2006 Elk Hunt

2006 Elk Hunt

Thursday Sept 14, 2006
Left Fort Collins around 8:00p.m. Arrived at Miners Park trailhead at about 1:00 am. Slept in the back of the truck that night.
Friday Sept 15, 2006
8:00 – Woke up, got dressed and started up the trail. Because of my unknown schedule this year and the fact that one of the four wheelers wouldn’t start I had to walk/mountain bike into camp, which is approximately four miles from the trailhead. Ended up getting most of the way up the trail when I saw my dad a.k.a. “Big Ron”, who was coming down the trail to see if I had arrived. He ended up saving me about a mile, which was very welcomed since I was packing all my gear, probably 65-70 lbs. I learned that riding a mountain bike with a big pack on is no easy task, actually it’s next to impossible, but I still had to try.
11:00- Arrived in camp. My brother Drew, Big Ron and our friend Jeff Blakely were already in camp. Drew and Big Ron have been there since Monday and Jeff had been there since the previous Thursday. Apparently nobody had been seeing or hearing any elk, so the general consensus was to “spike-out” further into the wilderness. Our current base camp is right on the edge of the wilderness boundary, so we are able to use the four-wheelers. Inside the wilderness no motorized vehicles are allowed or even mountain bikes for that matter.

Jeff Blakely, Drew & Big Ron making plans

1:00- We gathered everything up for an overnight pack trip. We planned on packing in that afternoon and hunting the next day, maybe staying a second day if the hunting was good. We split up gear amongst everyone, trying not to pack any redundant items. I’d guess we all had close to 40 lbs of gear. We all piled onto the six-wheeler and headed down the trail, approximately four miles.
2:30- Arrived at the trail crossing for Pearl Lakes and Divide trail. It had rained most of the ride up the trail; luckily we all had on rain gear so it wasn’t too bad. I think we were all having second thoughts about the trip looking down into the fog-covered bowl into which we were about to descend.
6:00- Arrived at Pearl lake, approximately a four mile hike. The hike in wasn’t too bad, until the very end when it really started to pour, then the rain turned to hail and probably an inch or two of hail fell. It finally slowed down and we finished the hike into the lake. Luckily the weather cleared long enough for us to pitch our tents and get settled. Everyone was bummed that nobody had brought a fishing pole, with a lake that deep into the wilderness, about 12 miles from the truck, you just knew the fishing had to be prime, oh well. We started a fire and everybody tried to dry out. It started to rain again around 8:00 and everyone was getting wetter than dryer so we all went to bed.

Saturday Sept 16, 2006
8:00- Woke up to 8”-12” of snow, had heard trees snapping all night long. Drew and I got a fire going, because were both hardy mountain men while Dad and Blakley slept in. Watched a big tree fall over into the lake while we were getting the fire going. We cooked breakfast of elk steak and chorizo that Drew had packed in. Although, he forgot to pack in any seasonings, plates, utensils, etc., so we each grabbed a slab and started chowing.
10:00- We pretty much decided hunting wasn’t an option. Everyone was anxious to get back to base camp where there was plenty of food, beverages and dry clothes.
10:01- Decided the hike out was really going to suck. By now the snow had really started to fall and it was obvious we had better get moving or else we wouldn’t be able to see the trail out. We all had GPS units, but knew it would be much quicker to follow a worn trail than trying to “bushwhack” back to camp.
3:30- Arrived at the six-wheeler after an exhausting hike back. We had started out the hike at a pretty good clip but as the trail started to get steeper and steeper and the snow keep falling our progress pretty much turned to a snails pace. I think we were all pretty pumped when we finally climbed out of the bowl and saw the six-wheeler waiting for us, although it turned out to be a short lived celebration. Apparently the 6-wheeler doesn’t do too well in about 2’ of snow, which is what had fallen at this elevation, approx. 10,000 ft. After trying for about a half-hour to get it out we decided we were going to have to start hoofing it. Unfortunately, at this point we were all tired and knew there was no way we could cover the four miles back to camp before dark.

6:00- We only covered about ¾ of a mile in two hours. Exhausted from trudging through the two foot of snow and trying our best to stay on the trail, that was barely visible under all the snow, everyone was ready for bed. We set up camp again, although this time everything was pretty well wet and/or frozen. Too tired to make a fire, we all just wanted to crawl into a sleeping bag. You know you’re in for a long night when you have to chip off the bigger pieces of snow and ice from your pants before crawling into a soggy sleeping bag. Oh, this was going to be a long night, not sure exactly how cold it got but I’m guessing around 20-25. Awful chilly when you’re already soaking wet.

Sunday Sept 17, 2006
6:30- Drew woke me up and thought we should get moving, I argued that I didn’t think we’d be able to see the trail but I ended up agreeing since bed wasn’t that comfortable to begin with. It’s a good thing we woke up when we did since it literally took about 15 minutes to get into our boots, which had frozen solid over night. Everything was frozen, cold and wet. We stuffed our soggy sleeping bags into their stuff sacks, hoping we wouldn’t have to crawl back into them again. It sounded like everyone’s legs had been cramping up over night so we knew we were in for a long hike.
8:00- Started hiking the remaining approx. 3 miles back to camp. We knew we could make it back to camp that day but everyone started to question if we could make it to the trucks, which were another four miles. If we could make it to the trucks, could we get them out? The other dilemma was whether to keep packing all our gear or not. With close to forty pounds in our packs our backs and shoulders were as tired as our legs. But if we decided to leave anything behind and then not make it as far as we hoped, it might turn out to be a really bad decision.

