Elk Trip 2018 - day 8

Thursday September 13th was the last day of our trip. We had decided the night before that we would pack it in and head home in the morning. We had hiked all over the Rito Alto trail, seeing signs of elk everywhere but no elk. We did see many beautiful sights and the trip was by no means a disappointment. We had backcountry camped for the first time and had a great time.
The night had been cold and I woke up several time. By 5 am I was wide awake for the day. I had two thoughts in my head. Calling home, and walking in the house and seeing the kids for the first time in a week.
I was out of the tent by 6 am and taking care of my normal business. Toes taped, boots on, bathroom, water filtered, coffee boiled. It was time to start packing.
Zink was still in his tent. He was starting to roust a little bit and I could clearly hear his farts from within his paper thin tent. When he unzipped and pulled back the flap the smell hit me from five feet away. We laughed our asses off.
As we broke down camp our discussions turned to what food we would have first. We were both thinking about ribeyes.

 I wasn't looking forward to hiking all those miles with this heavy pack but I wanted to see the family more.

By 8:10 am we were on the trail and heading toward the truck. It didn't take us long to get there. Zink was moving at a record pace and I was struggling to keep up. When you're heading downhill you slip a lot and the last thing I wanted was a twisted ankle on the way out. Not to mention walking downhill with a full pack puts a lot of pressure on blistered toes which I was still nursing.
Once we reached the trailhead we loaded up our gear in the truck, took a quick wipe bath, changed clothes, called home and hit the road. Before putting my Crocs on I inspected my toes. They were pretty gnarly, blistered and covered with duct tape adhesive.

The road between the highway and the trailhead was basically a rock trail. It was somewhat level but there were washouts and large basketball sized stones in the way often. The fastest you could drive was 5 mph and the road was about 5 miles long. It literally took us almost an hour to hit the highway. When we did Tyler took off down the road. We were going so fast I instinctively braced myself and looked over at the speedometer. We were only doing 50 mph. We couldn't believe it. It seemed like we were doing 90 mph. The week of slowly walking and creeping through the brush had affected us. It took quite a while before we were use to the speed of highway driving.
The first stop we made was a little country gas station. We got sodas and I also got an oatmeal creme pie. A couple hours later we hit a small town that had a Sonic. We stopped for burgers and tots. Damn it was good. Our final stop for supper was an Applebee's in Kansas. We wanted ribeyes so bad and all they had was sirloin. Reluctantly we ordered our food and toasted our hunt with the best drafts we'd ever tasted. From there on out it was gas stations and rotating driving shifts till we got home early the next morning.

Some final thoughts about the trip:

• We were way over packed. We didn't need half the food or gear that we brought. Next time we are going to have to focus on going ultra light. This will make it easier to get where we need to be and allow us to pick up camp and move when we need to without hesitation. Maybe even to a new trail completely.
• It was crazy how busy we stayed. When planning we thought we'd have all this down time but in fact we had very little. We were constantly on the move looking for elk or preparing to be on the move and look for elk. Which brings me to my next thought.
• Everything you do takes a lot of time, forethought and effort. The simplest of tasks like getting ready in the morning, or making coffee takes time, effort and planning.
• Missing the family was the hardest part of the trip. The physical exertion and ignoring all the aches and pains was difficult, but missing the family was definitely the hardest part. Next time we do this we'll have to have some way to at least check in occasionally.
• It was a great trip all in all. We were both disappointed that we didn't see any elk or hear any bugles, but we felt like we learned a lot and could come back another year and would be successful. We're talking about taking a point this next year then coming the following year with over the counter bow tags. I'll be 40 by then so I'd better get in shape for the 2020 hunt.

