As he approached the curve in the trail, he saw that the rock face was cleft by the wide and deep vertical fracture. The ledge and trail followed the rock face around through the fracture to the rock face on the other side. This was unusual because the vertical fracture had to have occurred before the horizontal shift, which formed the ledge, occurred. Dan followed the trail into the vertical fracture and noticed that some of the rock ledge had fallen away in some places, leaving the ledge as narrow as two feet in some areas. Once past the fracture, the ledge returned to four to five feet in width again. The trail continued to follow the ledge still heading east and slightly downward. The ledge began to turn toward the south again where there was another vertical fracture. This fracture was much larger than the first one, and the rock ledge which had once gone along the side of the fracture had almost completely fallen away. The trail continued around the curve, but as it did so it ran downward a very steep angle, the trail was broken and rocky, and several times he was glad once again to have the walking stick. The trail continued down using a series of short steep switchbacks. After dropping about sixty-five feet, the trail ran back out onto another ledge on the west side of the fracture. The trail now traveled west along this ledge. The ledge paralleled the ledge above which means that it was now traveling slightly upward. The trail continued west back to and through the first large vertical fracture. The trail continued to follow the ledge west for about four hundred feet, the ledge continued on, but the trail dropped over the edge of the ledge into a series of difficult and slow switchbacks. The trail dropped about forty to fifty feet before it ran out on another ledge and headed east again. The trail repeated the pattern of before traveling to the second large vertical fracture and working down with even more difficult switchbacks.
After dropping only thirty feet, the trail ran out onto another ledge and headed west again. The trail continued west, pass the first vertical fracture as before. Dan expected the trail to drop off the ledge at about four hundred feet, but it continued to follow the ledge beyond that point. The trail continued following the ledge west and still slightly upward. After traveling west for about a half a mile, the ledge narrowed, and the trail dropped off and traveled down the rock face in a series of narrow and steep switchbacks. The trail dropped at least eighty feet through these switchbacks before the last switchback, which was headed east, ran out onto another ledge. The trail headed east again and traveled back to the first vertical fracture. Just before the trail reached the fracture, the trail dropped off the ledge and into another series of switchbacks. Before Dan continued down the trail, he followed the ledge around to the fracture. There he could see that the rock ledge had completely fallen away inside the fracture. The walls of the fracture were heavily weathered and broken, but he thought it had possibilities. He returned to where the trail dropped over the ledge and started down. The trail used a series of switchbacks to drop about a hundred feet before it ran back out onto a ledge. The trail headed west along the ledge for about two hundred feet before it dropped over the edge of the ledge into a series of switchbacks. These switchbacks and occasional ledges carried the trail to the bottom of the rock face. It had taken a little more than five hours to come down this rock face, which meant that it was almost eleven hours from the mine to here.
It was getting late, but he wanted to look around at the base of the rock face to see if it offered any place to camp before he crossed the creek. Dan dropped his pack on the trail and followed the trail east to where it turned and crossed the creek. There was very little space between the rock face and the creek at the crossing point, but the creek ran from west to east, and the creek was forced to flow around a rockslide just west of the crossing. The eddy during the flooding of the creek had built up an area behind the rockslide. He explored the area but decided it didn’t offer the concealment he was looking for. He crossed the creek and went up the trail on the opposite slope a little way. He turned around to see if he could see any other possible campsites on the south side of the creek. He could see where the trail ran across a ledge before it dropped down to the creek where he had left his pack on the trail. The ledge ran only a short distance to the west of where the trail crossed it, but as he looked farther to the west, he thought he saw that the ledge began again about two hundred feet up the creek at the edge of a stand of pines which grew between the rock face and the creek.
Dan went back toward the creek, so he could travel along the creek toward the stand of pines. The ledge did begin again and appeared to run behind the pine trees, but there wasn’t a way up to the ledge from this point. He continued up the creek until he reached the other side of the trees. The ledge ran out from behind the trees and continued west. About twenty-five to thirty feet west of the trees an old rockslide had fallen across the ledge and into the creek. This forced the creek to flow around the rockslide and over time built up the soil where the trees are now. The rockslide more importantly provided access to the ledge. He wasted no time in returning back to the creek crossing to get his pack. Once back to the rockslide he crossed the creek and moved around the edge of the rockslide to the east side to where the rockslide had run out against the rock face. As he had hoped, the downstream side of the rockslide had been less affected by the annual flood of the creek. He was able to climb up to the ledge without much difficulty. Once on the ledge, he headed toward the trees. He dropped his pack on the ledge at the beginning of the trees. He pressed himself against the rock face and forced his way through the outer branches at the rear of the trees. Once in the edge of the trees, he could see the ledge ran through the trees to the other side about forty feet away. There were few branches on the rock face side of the trees. He moved in behind the trees trimming the tree branches as he went. Reaching the middle of the stand of trees he turned and looked out toward the creek. He was at least ten feet above the creek, and though he could see light at the base of the trees, when he looked out from the ledge, he could not see through the trees at eye level. He knelt down to the level of the ledge and still could not see through the trees. Dan smiled, how many times had he seen people forget about their feet when they try to conceal themselves. This was almost perfect, it provided concealment, but the sound of the creek would prevent him from hearing anyone approaching. He went out and returned with his pack frame, being careful not to damage the tree branches at the edge of the trees as he passed through them.
