7

At the top, we found that some of the iodine water was ready to drink, and it wasn't really that bad. There was not a lot of it though, and so we had to be on the lookout for a stream. The faster scouts had dropped the bear-bags and were ready to leave. We had a long look at the maps and tried to decide which was the best route to Red Hills. The normal trail would take us over Commanchie Peak and down the other side. Having just climbed up from Cyphers, there was not a lot of enthusiasm for this. But wait, look at the supply roads. Wouldn't they get us there just as well? They were about the same distance and there would be much less up-and-down to the hike! Soon it was decided, we would go by road and make Red Hills in much less time with a smaller expenditure of energy than if we took the trail. Let's go for it!

So I hoisted my 45-pound pack once again and trailed along behind the crew as they located the road and began the march for Red Hills. The sky was clear but gray clouds were beginning to appear in the west, and so we could maybe expect some rain later. The road was an easy walk and had a downhill trend to it that made the going easier still. All was well for 15 minutes, until we came to the fork in the road that should not have been there.

My mouth dropped open. The map only showed one road, so what was this about! Nate was confused too and dug out the large scale map he carried, to see if it could be of any help --- just like Brian had trained us to do back at Base Camp. Yow! The big map not only showed a fork, it showed four of them. Nate sent scouts out both ways to have a look, while a bunch of us tried to figure out where we were on the map. The scouts came back and reported, and Nate made his choice --- we would go right. I would have picked left, but it was his show, and in retrospect I think that he was right. Had we taken the left fork, I now think we would have ended up back at Cyphers Mine, and what a disappointment that would have been.

The decision took about 20 minutes to make, and a sense of urgency was building. The sky to the west was definitely going gray, and darkness was only 90 minutes away.

We worked our way up the hills and along the valley, not quite sure yet where we were, but confident that we were headed in the right general direction. Around each turn I expected to see some terrain feature that would allow me to assure myself that we were where we thought we were on the map. When it came, it was as a complete shock. The road didn't just turn a little, it did an abrupt 180-degree turn and headed steeply up the mountain in the wrong direction. This was awful! Should we go forward in the wrong direction, or retrace our route and try something else? As we stood there studying the terrain and our rotten choices, some of the Scouts became impatient at the delay. Nate held them in check with a firm word and we oriented the map and finally discovered where we must be --- but, what to do, what to do? Forward was a uphill climb to Comanche Peak going in the wrong direction. Back was a boring return to Thunder Ridge for another try at finding the right route.

When they had plowed out this sharp turn it had thrown up an 8-foot mound of dirt that blocked the view to the south. As the navigators endlessly discussed what to do next, Binky decided to explore a little and climbed the mound to check out the scenery. His mouth dropped open at what he saw, "Hey, Nate, there's another road over here!"

"Yeah, right."

"No, honest, there is a road."

"Why would they put a road on the other side of a pile of dirt?"

"I don't know. I looks old and a jeep couldn't get down it, but there is some kind of path that looks OK."

"Where does it go?"

"I goes that-a-way," he said and pointed in exactly the direction we wanted to go.