Elk Trip 2018 - Day 7

Day 7 of the hunt was Wednesday September 12th.
It was the coldest night yet. As I woke up shivering multiple times in the night it occured to me that I'd brought a 3 season tent. Winter was not one of those 3. It has been significantly colder at night since we moved to our third camp at higher elevation.
Tyler didn't want to get out in the cold so he tried to boil water for coffee in his vestibule. Of course it spilled so he ended up having to get out in the cold and go down to the creek to get more water. Luckily he didn't boil it in his tent or he would have really been in trouble.
I went down to the creek this morning and washed out my dirty socks and underwear the best I could. I felt like an early settler washing my clothes on rocks. I hung them in an aspen sapling to dry. I probably wouldn't need them but like I've said, you're always planning ahead out here. If nothing else, they won't stink up the tent so bad.
I had a small bout of diarrhea this morning. I'm going to have to watch that. If it continues I could be in real trouble.
We meandered around camp for a couple hours this morning getting all our gear in order and preparing for trekking out for the day. We were both exhausted from the trip in general and the lack of sleep in particular. Two hours ago I was in full winter gear and half numb from cold, now I was in breathable lightweight summer gear. The temperature swings are unbelievable. We finally left camp around 10:45 am. The plan was to head up to the big fields near the split and glass from there. This is where we've seen the most signs of elk and we didn't really want to overdo it since we wanted to be able to go hard the next day if we needed to.
It took us a little more than an hour to get to our destination. As soon as we got there Tyler tells me, "well, get ready for our third argument this morning." I don't remember what the first two were but now he wanted to climb up the steep south facing slope and get as high as we could so we could glass the north facing slope. I didn't really want to but he made a good point, "if you want to kill elk you have to be willing to do what most hunters don't want to do." With that, I reluctantly agreed and we were set off up the south slope.
We saw from our map that there appeared to be a grassy meadow a few hundred feet up the slope. This may be a good place to glass from so we set our sights on that meadow. This was by far the steepest and hardest climb we'd made yet. When we got to the meadow it had a lot more slope than we assessed from the map. It was basically a boulder field that was covered in grass. You had to be careful with every step for fear of your boot sinking down into a crevasse. When we got there we knew we couldn't sit there so we went a little higher, then higher still, till finally we came upon Kolkman basin which starts at about 11,500 ft. of elevation. You can google map it if you're curious. When we reached the basin we thought, "this is it. Elk have got to be in here." It seemed to be secure haven for elk that would have been pushed out of the valley by hunting pressure the week before. We took our time and slowly crept over every little hill, rock and tree. We didn't want to alert any elk to our presence as we encircled the basin looking for elk.
Shortly after we started we circled back to our packs in order to have a little lunch and put on some warmer clothing. It was significantly cooler in the basin and the wind was howling. While we ate we took a little time to glass the north slope from our high vantage point. It was amazing how far you could see from up here. With a little bit of trail mix and water in our bellies we went back to the job of scouting out the basin. We retraced our steps through the trees on the eastern side of the basin. We could see a little more of the basin with every hill that we crest. Eventually we worried that if we did spook any elk they would just run through the basin and we'd be to far away to take a shot. We agreed to split up. Tyler would creep down and scout along a small strip of trees that ran near the center of the basin while I continued in the high eastern tree line. If the elk went either way they would run into one of us. The wind was steadily in our favor and we continued working our way up the basin slowly.
By the time we made it to the top of the basin it was pretty evident that there were no elk in this basin. I could see Tyler from where I was and he wasn't giving any indications that he saw elk either. I did pass what looked to be a bear den, and then I saw a little black bear out in the meadow. It saw me as well and quickly scurried into its den under a large boulder.
I decided to make my way down to Tyler's position. We scouted the open field a little bit and quickly determined that the field hadn't been used by elk in some time. All the scat was old and rock hard. The grass was not matted as it would be in a fresh bed. We walked the western tree line and cow called for a while with no results. We walked back to our packs and along the way we found several wallows. It was clear that a bull had been using these wallows but how long ago, we had no idea. We were dejected but hadn't given up yet.
We walked back to our packs, giving a few cow calls along the way. We decided we'd sit at our high vantage point and glass the north slope in the hope of catching some movement that would clue us in on some possible elk. While sitting in the shade comfortably glassing I just happened to look down and see a small black piece of metal in the dirt. "That looks man made," I thought, "what's it doing here?" I picked it up and immediately realized it was my rear sight. "Fuck me," I exclaimed out loud! It must have hit the log that I rested my gun on and popped off. When Tyler and I sighted in the muzzleloaders we said that it would be a good idea to either mark the adjustment on the rifle or take a picture of it for just this occasion. We had done neither. I was officially out of the hunt, unless an elk was point blank in front of me. I can't even express how pissed I was.
We continued to glass for a while, then Tyler went back up into Kolkman basin, or Zink basin as I'm now calling it, and tried to glass from there. I circled around to his location and watched his six in case that bear decided to investigate us and in the hopes that it would come out and give us something interesting to watch. The bear never came out but a coyote did. While Tyler was cow calling from down in the basin a coyote poked out of the woods thinking it had found an easy meal. It saw us immediately and took off the other direction.
We managed to get a couple of text messages out to the wives from our high vantage point.

By 6:30 pm we had decided it was time to head back to camp. We knew we had a steep downhill descent to make it back to camp and it would be getting dark soon. We extended our trekking poles and started the dangerous downhill climb. While in the boulder field you had to watch for pitfalls with every step, and once you made it to the forest it was slippery and loose footing. We both slipped several times and Tyler actually went down once. In an instant I saw him slip, roll and go completely sideways. I thought it was the start of a wicked downhill tumble but he only rolled once then regained his stability. It could have been a real disaster but he walked away with a few pine needles stuck in his palm.
After a few detours we finally made it to the trail in the twilight. As we walked the trail in the dark we decided that there were no elk in this canyon. We openly discussed calling it and heading back to the truck. We talked about packing up in the morning and finding the closest place with a good ribeye.
We had walked almost 6 miles that day and climbed 90 flights. I enjoyed my beef stroganoff next to the campfire and thought about I'd soon see the family. I was sad & disappointed that we would pack up and leave without our tags punched, but I was missing the family something terrible. I settled in for another cold night.