Dan settled in for the night. He cleaned off about twelve feet of the ledge area behind the trees from just inside the tree line on the west end to just past the area he would need for Alice and himself. He removed any fallen limbs, pine cones, and rocks from the area being careful not to throw the debris over the edge of the ledge and let it fall on the ground below, but placed it on the ledge just to the east of the area he was preparing. Then he gathered pine needles for use under the bedrolls. Dan was not sure of how he would use this campsite, but it was a day’s travel from the last campsite, and it did offer concealment. Until he actually got closer to the Jackson Ranch house, he wouldn’t know if this was close enough for his cache site or not. He was also concerned that if the north face of ridge #1 was as difficult as the face, he had just come down, he would have to travel up it during the daylight. Dan continued to think about these problems as he set up camp. He prepared a bedding area for Alice at the west end of the cleared area and one for himself on the east end. He prepared an area against the rock face in the middle of the cleared area for a small fire. To screen the fire from view he hung Alice’s ground cloth from some branches near the front of the ledge, being sure that bottom laid on the ledge. He wasn’t going to have a fire tonight, but he might need one later or on the way out. By the time he got the screen made and his bedroll laid out it was almost completely dark there in the trees. Staying close to the rock face he went to the edge of the trees and looked out. The moon was not up yet, and the last of the daylight was fading. He returned to the area behind the screen and lit a match to have enough light to find his pack fram
e without tripping over it. He opened a flap on the side of his leather pack and removed a small candle and lit the candle with the match. With the light from the candle, he removed from the pack frame the jerky, hardtack, and canteen for dinner. He blew the candle out and sat on his bedroll and ate. He was sure the candle could not be seen from beyond the screen and trees, but he did not want to burn it any longer than he needed. As he ate, he thought about tomorrow, he would leave his pack and rifle here and carefully explore the south side of the ridge before crossing over to the north side. He wasn’t going to go all the way to the ranch, but he had to know more about the north side before he could plan their trip back out over ridges #1 and #2.
Not long after he had finished his hardtack and jerky, it began to get a little lighter inside the trees. He waited another thirty minutes before he rose and walked west on the ledge and out through the trees. The moon was almost full and rising above the eastern end of the ridge he was on. There was enough light to travel down the trail to the creek crossing, but not enough to see the stones in the creek. He crossed the creek carefully and went along the creek back to where the game trail crossed the creek. He then followed the game trail toward the trees on the south slope of ridge #1. Once in the trees it was as he expected, the trees blocked most of the moonlight, but enough came through the Ponderosa pines to occasionally light the trail or the trees near the trail. This provided enough light in most places to see the edge of the game trail outlined against the pine needles. He could travel the trail in the trees if he moved slowly. He broke out of the trees at the base of the slope into the moonlight opening near the creek. He moved to the west along the creek returned to his campsite for the night, hopeful that trees near the ranch house would allow as much light for travel.
Dan had already finished his breakfast of jerky and hardtack when it began to get light. He would have liked to be out on the trail by now, but he had camp business he had to take care of before he could leave. He took a day’s ration of jerky and hardtack from the food sacks and then used the quarter inch rope to cache his food supply in one of the pines overhanging the ledge. He removed his leather pack from the pack frame and set it aside. He rolled up his bedroll and placed it against the rock face, placed his high-top boots on top the bedroll and placed the pack frame over them with the packs down. He gathered as many stones as he could from the ledge and placed them on the pack frame. He was sure that this would keep the small animals out of his gear and hope any of the larger animals would not find his campsite. He added the jerky and hardtack to his leather pack and placed the pack on his back. After carrying the pack frame for so long, the leather pack felt almost weightless. Dan listened carefully to the sounds of the morning for any sounds of human activity but heard none. With his walking stick in one hand and the moccasins and socks in the other, he left the concealment of the pines and started down the ledge toward the creek. Reaching the creek, he stopped and rolled his pants up and waded across the creek, stopping in the middle to refill his canteen. Once across the creek he stopped to put on his socks and moccasins and started up the trail. He didn’t mind getting his socks and moccasins or boots wet if he had to, but he didn’t want to walk around in wet foot-gear if he didn’t have to. As he moved away from the creek several less traveled game trails joined or crossed the trail, he was on. He had chosen to wear the moccasins today because they would leave almost no trace when he walked in the dirt of the trail on the south side of the ridge. He continued up the trail as quietly as possible, occasionally pausing to listen. The trail climbed the ridge using long switchbacks and short vertical runs. It took less than two hours to reach the ridge.
