Our last day in Devil’s Backbone wilderness.

It had been quite cold overnight and it started to rain just as we were about to break camp. As the rain had been forecast, we had set the tent up so that we could take it down with the rain fly still up – which meant we were able to put just about everything away dry.

The trail up Collins Ridge doesn’t appear to be marked, and we encountered several trails that aren’t marked on the map, which made for some educated guesswork on the navigation, which proved correct once we could see the lay of the land and check it against the topo map. The hike started with another 300+ foot ascent, quite enough for us out of condition hikers.

Before too long we were back where the trail along the Devil’s Backbone splits off, and shortly after that we stopped by a stone pile which acted as a tripod for today’s picture. Once back at the trailhead, Ginger looked at the trailhead check-in, and the log had been changed and maps left. We saw that four people had been in on a day hike yesterday, but in the two and a half days we’d been hiking the trails we’d not met anyone. We saw and heard lots of Armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus), and the tracks of a bobcat (Lynx rufus) but no people, which is pretty much how we like it.

The van was where we left it (always a worry). It was just a matter of dropping our packs in the back and heading off to Ginger’s parents, a nice dinner, pick up the girls and head back to Springfield so that they could be home in good time for school Tuesday (today was a school holiday).

Today’s alternate shots and extras

Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.