Elk Trip 2018 - Day 6

Day 6 of the elk hunting trip took place on Tuesday September 11th. The anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in American history. Any other year the significance of this date would have jumped out at me when I first woke, but this year I was deep in the forest with hardly a care about what was going on in the world.
We got up this morning at 4 am. I went through my routine of taping toes and morning movement. We had gathered all our gear up the night before in preparation for our early AM departure so we were able to get on the trail by 4:40 am. As we set out I looked up at the starry sky framed by pine tops. It was a picturess cold morning and we were excited. Tyler shot out of the gate at a near sprint. I had to reign him in a couple of times after we found ourselves out of breath way to soon. Finally he had me lead since I was keeping a smoother pace. We were using our red headlamps and they made just enough light to allow us to stay on the trail and find the field we were looking for.
I'm not sure what time we arrived but it was well before first light. We hunkered down at different locations in order to cover more of the field and sat there in stillness and silence. While we waited a hoot owl called out several times. I'm not sure how close it was but it felt like it was less than 50 yds away. I know I've never been so close to one that's hooted like that. Tyler later told me he thought it was me trying to get his attention and had marveled at how lifelike my hoots were. As the sunlight came up over the mountains you realized how cold it was by the frost on the grass and the sight of your own breath. We waited in that field till it warmed up and we were confident that the golden hour was long past. We had seen no elk.
We shed our cold weather gear and crossed over to the south side of the creek. We started creeping through the brush but we were having a terrible time getting through with our large packs on. After a few hours we were dejected and exhausted. We got back on the path and headed for camp at a snail's pace.

We got back to camp around 10 am. Tyler wasn't looking for feeling to well so he decided to lay down for a nap. I did the same. I woke up around noon and took a wipe bath in my tent. It didn't really help how bad I smelled but it did make me feel a little better. I also changed into clean socks and underwear for the first time on the trip. Man that felt great. My feet are not getting any better. I tape them up and shove them in my boots. As I step out of my tent it feels like it's 80 degrees. What a difference from just hours ago when you could see your breath.
By 12:30 pm we were eating lunch and talking strategy. Tyler was looking much better and we had renewed optimism after our nap. We decided that we would try to get up higher into the dark timber this evening. We would leave camp around 3:30 pm and that would put us where we want to be just before the evening, when the elk should be more active.
At this point we had some down time. I made the mistake of looking at picture of the kids and wife on my phone and got a little misty eyed. My mind started thinking of all the things I knew they were doing that week and wondering about all the things I was missing. We had so little down time on this trip but this was one time when we did and it was hard.
We set out a little earlier than we planned. We were on the trail by 2:20 pm. We spent the afternoon crisscrossing through the north and south timber. At one point we found a rock jutting out that provided a great spot to glass from. We gazed over the terrain till we were certain there wasn't an elk in sight. We saw all kinds of interesting landscape and inspected hundreds and hundreds of piles of old elk scat but never came across any elk.
The highlight of this little adventure was that we spotted our first grouse. It sat in a tree calling at us for several minutes. It's hard to see in this picture but you can just make out his tail on a branch next to the trunk. We lamented how if we had been bow hunting we'd be having grouse for dinner this day.

It was getting late and we made our way back to camp, following game trails for a good portion of the way. By now we were both becoming experts in identifying old elk crap. I can't explain to you just how abundant the scat was and how odd it was not seeing a single elk. If you had this much deer scat back home you wouldn't be able to throw a rock without hitting a deer.
Back at the campsite we started a fire and once again went over our strategy for the next day. We were both exhausted from hiking the rugged terrain and decided we'd get up with the sun. The plan is to hike up the trail and post up at the largest of the 3 main fields, just before the split in the trail. We will glass from that vantage point for most of the day and try to conserve our energy in the hopes that we can make a more difficult hike the day after if we come up empty handed tomorrow. We know that we only have 2 more days to realistically kill an elk. After that, it will be to late in the week and we wouldn't be able to pack it out and get home before the end of the week. As we sat around the campfire the talk eventually turned back to home. We talked about how next time we do this we'd have to have cell service somehow. We discussed how odd it was that it seemed like we hadn't had contact with the family in forever, but in reality it was just yesterday morning. You pack so much into the days that they seem like many days strung together. I was thankful that I'd been taking notes.
I ate my chicken teriyaki dinner and Tyler read off the days stats for me to record. Miles walked 5.6. Flights climbed 50.