He slowed as he neared the top of the ridge. He found a point where he could look over the top of the ridge without exposing himself. He couldn’t see the ranch house from there, but he had not expected to. The land in front of him sloped away from the bottom of the rock face below him. There was a low ridge that splits off from the rock face to the west of his position, then angled off toward the east-northeast creating the valley where the ranch house was located. The ground, including the low ridge, was covered heavily with Ponderosa pines, but after three miles they began to thin and become scattered across the grassland beyond. He could see a creek flowing north out onto the grasslands and a thin line which was the ranch road going away to the northeast out of the valley. The pine trees below him were so thick that you could only see the rock face from the other side of the creek once you were out of the trees or from beyond the trees. If seen from beyond the trees the distance would be too great to tell if he was a man or an animal. Dan watched the area along the base of the rock face for about twenty minutes before he crossed over the top of the ridge and started down. He moved steadily down the trail. The trail was good with moderate switchbacks and occasional steep vertical runs. Some of the vertical runs were pretty steep, but passable with a walking stick or one hand on the ground. This rock face like all the other north faces of the ridges was covered with sparse ground cover and a few trees. At the east end of one of the switchbacks near the bottom of the rock face, he found a large rock and some thin brush that he could use for concealment. From there he could see that the creek ran along the base of the rock face. At a point, a little more than a quarter mile east of his position the creek turned away from the rock face and ran into the trees to the north. He assumed this was the creek he had observed from the top of the ridge that ran north out of the trees onto the grasslands.
Dan didn’t go any lower on the rock face for fear he might be seen from within the trees. He thought about his options, it was just a few minutes past noon, if he returned to camp, it would be almost 5:00 when he got back and too late to do anything. He decided to stay where he was and wait for sunset. He took advantage of the inactivity and try to get some sleep. He laid down behind the rock and got as comfortable as he could and pulled his hat over his eyes and went to sleep.
Dan did not know how long he had been asleep, but something had woken him up. He lay there motionless, listening. After a few minutes, he heard an unfamiliar sound approaching, looking up he was surprised to see a vulture soar by not more than ten feet overhead. He smiled, with all the time he had spent outdoors, this was the closest he had ever been to a flying vulture and wind through his flight feathers was something he had not heard before. He watched as the vulture continued east along the rock face then turned out over the trees. It made a large circle out over the trees, then returned to the rock face to ride the rising wind to a higher elevation to start its’ circle again. Dan knew many of the ranch hands would return to the ranch by sunset for dinner, so as the sun began to set he worked his way down the rock face to the creek below. He wanted to have a chance to look into the trees beyond the creek before it became completely dark, and to travel from the creek to the camp by moonlight. He did not want to cross the creek and leave any tracks, so he looked into the trees and studied the ground from the creek to the trees. The trees appeared to be Ponderosa pines with occasional clusters of other varieties. In the light, he had and the distance across the creek he could not see any horse tracks. About an hour and a half after it had become dark, the moon rose above the east end of the ridge. Dan waited for about twenty minutes, and then he started up the rock face. He tried to imagine how fast he would be able to travel with Alice, the switchbacks were easy, but some of the vertical runs were slow because you could not see the footing well enough. He reached the top of the ridge in less than three hours and started down the south side. It was darker in the trees, and his eyes had to adjust a little. The upper part of the trail went well, but a short stretch of the trail in the middle was darker than the rest, and he had to move carefully. When he emerged from the trees at the bottom, he was surprised by how much lighter it was. He then moved carefully west along the creek toward his campsite. He crossed the creek after removing his socks and moccasins.
Back in the shelter of the trees at his campsite, Dan felt that he could relax for a change. He moved down
the ledge to the camp area and once behind the ground cloth screen he lit the candle. He opened a can of beans to go with the hardtack and jerky and settled down. As he ate the cold beans and jerky, he thought about the events of the past two days. It had taken him three hours to get up the ridge and two hours to get down to the campsite. He thought it would take an hour or two to get to the ranch house. That would mean it would be six to seven hours to get from the house back to this camp, but with Alice, it could take eight hours. He was now confident he could travel from the creek on the north side of ridge #1 back to this camp in the moonlight because he had just done it. He had not seen any place on either side of ridge #1 to create a shortcut, so he would have to return to the north face of ridge #2. He had almost a hundred thirty feet of the half-inch rope left. He had looked carefully at the vertical fracture that the trail had first traveled through and he was sure he would be able to make a shortcut that would gain them some time. With a plan in mind, Dan settled into his bedroll to get a few hours’ sleep before sunup.
High Country Rescue Page 10