The hike out of that valley made me quickly forget about that. Unlike yesterday this valley was basically unforested and we were up on a steep cliff so we could see the entire thing clearly. About halfway up the valley we heard a bunch of coyotes singing. Shortly after that Chimie and I saw a dog like shape go running by just barely 20 yards below us. There is some argument amongst us as to whether it was a coyote or a wolf. The Maine Man said that wolves run with their tails sticking straight out while coyote's always have their tail tucked in. The animal we saw defiantly had its tail sticking out so as far as I'm concerned I saw a wolf. When we got up on the ridge overlooking the valley we could see a coyote on the other side of the valley, there is no question it was a coyote as Sanjay was able to get a good picture of it. The coyote was fully exposed and moving at about the same pace as us so we were able to watch it for a while. Right when it disappeared into a forested area we saw 4 elks on the other side of the forest. So we watched them, while continuing to hike, for a bit waiting for the elk to notice the coyote. They eventually did and took off at a quick jog to the nearest tree line. About 200 yards after that we notice another group of 3 elk grazing in the bottom of the valley so the whole time we were walking the valley ledge we had wildlife to watch. These elk decided to run up the side of the valley we were on and Memphis and Dutch were able to get a really good view of them.
We were feeling good and went up over our first 11k+ mountain and through its snow field without much trouble by lunch time. We hit our goal for the day of 18 miles by 3pm and made a mistake there. The reason we had planned to stop there was the next stretch of trail was reportedly very snowy. So we had planned on stopping and hiking it early in the morning when the snow was more firm. We were all feeling good and hiking well and didn't really discuss it so we just kept going. Unfortunately that didn't last. The snow that late in the day was very mushy and we were postholing like crazy. Half the guys were walking around in shorts and quickly had their shins a bloody mess from the icy layer on the snow and hidden trees below. By 6:30 we had gotten over the peak but Memphis was completely worn out. He didn't have any snow gear it was showing how much difference the gaiters and trecking poles with snow baskets I had made. We had only covered 4 miles in the 3 hours of snow hiking, which really is pretty good for the conditions, and were now trying to find a dry place to setup camp for the night. Dutch and Chimie had taken the lead and had been out of sight for over 30 minutes when we kinda made Memphis call it a night. We had found a dry spot on a road with a few other spots near by. The Maine Man and I camped with him while Chilton and Sanjay went ahead to find the other guy. The only issue I had with that camp spot was I was down to .25 liters of water and had to melt snow for dinner.
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