Elk Trip 2018 - Day 5

I woke up early this morning but didn't crawl out of the tent till about 7:15 am. Last night got pretty cold. I woke up freezing around midnight and had to dress in my cold weather pants in order to keep warm. After that I slept pretty good. The hike from yesterday put a hurting on me. I had blisters forming on both big and both little toes. I wrapped them in duct tape, then pulled my boots on to go have a woods dump. Tyler and I made coffee and debated strategy. It was clear that we both were wore out from yesterday's excursion but we also had decided that with all the signs we'd seen we were definitely in the right canyon, we just needed to get further in and be prepared to stay for the full week. We were going to need the rest of our food that we packed out to the truck a couple days ago. I was also wanting to reclaim my rain gear in case we got in any more downpours.
We set out down the trail headed for the truck at about 8:30 am. On the way down I started getting some text messages. One was from a Bears fan at work asking me if the Packers were ever going to score. "Oh great," I thought. We made it to the trailhead by 10 am. As we walked down there were 2 other hunters pulling up. They walked over and we started talking. The said they drove in from Wisconsin. Bing! "Who won the game," I asked. They told me all about the miraculous comeback the Packers made. Hallelujah! My mind was now at ease. We made calls to the wives and let them know this would probably be the last call since we were going even deeper into the canyon. We'd try to text but don't worry if they don't hear from us. I left voicemails on my wife's phone for the kids then we loaded up our gear and started back up the trail we just came down.
The plan is to hike back to camp, pack up and move further in. This will allow us to get to and hunt some of the areas we found yesterday with greater ease. The hike back to camp was rough. I was feeling weak and Tyler's hip was giving him some trouble.
We finally made it back to camp at 12:35 pm. We decided that we could stand a quick nap so we each laid down in our tents. I took my t-shirt off for the first time since we'd arrived. I didn't realize just how crusty it was till I peeled it off. My socks were the same. I hung them in the overhead netting of my tent hoping the breeze would dry them out a little.
I woke up at about 2 pm and hollered at Tyler to get up. I didn't want to sleep the day away. As I took my socks down from the netting I realized they were stiff as boards. We were definitely funky by this point.

We packed up camp and prepared to head up the trail. I can't explain to you how much I dreaded putting that pack on and starting up those switchbacks, but I knew we had to do it if we wanted to tag an elk. We set off up the trail at 2:30 pm, taking as few breaks as we could stand. Tyler had ran out of water again so we stopped by the little creek near the swampy pond and filtered water. It was a welcome break. After we got water we really started making good time. We arrived at our new camp around 4:30 pm. We hadn't gone to far but we were past all the switchbacks and that would make hiking in easier for the rest of the trip.
As soon as we got to the spot we knew we wanted to camp at we saw to bow hunters come walking out of the campsite. "oh shit," we both thought. Someone else was already here. They came over and luckily they were just laying in the shade taking a nap while they were out hunting. It was the two guys that had been packed in up top, the one that we talked to in his tent and his buddy that was at the lake. They were super chatty and told us they'd only seen a couple elk up high. We talked for a while and swapped hunting stories. As we talked four horses walked up with 2 riders. It was the amish sheep hunter and his wife. They stopped and talked with the group for a while as well. The sheep hunter said that he'd seen a handful of elk cows in the fields we'd been through yesterday. He said it's always early in the morning when they pass through. We thanked him for the tip and everyone split up as we went about setting up our camp. Moments after everyone left two of the Missouri boys came walking down the trail. One had a recurve bow and we struck up another conversation with those guys. It was becoming quite the social hour for a backwoods hunting camp. The Missouri boys said they hadn't seen anything and were probably going to go higher up in the mountains in search of elk herds, then they moved along.
The new camp site is at 38.1028041,-105.7130543 if you want to google map it.

It was 6:30 pm by the time that we had camp set up, our gear organized, and water filtered and collected. We decided it was getting to late to venture out so we sat down and started talking strategy for the coming days. One one level it was a wasted day given that all we did was hike back to the truck and then hike further in and set up a new camp, but we were now right in the heart of the area we felt the elk were in. It would be easier each to get to and from the areas we wanted to hunt. This camp was also far better than the other two. How we wished we had the strength to make it this far in on the first day.
We started cooking dinner, I had beef stroganoff, and relaxed around a fire that Tyler built.

We had hiked almost 8 miles this day and gone up 113 flights.
We planned to get up early and leave camp by 4:30 am in order to get to the fields before dawn and see if the sheep hunter's tip panned out. We were optimistic and ready to see some elk.
We were in bed by 8:40 pm. Before I went to bed I took my socks off and put them in the overhead netting of my tent to dry out a little overnight. I knew we were at a higher elevation so I put my thermals on before bed since it was sure to be cold again tonight.

