Friday, July 9, 2021

OBC Day 8-The Best of Bests


Good morning Day 8!

Shirk Ranch main house. 

We discovered (not really surprising) that there were critters living around the abandoned ranch. Jana left a bar out, and woke up to some biggish critter going for it. I heard some messing around on my bike, and scared of a smaller bugger. Nothing was eaten or destroyed. 

Right out of the gate (no pun intended), we started climbing out of the valley. It was a couple miles long climb. If it hadn’t been so rutted and rocky, more of it would have been rideable. 

Looking back toward the valley we just left. 

Note the haze of smoke in the air. 

As we came upon Jacob’s Reservoir, I saw a coyote running away. But, mostly there were tons of antelope. 

Jacob’s Reservoir

This is just a small amount of the antelope that we’re grazing near the reservoir. 

We continued to see lots of Antelope as we made our way toward Hart Mtn. 


Hart Mtn in the distance. 

We had planned to get water a a source that RWGPS said was likely year round. Well, either the POI was in the wrong spot, or we just read the map wrong (likely). We were a little concerned, but to no avail. We came down toward some trees and there was Guano Creek. 



Our lunch spot. 

We ate lunch and filtered water from the creek, getting rid of the disgusting Catnip Reservoir water. It was so great to have nice, cold, good tasting water again. This was the best lunch spot of the whole trip!

We had the final two climbs of the whole route to do in 7 miles before getting to Hart Mtn campground and hot springs. The first one was the longest at over two miles. But, it was really a nice climb. It was really the best of all the long climbs. There was only one short bit that I walked. There was periodic shade, and lots of vegetation. There was also a creek crossing that soaked my feet. 

Nice climb, even when it was 9%.

Happy for a break in the shade!

The foot soaking through Guano Creek. 

Moths and butterflies at the edge of the creek. 

We came down a substantial amount, then did the last climb of .92 miles. It was pretty easy. 

Next thing we knew, we were at Hart Mtn CG and HS. 

Campsites are free (like Virgin Valley)

We have a site not far from the hot springs. There is a fairly developed one that is a bit warmer than Virgin Valley. 

Stone wall enclosing the pool. 

Nice pool. 

All done soaking!

The unimproved hot spring. 

Tonight is our last night of camping. Jana and I have said repeatedly to each other what a great trip this has been. We are so glad we decided to take a chance on the heat being tolerable. 52 miles of mostly downhill back to Frenchglen tomorrow, then we’ll have a luxurious night in a cabin (we’ll, better than a tent).






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