Drew looking cold

11:00- We had covered a grueling two miles. Drew and I took turns breaking the trail. With about a mile left before camp we saw the best thing we’ve seen in two days, someone had ridden a four-wheeler up the trail. With the snow packed down, we started making up time. Within the hour we were standing in the last big meadow right outside camp. That’s when we were really saved; the camp that was right next to ours was still hunting. They had weathered the storm in their base camp and went out riding during the storm to keep the trails open. We waived them down, and they headed in our direction. We must have looked every bit as bad as we felt because they asked right away if we needed any help. As luck would have it they had four four-wheelers in camp and offered to give us a lift off the mountain, which we eagerly accepted.
12:00- We needed to get our truck keys out of the tents which were still at the base camp. If you didn’t know our camp was there you probably wouldn’t have recognized it as a camp. Tents were flattened, poles broke and fabric torn, it really didn’t look like much of anything.

What was left of camp…

So I was grateful we were getting a ride off the mountain and that we didn’t have to try to dry out and regroup there one more night. Everything was pretty much left on the mountain; all the camp, the six-wheeler, trailer, what a mess. Big Ron is planning on going back Thursday with Jeff and Drew to see if they can get camp packed out. To top it all off Big Ron’s truck broke down on the way back to Denver. I didn’t get the call until later that night but I couldn’t believe it, so it was obvious the bad luck didn’t originate from my truck!
Tuesday Sept 19, 2006
Sitting at the computer typing this all out. My toes are still tingly, which probably isn’t too good but they seem to wiggle like they should so I’m not too worried. I promised I’d try to learn a few lessons from this experience, so here they are while they’re still fresh on my mind.
1. Probably the cardinal rule for any outdoorsman (which we were all in violation): Let somebody know where you’re going and when you expect to be back.
2. Buy a portable radio and/or check the local weather before embarking on any wilderness adventure. Although, the hunters who gave us a ride out said they had forecasted only several inches of snow, it still would have been good to know.
3. Keep an emergency supply box in the truck: extra food, propane burners, stove, shovel and water. I’m sure if I do a few Internet searches I can find an extensive list.
4. Have tire chains and make sure they fit.
5. Invest in a new sleeping bag. Goose down looses its insulation when wet and it was tough trying to keep it dry out there. Maybe something with a Gore-tex shell?
6. We would have normally had two ATV’s and that may have made the difference.
7. Be in better physical shape. I hadn’t anticipated doing any hunting this year because of Beau’s arrival and used that as an excuse not to keep up with some conditioning. I’m sure if I were at the top of my game it wouldn’t have been half as bad.
8. Don’t pack any aluminum cans or Camelback type containers in your pack. Anything that can leak and soak your spare dry clothes is a bad thing.
9. I think we would have been better off starting a fire the second night and drying out, even though everyone was beat. If we could have went to bed a little dryer it would have made for a better nights sleep and we wouldn’t have soaked our sleeping bags in the event that they were needed another night.
Along with what we could have done better, here are the things we did right.
1. I think we were all dressed appropriately, with rain gear and good hunting clothes. An extra pair of gloves is something that can come in real handy, especially when your first pair becomes soaked. I was also thankful that I hunt in wool garments including a wool hat. They say that it still keeps you warm even once it gets wet and after this I’d have to agree.
2. Fire starting, I know both Drew and I had multiple sources for igniting a fire and we were able to get one roaring with more than a foot of snow on the ground.
3. Food, although I had to give Drew a tough time for not bringing seasoning it was great that we had that source of protein. We also had breakfast type bars, beef jerky and dehydrated meals. So plenty of food wasn’t a problem.
4. Water, we all had water and a filter. Make sure you can keep your water thawed.
5. Map and GPS, we always knew where we were and where we were going. It allowed us to make informed decisions.
About a week later after most the snow had melted, Drew my dad and Jeff Blakley went back to retrieve our stuff off the mountain.

Post script.

All the pictures were taken one week later when Drew and Big Ron went back up the mountain to collect all the gear.Otherwise the camp was not visible thru the snow and the six-wheeler had snow up to the seat.

Drew also mentioned that when we were walking out on the second day and he took a minute to look around and he realized what a bad mood everyone was in.We normally all joke around as much as any bunch of guys and our attitudes our pretty good but apparently the mood was pretty somber at this point.Fear of the unknown I guess…It sure wouldn’t have been half as bad if everyone could have kept their spirits up.

And finally, since this writing our backcounty skills have come a long way. Today our packs weight in the 40-50lb range for a seven-day outing, including food.Newer lighter equipment makes all the difference.

A couple other good reads. These dudes take survival serious! Tons of great info here.

Kifaru – The Possibles Pouch
Kifaru – Emergency List – forum
United States Rescue and Special Operations Group