Elk Trip 2018 - Day 4

On Sunday September 9th we woke up with the sun. Zink had another rough night of sweating and freezing at the same time. I think he was going through the DTs from lack of Bud Light. I slept pretty good. We took our time getting ready and went through our normal routine. Strap on gear, take a dump, make coffee, eat a little something.  While I was trudging through the brush looking for my new bathroom I came across a ton of mule deer scat. It seems that our campsite is right in the middle of their bedding area. The plan for the day was to hike up high and listen for the bugles that would signify rutting elk in the area. Worst case scenario we would scout out the lay of the land and figure out the best place to find the elk. We left camp about 8:30 am.
As we hiked out we came across a large outcropping of rock that jutted out from the trees. It looked like a spot we may be able to get reception from so we tried to send a few text messages to the wives. Luckily a couple went through and we felt good just knowing that they knew we were safe. We were also happy that we'd found a spot so close to camp that we could send text messages from.
By 9:15 am we were higher up and deeper in the canyon than we'd been before. We used Tyler's cow call along the way every so often hoping to get a response but were disappointed each time.

Along the way we came across a pretty cool waterfall. We marked it on the map because it was a good crossing point if we wanted to hunt on the south side of Rito Alto creek. Here is a video of the creek and of me at the pool before the waterfall.

So, one thing to mention about the trail. Once we were up in the pine forest part of the trail we would occasionally come across spots where a little stream would cross the trail on it's way down to join the creek. These usually formed little watering holes for wildlife. It was at one of these on the trail at about 10,500 ft of elevation that we officially saw our first, without a doubt, elk track. It was similar to a deer track but so ridiculously huge that there was no mistaking it. This lifted our spirits and we carried on up the trail.

At about 11:45 am we came across our first field. It wasn't very big but it was the first place we came across that would allow us sit back with our binoculars and "glass" around. This is common practice in elk hunting, allowing a hunter to cover a large area without exerting a lot of energy. I have to say, it was pretty sweet. We split up and both hunkered down in the shade behind some cover and began to meticulously scan the fields that lay ahead of us and the mountainside across the valley. You have to take your time and pick apart every little inch of what you see. It was tedious but fun.
At one point Tyler called me over, he had one in sight! I crept around the field, staying in the shadows, and snuck up behind where he was stationed. I looked through his binoculars and there it was. The biggest mule deer shaped tree I'd ever seen.

After a couple hours of not seeing anything we packed up and moved further up the trail. At this point Tyler showed me the picture he took of the elk he saw and it was not what his binoculars were pointed at when I saw the mule deer shaped tree. I have to admit that it looked a lot like a young bull elk bedded down but it was just too unclear to be certain. I think even Tyler had a little doubt at this point but I still hope it was one.
The further up the trail we got, the better and better the landscape was looking. We kept using the phrase, "this looks real elky" to describe areas that looked like an elk should be there. It was a running joke at this point. Along the trail I found my first horseshoe. It wouldn't be the last one we found, but we were so pumped up that I declared it must be lucky. We were bound to find elk now.

A short ways up trail we came across another field and decided to investigate. We dropped our packs and with just our rifles we crept through the brushy field. We came across a small pond no bigger than a swimming pool. It was surrounded by bedding and scat. We could tell that it was old but it was at least a promising sign that elk had been in this area, in abundance, in the recent past. I can't describe accurately just how much scat and bedding we were in. It seemed like from any pile of scat, in any direction was another pile of scat 5 feet away. This was either the resting place of a huge herd, or they had been there for a very long time. We kept talking about how we were sure that we'd hear a bugle if we were in this area just long enough.

We continued up the trail. In the next field we came across a little wooden cross that someone had stuck in the ground. "I wonder what that's for," I asked, "probably where someone marked a kill." "That's probably where a hiker took a shit," Tyler replied. I kept thinking that it was right in the middle of the field. Why wouldn't he walk over to the woods. Oh well.

A little further up trail Tyler spotted a large bone laying a few yards from the trail. We stopped and wondered what it went to, and what it was that smashed half of it to get at the marrow. As we pondered I looked back and saw the rest of the skeleton a few yards back. We'd walked right past it but it was concealed by the bushes till you got past it. Though it was kind of morbid, it was also exciting. Not only did you know that something, hopefully a hunter, had killed an elk in this area; but you also got a sense of just how big an animal they were. Once again we were pumped up and ready to find elk.

We pressed on and just before 2 pm we came to the split in the trail. Left took us to Cotton Lake and right took us to Rito Alto lake. After a few minutes of discussion we decided on Rito Alto lake.

We paused to filter water at the small stream near the fork and just as we finished it started hailing on us. We were so excited that we didn't even care.

