As mentioned on the 8th of this month we have posted the draft of the third edition of Walks in the Black Range for review, comment, and additions. It is posted on the Follow the Contours page. (Follow the link and click on the cover of the draft at the upper left of the page to read or download the draft.)
As part of our effort to add to the “Walks” rewrite we walked down Ready Pay Gulch on the 19th (“Canyon A” variant in the videos listed in the Percha Box section of the Follow the Contours Page) to Percha Creek and then east down the creek to the Wicks Slot. This is a 7-mile round trip, the first part (Canyon A) is a slog down a sandy wash (with some interesting micro-slots), and it was a hot sunny day - little shade. So a “come home and take a nap” kind of walk. If you are not familiar with 360° video take a gander at the micro-slots video, play the video, place your cursor over the image and “move the video around” as it plays.
We wanted to accomplish four things on this walk: 1. “Map" the section of the Percha Box from where Canyon A meets Percha Creek west to the Wicks Slot; 2. Record some 360° video in Wicks Slot; 3. Record aerial video of the Percha Narrows for inclusion in the 2nd Volume of “Rock Stars of the Black Range” (see Volume 1 here); and 4. Record the walk through part of the narrows in support of the third edition.
We had mixed results. After all a plan describes what could have happened, not what happened. West of Wicks - Video of the Percha Narrows from the Percha-Wicks confluence west to the middle part of the Percha Box has been posted and is available for viewing. Check number 4 off our list.
We mapped the walk and this variant to the Percha Creek walks will be included in the 3rd edition of “Walks”. Check number 1 off our list.
We recorded the aerial video of the narrows at Wicks Slot and that material will be added to the second Volume of “Rock Stars of the Black Range” at the end of next month, first part of May. Check number 3 off our list.
As for number 2, the 360° video of Wicks Slot - nada. When I arrived at the slot it surprised me once again. In two decades of visiting this slot I thought I had seen all of its moods and variations - it literaling is never the same. I was wrong. It was different. It was flooded. Percha Creek had rerouted into the slot on the west side and out on the east side.
I was hot, I was tired, I was grumpy, I was hungry, I - I suspect you get the picture. I sat down and ate lunch. In retrospect I should have waded into the slot (any quicksand would have been minimal because of the bedrock - I think) and the water was not that cold. The video would have been dramatic. I just was not up to the task.
