9pm on the dot last nights thunderstorm turned on me. For 6 hours my tent was battered by heavy winds and hail the size of small marbles. Fortunately my new Coleman Exponent tent laughed it off and i stayed warm and dry, if not a little chilly. By chilly i mean putting on every layer available, banging the frost off my tent before pulling it down and having to tip-toe back down the hillside through snow and ice. And to think i was sweating my gonads off a few weeks ago.

A quick finger dip in Pagosa's hot springs(it really was hot) and i made the uneventful trek to another campsite overlooking Chimney Rock. It's basically a big rock that looks like, well put it this way, from this angle that ain't no chimney.

I was miles from anywhere and the temperature quickly dropped so after setting up camp i lit a big campfire to keep warm and scare off any ghosts or wild animals, or so i thought. An hour had passed when suddenly a small cat-like creature appeared out of the darkness towards my left. Before you could say 'Bob's your Uncle' I'd jumped up, grabbed the cold end of a log out of the fire, skipped to the other side of the fire and awaited in Ninga pose for the imminent attack from mummy Cougar who i was sure was not far behind baby cat. If a Cougar did indeed jump at me from the shadows, i was pretty sure that I'd kick his ass and i would be proud of my quick reactions. However the small cat-like creature turned out to be your average domestic cat looking at me wandering why i was making such a prat out of myself.

I called him Skidmark. He was cold, hungry and very vocal, so after we had warmed up again by the fire i gave him my last Granola bar. Like a typical grumpy cat he took one bite then stuck his nose up at it. The only other food i had was apples and once Skidmark realised there was nothing to gain from being here he disappeared into the night again to scare some other weary traveller. It was an unusual night to say the least.