had to walk. I went back and forth between walking and running until I got to Zastrow. When I was just a few minutes out, I came upon a gate. I struggled to open it but to no avail. I didn't have time to get it open let alone figure out how to close it (which was always harder). I was going to have to jump the fence. I took my pack off and tossed it over. And that's when it happened. My nalgene, which was hanging off the side of my pack by a carabiner, got caught on the fence. My pack hung there for a split second before the handle of the bottle snapped. I was pretty frustrated by now but I didn't have time to do much but continue to run.
I made it to Zastrow with about 5 minutes until the bus was scheduled to arrive. I asked the staff member sitting on the porch if it was worth trying to get to the turn around. He delivered the bad news that the bus had gotten there almost an hour early. I had missed it by a long shot.
I plopped down on a bench and stared at my map. There was only one thing I could do that might get me back to base by lunch. Hike to Rayado. Another several miles but this time on a hard dirt road with no shade. Thankfully there were buses in and out of Rayado on a regular basis so it was pretty safe. I sat there for several minutes, dismayed. I really didn't want to do this but I didn't have much of a choice unless I wanted to hike to Lovers Leap turnaroud which was even farther and over a mountain range. Yeah, I didn't want to do that either.
Finally, I got up, lugged my pack back on and trudged off. I was in absolutely no hurry now. Hurrying didn't seem to assure a bus ride anyway. I shuffled along, inwardly moaning and complaining the entire way. The road never seemed to end with just horses and cows for company. Yep, this was a desert ranch alright. I would look up at the power lines running above and mutter, "freaking ranger ziplines", referring to the joke that rangers tell campers; power lines are actually ziplines for rangers so they can get back to base camp faster. The joke was on me now and I definitely wasn't amused.
After almost two hours I made it to Rayado. I had spent so much time moping and dragging my feet that it had taken nearly twice as long as it should have. As I approached the last fence, I could see a bus parked on the other side of the camp unloading a couple crews. I was back to frantically trying to open the gate. I ripped that thing open but I still had to close it. Seriously, why do they make them so hard to close? Nearby, a ranger and his crew were eating lunch at a picnic table. I went over to ask if he'd close the gate for me and then ran off as the bus driver was getting out of the bus to close the back hatch. I composed myself and asked the driver if I could catch a ride to which she kindly replied "of course!"
I climbed onto the bus and slumped down into a seat. That was too much excitement for one day. And on top of that, one of my nalgenes was broken. Oh well, I just wanted a shower and lunch...
Moral of the story: just slow down and enjoy the hike. If you miss the bus, it's really not a big deal. There are plenty of backup options.
P.S. That was the worst bus story of the summer. I had a much easier time getting back to base after that.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I love comments!