Day 10

Day 10 - Woke up to a warm morning that quickly became a hot day. Climbed the trail out of Salt Creek. Steep, but not too bad until the last section, which had a lot of snow. Finally made it to the trailhead, 2 cars there, walked down the dirt road a couple of miles. Would have liked to have climbed Cathedral Butte, but the north side, with the way up, was covered in snow. Found the old track and followed it to the rim of Lavendar Canyon. Then a long, steep descent. No trail, a lot of sliding in mud and snow, plenty of bushwacking, but nothing dangerous. Totally destroyed the other knee in my pants, scraped up both my knees pretty good, got the few spots on arms that I missed yesterday. Left arm actually bleeding. Finally got to the bottom, followed another old track down the canyn. Little stream, no place to really camp. Finally came to the first main fork and the 4WD trail, found a so-so spot to camp. Late day - got water, set up camp, ate and bed. Lots of bats around. Tomorrow no pack! Will dayhike up fork and lay around.