Smoldering cow pies (dry) helps keep them away a little bit. I'm getting used to the smell. It's cold up here alone at night at 11,000 feet, so must collect bedding. Ponderosa pine doesn't grow this high, only have a little bit of spruce cones for duff. Cow pies make good insulation from the cold ground. Oh yeah, and I spilled my soap, so can't really wash my hands. As I'm pushing food into my mouth with my fingers, it occurs to me that I'm eating, sleeping and breathing cow shit.
Boulder Mountain is some sort of superlative. It's the somethingest something in the something. Maybe the highest forested plateau of it's size in the U.S. Whatever. It has lots of spruce, lakes and mosquitoes.
I'm up here alone for a few days trying to get from point to point assigned to me. I was supposed to be shadowing students during their solos but so many dropped out of this course that I get to just hang out and hike alone. In the past three days, I went up the mountain, down the mountain, and back up the mountain. I'll go down again tomorrow.
You see more wildlife when you hike alone. Yesterday I saw a grouse hen just up the trail about 10 feet. She was calmly hanging out with her group of chicks. I watched for a while, then had to push on. She got flustered so I veered off trail to ease her mind.