Once the hail died down it started to rain. Tyler pulled out his rain gear and I was regretting dropping mine in the truck since it was chilly and now wet. As we walked past the sign posts and into the open field we saw the first large tent that was packed in on horse. We would learn later that this was the amish sheep hunter's tent. Further up the trail we came across another large outfitter tent. There was a hunter inside, tucked in his sleeping bag, and he talked to us for a few minutes and let us know he hadn't see a thing other than a couple of mule deer. He decided to come back and take a nap till later that afternoon. Tyler and I moved along and snickered about how we may be bigger pussies than the Missouri guys that passed us a couple nights ago, but those guys in the outfitter tent were bigger pussies than us. Nothing wrong with being a pussy, just don't be king of the pussies.
The sun was now out and we quickly dried off. While Tyler was removing his rain gear we spotted 3 mule deer across the valley. It was a doe and 2 fawns. I don't know how far away we were but it seemed like a mile and we were behind leafy cover, but that doe pegged us as soon as she stepped out. She didn't seem worried about us, but she wasn't taking her eye off us either. We stood there and watched as the fawns played in the meadow for several minutes. Then the 3 of them slowly walked into the trees and we continued up the trail.
A short ways later we encountered another hunter. He was a young amish man named Jonathan from Ohio. He had a fishing pole and had been up at Rito Alto lake. He said he was hunting for cow elk but hadn't seen any so he decided to go fishing. We wished him luck, parted ways and continued towards the lake.
We make it to Rito Alto lake at about 4:15 pm. We saw another hunter fishing that we would later learn was the companion of the the guy we talked to in the outfitter tent. He wandered off into the woods with his bow and we didn't get a chance to meet him just yet. We sat down and had a snack while overlooking the lake.

After our snack we decided that since it took us so long to get there and it was so late we better start back to camp. We had scouted out the area pretty well and could now make some decisions on where to focus our hunts over the next few days. On the way back to camp we crossed paths with Jonathan from Ohio again. He said that he'd heard a bugle the night before and he thinks the elk are in the deep dark timber but should be coming out to the valleys soon.
On the way back we stopped at that waterfall and filled our water reserves once again. We didn't want another episode of running out of water like we had the other day.

As the dusk crept in we took note of the changing aspen trees. We would occasionally come across a grove of them and they looked magical fluttering in the wind.

3 hours since we left the lake we were back at camp around 7:30pm. We had hiked 10.5 miles and climbed 58 flights. We were hungry and tired. Tyler started a fire and we both pulled our boots off and warmed our damp feet by the fire as we enjoyed our dinner. I had beef stew and it was delicious.
We sat around the fire and reminisced about all the cool sights we'd seen today. We talked strategy and argued about where the best place to go was. We were optimistic that we'd soon hear that bugle, possibly tonight, and soon see a herd of elk. We settled into bed and as I fell asleep the thought occurred to me, "it's Sunday, I wonder if the Packers beat the Bears in their season opener?"
 

 

Elk Trip 2018 - Day 3

Day 3 of our adventure and it's officially the first day we can hunt. Saturday September 8th.
We woke up and the first thing I did was put my boots on and quest out to take an outdoor dump. I'm not going to lie, I was looking forward to it. With my dude wipe (manly pre moistened towelette) I struck out to find the perfect spot to do my business. A few moments later I was back at camp brewing my first cup of camp coffee.
Tyler and I discussed our game plan for the day. After witnessing the meager amount of gear the Missouri hunters were carrying we decided that we were way over packed. We broke out a gear bag and started dumping gear into it as we decided that we quickly hike back to the truck and drop off some surplus supplies. With our food being some of the heaviest items we carried we decided that we could leave a few days of food in the truck as well. If the hunting was good in this area and we needed to stay longer, we could always hike back for it. This would prove to be a mistake. Another mistake I made was to leave my rain gear in the truck. The weather report was calling for clear skies all week so I thought it was just added weight.
So you know, the trails we were on were extremely rugged. At the lower levels of the trail it was all rock. Not so bad going uphill slowly but when you're going downhill it gets a little dicey. While heading back to the truck I stepped down and heard a very distinctive rattle followed by a quick sting to my thigh. I let out a yell and jumped out of my boots. I'd been bit by a rattlesnake. As I looked around it was evident that the rattler was actually a stick. As my boot slid down the trail it caught the stick in some dry leaves making the "rattle" noise I heard. Then the stick flipped around and smacked my thigh. I was laughing my ass off now, but I think Tyler was laughing harder.
We dropped off our surplus gear, made a quick phone call to the wives then headed back up the trail. It was much easier without all the gear but we were still winded from elevation. We broke down our first camp and headed up the trail to see what lay ahead.

We hiked up the trail taking breaks frequently. It was hard going. As you can see from the picture above we were still fairly well supplied.
I forgot to mention that we were hiking the Rito Alto trail. It follows along the Rito Alto creek. At one point I was badly in need of a breather and made the excuse to look over some rocks at a waterfall I heard. When I peered over the rocks I saw a black bear about 20 yards from us. It was looking around by the creek and didn't see us until I shouted at Tyler, "holy shit a bear." The bear saw us and scurried off into the thick underbrush. I have to admit that while it was cool to see the bear my first reaction was to grab my pistol and start looking around for the rest of them that were surely sneaking up on us to attack. Tyler laughed at me again. We continued on up the trail. A short ways ahead we found bear scat and confirmed they do in fact shit in the woods.

