Looks fantastic - what a landscape. Massive amounts of dead standing timber though it seems - is this the effects of the pine beetles?
Five days in the backcountry
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Thanks everyone for the awesome comments!!!...M.O.T in total we had the mess tent, two large wall tents for sleeping in and a couple of three man dome tents.
the dome tents were used temporarily until we could build the pole frames for the wall tents.
the Trout were awesome...in five evenings our two intrepid anglers (pastor Jay and James) landed more than two hundred cutthroats!
i attribute thier success to the utter remoteness of Grizzly creek and the nearly nonexistent fishing pressure...these trout will hit anything!
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Hey Thanks!...no not beetle kill, but rather a forest fire that came through more than ten years ago.
fires here in the rocky mtns are a very common occurance started by lightning strikes and if not threatening homes are allowed to burn (sometimes till the snow puts them out) these fires are a natural and a very important part of the ecosystem here...thanks again...woods
Dreadhead
Bushcrafter through and through
Beautiful trip report, thanks for sharing. It's a dream of mine to do a trip like that - we have a couple of appaloosas here that we ride Western out on the downs...
OK!...so lets see if i can post these last pics without my internet connection going down
Day five after breakfast, it was time to saddle the stock and load up the panniers for the ride out.
the camp will remain standing and will be used several times during the fall hunting season.
clients pay a pretty penny for a guided hunt from a camp like this one and now you know why.
a lot of time, money and effort goes into putting together one of these camps.
I can't say its a lot of "fun" its very hard work and not suited to most folks, but its honest!
pictures may capture some of the beauty of the wilderness and convey a bit of nostalgia from a bygone era, but, they can't capture Dog tired and sore.
The Ride Out
Pastor Jay and friends had left a few days earlier, reckon he had to prepare a sermon...or somthin
the weather was fine for the ride out, there was a cool breeze and sunshine
all in all this had been a good trip, with only one wreck on the way in...a large log rolled down hill and knocked one of the lead animals off his feet.
he was cut but not to badly, then it was a chore removing the heavy log from the trail..
Oh and Ruth (owners wife) managed to roll an ankle...which swelled and became rather painfull...
another day we were searching for some stove pipe Gary had cashed on an earlier trip, well, Garys (the boss) horse got stupid and flipped over backwards and came down on top of him.
thankfully his only injuries were a sore hip and a broke finger!...thank you Jesus!...i was there to witness the event, and it could have been much much worse!
later that same day i layed open an index finger to the bone...while removing my knife from its sheath with the wrong hand looking away and talking at the same time ...i'm just not that gifted!!!!
anyhow, Pastor Jay (being a paramedic) closed it up with butterfly sutures wrapped it with gauze and tape and i was able to get back to work.
Gary and i spent the rest of the week with our injured fingers in the air, complaining and avoiding doorbells.
special note:...after several hours and multible injuries...we never found the cashe of stove pipe!
well sorry for ramblin
here at last the last of the pics
Headed Home!
After approx three hours we made the top of the pass
we rested the horses and mules before heading down
2 dimensional pictures cannot capture the treacherous decent here...you'll have to take my word that riding down this trail is definitely NOT for the faint of heart.
they try and explain the difficulty to clients beforehand, but must be experienced first hand to truely appreciate, one slip here and its a possibly non stop 1000 ft drop to the bottom.
anyhow we survived....yet again!
this is Wallace peak in the backgrond
the elevation is 10'200 and change...ive hiked here many times and had lunch up there
Time to check and tighten any loose cinches prior to the decent
otherwise your horse will be wearing your saddle for a hat!
aint she purdy?
ok woods, don't just sit there...lets go!
get this over with!
some folks...
...is just smarter than others!!!
well, after about an hour we made it back into the trees, had lunch and proceeded a couple more hous to the trailhead.
beyond that, not much to report...
So reckon thats it
thanks for comin along amigos!
taker easy...but taker!...woods
The Ride Out
Day five after breakfast, it was time to saddle the stock and load up the panniers for the ride out.
the camp will remain standing and will be used several times during the fall hunting season.
clients pay a pretty penny for a guided hunt from a camp like this one and now you know why.
a lot of time, money and effort goes into putting together one of these camps.
