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.