Bushcamp to Bushcamp
27.8 miles
Mile 352.7
I was the first of our group to get up. It was a chilly morning, so I kindled a fire to help coax the boys from their tents. By 7:00 AM I’d packed up camp, said farewell to my buddies and was moving up the trail.
I passed loads of weekend campers as I made my way through Reavis Ranch, where the air was thick with smoke from their morning fires.
From there the trail roller coastered up and down a few mountains, before joining a dirt road that led me down to Roosevelt Lake.
I crossed what I think was a gopher snake chilling on the road as I made my way down the mountains.
By 3:00 PM I’d reached the marina at Roosevelt Lake. I was pumped to find the general store that was under construction last year when I hiked this section open! I bought a couple sodas and more snacks than I needed, before heading back to the trail.
From here on out it’s all new trail for me. I’d hiked everything south of Roosevelt Lake last year, so I’m jazzed to checkout some new terrain.
From the marina, the trail weaved along the hills banking the lake and crossed a bridge, before beginning its ascent towards Four Peaks Wilderness.
A few miles shy of the wilderness boundary I made camp adjacent a wildlife rainwater collection tank. I enjoyed an epic sunset as I sat in my tent munching down the snacks I’d grabbed at the marina store.
Cheers!
The lake looks so inviting. I couldn’t make out the head of the snake in your picture, but I always look at the head to tell the difference between gopher and rattlesnakes. The rattler has that heart shaped spade head that looks very muscular, the gopher snake head often blends into it’s neck without that huge bulge of a head like the rattler. Sometimes rattlers don’t rattle or their tail is not visible and sometimes they are born without the tail rattler or it’s been injured or ripped off. It’s hard for me to tell the difference based on coloration and color pattern when I’m confronted with either snake. Anyway, the head part is what you’re trying to avoid, the little ones have venus too, and they can strike 2/3rds of their body length, so be careful out there 🙂
Yeah that guy wasn’t a rattler, like you said, the head gives it away.