Camp was packed up quickly and I finished draining my blisters; wrapping them in duct tape afterwards. In fact, we were so quick on the trail that we had caught up with another crew on the trail. Reaching switchbacks, we traversed down them and eventually reached the bottom. At the base there was a paved road, which we had not seen since we left base camp, and crossed underneath through a tunnel. Opening up to a river we were excited when we found out it was the Cimarron river. Unbuckling our backpacks we crossed a narrow wooden bridge.

It just so happened that there was a service activity nearby and it was a requirement that all crews complete one. We were due to get one done the next day, but since it was right there we decided to get it out of the way. Our project consisted of trail maintenance; building up rock walls to support switchbacks and remove giant boulders.

The project lasted roughly three hours and after our lunch we hiked on, eventually arriving at Visto Grande camp. It was at this camp where we encountered the worst toilet in the entire trek. It was a rectangular box made of wood that had two holes in the top (pilot to bombardier) . It was placed on top of a dug out hole and it was rotting away. It was not the most appealing, but it was the only we had for that day.

“Pilot to Bombardier”

It was not the most eventful day, but a big day was coming tomorrow… our first showers since we left base camp.