Oct 1 in Denio; Leg #10

Leg #10: Sat we headed NE of Denio up Cottonwood Creek through some ranches figuring we’d knock out another 5-6 miles that day, watch for buzzards and antlers and who knows, maybe get lucky. We meandered up the creek past a couple of ranches and ended up at a large ranch in the middle of the canyon. The road stopped at a fence into one of their corral. I met a charming middle aged rancher at the door and told her what we were up to. She overcame her immediate puzzlement and came outside to point the way out for us to continue up into the canyon and intersect the state line on their 3600 acre ranch. She asked if we were hunting, I assured her we weren’t, but that turned the conversation to accidents and I conveyed the news Dwane had learned from home the day before while we drove down. Dwane learned from his wife a family known to him had lost their father of three to a negligent hunter. The poacher mistook him for a deer as he was picking brush in the Shelton WA with his family and shot him – twice, and killing him in front of his family. She conveyed how a month earlier she and her family had lost their 4 year old grandson when he fell from the back of a ATV and struck his head. She was obviously fighting back tears as she told me this and I felt my own welling up as I touched her shoulder to express my sorrow for her loss. Of course the emotion of the moment was overwhelming as she told me how 3-4 times a day she just had to stop and cry. I hugged her for a long moment. Life is certainly cruel at times to good people. I enjoy moments like that when you can share a little compassion for a stranger’s trials and perhaps relieve even momentarily a little sorrow. We walked on down to the FJ and I introduced her to Dwane and Dave. She opened the corral and let us ford their creek on the way on up the jeep trail and to the state line about 2 miles south into a beautiful valley that Dave insisted on traversing to the upper end in a box canyon with the birch and aspen trees high above us.


View from the top of the canyon looking back down and North.


We finally made our way back down to the intersect point with the state line. We stood there briefly gauging the 6-700 foot climb were staring at, picture below, before starting up the brushy slope. Took awhile as it was starting to get pretty warm and there wasn’t much of a breeze on this east slope of the hills, but we made it to the high point through the brush and rocks in about a half hour.



View westerly from the top of the first ridge.


View from the top of the first ridge, looking back east at the end of our mountain leg being defferred.

Headed down into the first canyon we came upon one of the older milepoints.

Wish we'd re-scribed so it would legible in the picture. I'll have to confer with the BLM to see if that would be appropriate for the future.

Headed downhill towards Denio.

We walked a lot of sidehill, which I hate, another ridge or two and then down a finger to reach the valley floor where we’d left off months before. Saw a couple of deer and a heard of antelope, but no monster rack with which to claim the $2000 reward. Oh well. That filled in about 6 miles of a 12 mile segment between McDermitt and Denio that hits 8400 ft that we’re trying to work up nerve for. We’ll likely do it next spring as the second to last leg.