Hey Kez. I enjoy your great videos. They make me feel like I'm right there with you and Seven!!! I miss you guys soooo much, and feel your pain and struggle. But I'm confident you'll make smart choices and that the trail will provide as usual. It's these challenges and difficulties that teach us the most, and provide the biggest opportunity to grow. Stay safe, take care and remember what we learned on PCT2019 - "Never quit on a rainy day!" - Bonus -
I hope life on the trail improves for you. I'm an old hiker nowadays, and your videos are great for me because you have a clear voice, you offer good descriptions of where you are and what you may be going through, and your speed of word delivery is ideal for my ears. And the one thing I really like is that you don't keep saying 'like' in every sentence. I'm sounding 'grumpy' I know, but when I follow someone who's hiking for a long time, clear speech matters to me.
That bird is definitely a dusky grouse. They are also called "fool's hens" because they let people get extremely close before they noisily fly away in a panicked state. I have been scared to death numerous times by them. I'm glad you beat the fire that's hitting the Rio Chama Wilderness. Good luck to the rest of your hiking adventures!
As others have siad that will have been a Dusky Grouse. They are the only large woodland/mountain grouse in the region (larger than Ruffed Grouse) and they sit on logs or in trees, puff out their chest and "hoot" (low, far-carrying sounds not too different from some owls, hence their calls are termed "hoots").
I was in your situation in 2022 and i didn't flip... Now, it's seems to me that it was the wrong decision. It was better to flip to Atlantic city to hike south and cross the great bassin