A short while later we came across another find on the trail. A bag of weed. Going through Pueblo we literally had the conversation about all the stoners we saw and how at least we wouldn't run into any in the mountains. Hunters don't have time for that stuff. Apparently some do. I dumped it out and took the baggie with me. Onward and upward we continued.
We came to a place that looked like a pretty good campsite. We were about another mile deep as the crow flies and 2 more miles deep by the trail. We decided to set up camp. The landscape had changed from rocky dry dessert to rocky dry pine forest. This is what we had imagined we'd be camping and hunting in. Surely there were elk all around us just waiting to turn broadside in front of our muzzleloaders.

We set up camp at 38.1002800,-105.7228870 for your google mapping reference.

We scouted around the camp a little bit and noticed 2 things immediately. There was scat all over the place. It looked like white tail but larger. We didn't know if it was mule deer or elk but we were hoping it was elk. The second item of note was that the trail had veered from the creek and we were nowhere near water. This was an issue because we were running out of the water we brought and would need to refill soon. We put on our day packs and started further up the trail in a quest for water and elk.
Up to this point the trail had been pretty steady. You had some climbs in elevation and some level spots but it was basically in the same direction heading back into the canyon. Just past our campsite was the beginning of the switchbacks. The hiking got much tougher at this point. We hiked for over an hour. It was about 80 degrees out and Tyler was sweating steadily from our exertions. He was getting pretty nervous about not having water. You definitely don't want to get dehydrated out here, especially at altitude.
As we climbed to the crest of a switchback, just before starting down a few switchbacks, I noticed a scummy pond off in the distance. We could see the trail running next to it and we knew we'd be drinking water soon. Once we made our way to the pond it was evident that we really didn't want to drink from it. There was more mud and scum than water. We scouted around a little and found a cool clear creek that was feeding the pond. Thank God. As we walked through some brush we jumped a brown snake that slithered off into the bushes. We made our way down to the creek and started the process of filtering our water.
Filtering in the back country goes like this. We used a Sawyer filter system. You fill up a special bag with dirty water. Then you attach the filter to the bag and squeeze the bag through the filter. We each had a bladder in our packs that held about 3 liters of water. The Sawyer bag only held about 2 cups so it was several rounds of filling, squeezing and catching the water till your bladder was full. In the end we just squeezed a bag of water right into our mouths and it was some of the coolest and best water I've ever enjoyed.
We continued up the trail and got up to about 10,300 ft. of elevation. We spent the afternoon and evening scouting around and found a field that had signs of elk bedding and old scat everywhere but no elk. This did at least confirm for us that the scat near our camp was mule deer since it was considerably smaller than the elk scat we just found. We determined that since the site looked like it hadn't been used in a while the elk must be up higher still. It was getting late and we decided to head back to camp, have dinner and go to bed early so we could get an early start for our hike in the morning.
On the way back down the trail we were walking and talking, fresh with excitement at the signs we'd found, and we heard something rustle in the brush. We just caught a glimpse of something on 4 legs bounding across the trail. Could it be our first elk sighting? We got quiet and peered into the heavy brush. What we saw was a mule deer in full velvet antlers. It was a hell of a sight. He stayed there just long enough for me to snap a picture. You can just make him out between the 2 trees.

As we made our way back to camp we stopped at the creek again and topped off our water. We made our way back to camp and I enjoyed a hot chicken noodle dinner. I can't say enough how delicious those mountain house freeze dried hot meals are at the end of the day. We'd hiked so much that we barely ate all day and that meal was delicious. They would only get better as each day passed and we got a little more fatigued each day.
Tyler checked his phone and we had hiked almost 8 miles and climbed 98 flights this day. For the most part it was sunny all day with just a sprinkling of rain for a moment. It had been a good day. We built a fire since this campsite was much more sheltered from the wind. As we sat around the campfire and discussed the days events it inevitably turned to how we wished we had cell service. It's hard being a dad and not being able to check in with the wife and kids at the end of the day. We could tell that this would be the hardest part of the trip. As we turned in for the night we were feeling good about the days ahead of us and optimistic of our chances of filling our tag. Sleep came quickly.

