On a chilly morning, we were up early having breakfast and coffee, not necessarily in that order.
One of the drawbacks to these early spring trips into the River Country is that most times we don’t get the warmth of the sun until late in the morning. As we left camp, we could see the sun shining down on the Porphyry Creek Drainage. Unfortunately, we were crossing the bridge and going left.
Job one for the day was to take some measurements on the Porphyry Bridge. The next work crew down here will need to haul in and replace damaged rails. The local bears love to chew the timbers on the bridge, apparently they are not fans of bridges…. This is not that uncommon here in the Frank Church Wilderness.
Time to head downstream and start our work day, but not before a couple final shots of the Porphyry Bridge. (Pronounced “Poor-free.)
Hi-ho, Hi-ho its off to work we go! Work-hike, work-hike! Rinse and repeat! Notice the crew members on the lower right and the sun creeping down the hill on the upper left!
The deeper we descended into the canyon, the more beautiful the scenery!
Time for lunch! Jeremy and Joe stopped at the washout the crew had repaired the day before. Prior to the repair, this spot was impassable by pack stock and nearly impassable by backpacker. The crew had spent about 3 hours hauling rocks and placing the cribbing on Day 2.
I always love it when someone wears a brightly colored shirt, in this case it was Randy.
More views!
After a good long work day, we arrived at Rooster Creek. Finding flat spots in the bottom of the Salmon River Canyon can be a challenge, especially when you need to set up 8 different tents. At Rooster Creek we split into two groups, one above the trail and one below.
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