Spring Break Day 3

Day 3: WolfRun to Windy Gap cabin.

Another pancake breakfast at wolfrun, with ham and cabin Moca, instant coffee with instanr hot coco. Yum. Sun coming in the window at breakfast was so bright we had to wear sunglasses!

Today was going to be an intersting day on the trail. We were going to go through windy gap a gradual climb with a steep decent followed by a creek crossing that could be wet with overflow. Steve did not want me to ski down. He said he would take my skis and I could walk down. He also had some bootied with plastic trash bags in them I could put overmy feet if there was water on the ice. We sat and looked at the map and read the trail conditions afterbreakfast. I was a little nervous.

After another Pancake breakfast and cleaning up the cabin I headed out ahead of the team. Skied about 2 miles before the team caught up. Hooked in again. The trail had some challenging sections and my feet needed some attention. We found some place out of the wind so we could have a snack and I could fix my boots and sox. My cap to my water bottle had froze so I could not open it. Had to borrow water from Steve. We were not really eating lunch so after an hour on the trail I was really jittery and weak, most of the energy bars in my pocket had frozen solid. The one snack that was a quick energy boost that was not frozen were the magic cookie bars I made.

1 1/2 c grahm cracker crumbs (Crush and place in bottom of baking pan)

1/2 cup melted butter, (spread over crumbs)

1 can sweetened condesned milk (Pour over crumbs)
2 cups chocolate chips (spread in a layer over the crumbs)

1 1/2 cup coconut (layer over chocolate chips)

1 cup chopped walnuts (sprinkle on top)

Press down the mixture to consolidate the bars then bake 350 for 30 mins or so.
The result is a high energy bar that tastes great, gives you a boost, but does not freeze solid!

After a snack I had the energy to continue on. The trail was pretty and we passed by some great views of the jagged limestome peaks. Stoped to take lots of photos. We stopped to look at windy arch, a hole in the limestone outcropping at the top of windy gap. The sun was behind it and shone through the arch. When get got to the very top of Windy gap, I took my gloves off to take more photos. Including theses panoramics, click on each one to enlarge.

Me at Windy Gap.

Windy Arch.

The time had come to take off my skis and walk down. The team was ready to go, My hands were getting cold in the wind from taking the photos. It was very exposed at the top of the gap. I got my back pack of the sled and the team raced down the slope into the wooded trail. I was eagar to get out of the wind. The trail was steep. I could have skiied it but I would have been snowplowing the whole way and it would not have been fun. The trail was too narrow for turns and switchbacks. I ran part of the way down.

At the bottom of the hill was a dense mature white spruce forest. It reminded me of the forest around the hot springs in the Jemez and in some areas in the top of the Sandias. There were moose tracks everywhere. The dense forest must provide good thermal cover and make it a favorite hang out spot for the moose. I crossed over a small creek and came to a trail junction where I thought the sign said "windy gap cabin 2 miles." My heart sank, it was supposed to be right here at the bottom of the hill. It was only supposed to be a mile to the cabin from the top of the gap. I took another look at the sign, a branch was hiding the "." in .2 miles. Almost there. I found the booties Steve had left along the trail for me. I continued on to fossil creek, it was a wide stretch of flat smooth ice, no water. So I put on my Microspikes and walked confidently across the ice. It would have been dicy on skis.

When I got to the cabin Steve had a fire going and was tending to the dogs. the cabin was surrounded almost engulfed in overflow ice. I kept my spikes on for walking around outside the cabin and going to the out house. I would hate to fall and get hurt on the way to the outhouse on a trip like this. This was the most remote point in our trip. I took lots of picutes.

Dinner was burritos. We had frozen salsa, frozen guacamole, frozen mexican spiced ground beef, dehydrated refried beans, shreded cheedar cheese and whole wheat tortillas. Where is the letuce and tomato? Another good dinner. I could not finish my second burrito, I was too stuffed.

When Steve was walking around looking for drinking water he fell through the top crust of snow up to his knees in overflow water. It was between 10 and 20 below zero so he hurried inside to change clothes. I placed the icy axe behind the stove and the handle almost melted!

Cutting wood at Windy Gap.

Oh and BTW it is still windy!