Elk Trip 2018 - Day 1 & 2

So back in 2016 when I started back to school my wife and I agreed that if I buckled down and graduated in the 2 years the program called for that I could then do something special as a reward to myself. At the time I had no idea what I wanted to do. About a year into the program my cousin Tyler and I were talking about how cool it would be to take an Elk hunting trip out west and rough it in the back country for a week (no homo). I talked to the wife and she thought it would be a great idea, though she was probably just happy to get me out of the house for a week.
We began the process of getting a Colorado elk tag. We both had to take a hunter safety class before we could apply. We took the class online. I remember having one screen up for my MBA class and one up for the hunters ed during class nights. After that, it was a lot of research on what game management units (GMU) to pick. Many weeks of discussion were spent on this topic alone. Then there was the issue of what method of take would we go for. Bow, rifle, muzzleloader? In the end we decided we had the best chance of drawing a tag by applying during muzzleloader season in GMU 82. We applied, paid our $600 and waited. A few months later the results were announced and we had drawn a cow tag in unit 82 during muzzleloader season, September 9th-16th.
Though we had spent months preparing and imagining, it was now real. We spent the next couple months languishing over what gear we needed, which brands to buy, how much weight we could carry, how much food would we need and all the other variables that we had no experience with. Basically everything. We managed to make it through these months and I can tell you it seemed like the whole process took forever, but then it was like it snuck up on us and we didn't have enough time to prepare.
We decided to leave on Thursday September 6th. The plan was to cut out of work early and get on the road by 1pm. Of course that didn't work out as planned. Was this an omen of things to come or just a rocky start to be overcome? By 5:15pm we were on the road. We drove through to Salina Kansas and finally had to pull over and catch a few winks at a rest stop around 3:30am. I had the very distinct feeling that this was the same rest stop we pulled over and rested at several years ago in the Hizzy on our way to Estes Park. We woke up about 3 hours later and started driving into the sunrise of the new day.
Day 2 was off to rough start. My companion was grouchy from lack of sleep. It was obvious that he was not as use to running on fumes as I was. Just outside the Colorado state line we got behind a tractor trailer that pulled out in front of us. Tyler mashed the gas and truck took off around the semi. All of the sudden the truck jerked a little, lost some power momentarily, and the check engine light came on. Tyler wasn't sure what to do. As I told him to pull over, the light went off. We started researching this online and there is definitely a history of this happening in F-150s of similar year with turbos. Everything we read said there was nothing to worry about and not to goose it so hard. We pressed on. We were to close to turn back now or worry about engine problems.
A few miles down the road we saw our first mule deer crossing the highway just shy of the Colorado line. That pumped us up again and we were ready for the hunt.
We crossed the Colorado line and started gazing off in the distance waiting for that first glimpse of the mountains. It had been so long since I was last in Colorado that I forgot just how long that takes. Truth be told, I was looking while we were still in Kansas. We passed through the city of Pueblo on our way to the Sangre de Cristo range. I couldn't believe how many weed shops there were. Just going down what seemed like the main drag we passed 8 weed shops. We also encountered numerous stoners wondering up and down, and twice into, the streets. We grabbed some Subway, knowing it would be our last decent meal in a week.
As we drove through the mountain passes we were treated to some wonderful sights. We saw turkey and sheep on the roadside and of course spectacular views in every direction. We pulled off the highway and took a county "rock" road about 5 miles back to the trailhead. On the way in we saw a herd of pronghorn antelope. They took a quick interest in us, then bound away in a flash.

It was 4:30 pm mountain time when we pulled up the trailhead. This was our view.

We were physically exhausted but we were jacked up on the excitement of our adventure beginning. We changed clothes, strapped on our heavy packs and proceeded slowly up the trail. The first animal we saw on the trail was a bright green snake about the size of a garter snake.

We had to frequently take brakes. A couple hours later we were about 1 mile away from the truck as the crow flies, and about 2 miles up the trail. We decided to make camp for the first night since we were badly in need of sleep.

We camped at 38.0883363,-105.7504671 if you want to look it up on google maps. We had to kick cactus out of the way to set up our tents. We cooked our first meal, lasagna, over our camp stoves and tried to make a camp fire but it was to windy. Shortly before we turned in for the night 4 young hunters from Missouri came walking up the trail in the dark. They startled us initially because they were not using flashlights and we didn't see them till they were right up on our camp. We made small talk for a while. They let us know they heard the elk were up high then they pressed on up the trail. Tyler and I immediately started a discussion about what sissies we were. We had 10 times the gear those guys had and there is no way we'd walk up that trail in the middle of the night without lights. They were going up high and we were going to bed. Oh well, we had walked slightly over 2 miles up hill with 60 lbs of gear on our backs. We were tired.

We stayed up till the stars came out so that Tyler could witness a Colorado night sky. He couldn't believe how many stars were visible out there. He was clearly awestruck and I have to admit that even though I had been looking forward to this for a while, I didn't really remember it in all it's splendor. We stood there staring up and a shooting star raced across the sky. It was a very cool moment. We turned in and laughed about how the tent really gave you a false sense of security in an area that was known to have rattle snakes, black bears & mountain lions. Sleep came quickly.