I can't say its a lot of "fun" its very hard work and not suited to most folks, but its honest!
pictures may capture some of the beauty of the wilderness and convey a bit of nostalgia from a bygone era, but, they can't capture Dog tired and sore.
The Ride Out
Pastor Jay and friends had left a few days earlier, reckon he had to prepare a sermon...or somthin
the weather was fine for the ride out, there was a cool breeze and sunshine
all in all this had been a good trip, with only one wreck on the way in...a large log rolled down hill and knocked one of the lead animals off his feet.
he was cut but not to badly, then it was a chore removing the heavy log from the trail..
Oh and Ruth (owners wife) managed to roll an ankle...which swelled and became rather painfull...
another day we were searching for some stove pipe Gary had cashed on an earlier trip, well, Garys (the boss) horse got stupid and flipped over backwards and came down on top of him.
thankfully his only injuries were a sore hip and a broke finger!...thank you Jesus!...i was there to witness the event, and it could have been much much worse!
later that same day i layed open an index finger to the bone...while removing my knife from its sheath with the wrong hand looking away and talking at the same time ...i'm just not that gifted!!!!
anyhow, Pastor Jay (being a paramedic) closed it up with butterfly sutures wrapped it with gauze and tape and i was able to get back to work.
Gary and i spent the rest of the week with our injured fingers in the air, complaining and avoiding doorbells.
special note:...after several hours and multible injuries...we never found the cashe of stove pipe!
well sorry for ramblin
here at last the last of the pics
Headed Home!
After approx three hours we made the top of the pass
we rested the horses and mules before heading down
2 dimensional pictures cannot capture the treacherous decent here...you'll have to take my word that riding down this trail is definitely NOT for the faint of heart.
they try and explain the difficulty to clients beforehand, but must be experienced first hand to truely appreciate, one slip here and its a possibly non stop 1000 ft drop to the bottom.
anyhow we survived....yet again!
this is Wallace peak in the backgrond
the elevation is 10'200 and change...ive hiked here many times and had lunch up there
Time to check and tighten any loose cinches prior to the decent
otherwise your horse will be wearing your saddle for a hat!
aint she purdy?
ok woods, don't just sit there...lets go!
get this over with!
some folks...
...is just smarter than others!!!
well, after about an hour we made it back into the trees, had lunch and proceeded a couple more hous to the trailhead.
beyond that, not much to report...
So reckon thats it
thanks for comin along amigos!
taker easy...but taker!...woods
The Ride Out
Really good set of quality pictures, the views are awesome, put me in mind of that old movie The Naked Spur with Jimmy Stewart and Bob Ryan, the conifers, winding paths, pack horses etc, thanks for taking the time to post and share
Fantastic posts, thanks Woodsrunner.
How many miles covered or hours work are horses expected to do per day?
Does their performance decrease with the increase in altitude?
I spoke to an Argentinian arriero (muleteer) once and he told me that mules were better suited to long distance packing and higher altitudes than horses.
Also, some of you are armed with pistols, is this for bears? Does somebody need to stand watch at night?
Happy trails...torc.
How many miles covered or hours work are horses expected to do per day?
Does their performance decrease with the increase in altitude?
I spoke to an Argentinian arriero (muleteer) once and he told me that mules were better suited to long distance packing and higher altitudes than horses.
Also, some of you are armed with pistols, is this for bears? Does somebody need to stand watch at night?
Happy trails...torc.
the amount of miles travel for a horse depends on the terrain, age and condition of the horse ect....figure twentyfive conservativly... though distance endurance riders regularly do fifty miles or more a day.
these are mountain horses raised in these mountains and though ive seen mules drop to thier knees from exhaution several times, its very rare in a horse.
we carry sidearms for Grizzly, blackbear, mountain lion, wolves, and sometimes to take care of a badly injured horse or mule.
we do not post a guard at night...only when camped on the indian rez...LOL...thanks for the kind words my friend...woods
Fantastic write up, excellent pictures and one heck of an outing, thanks for sharing the stuff dreams are made of
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