This week i went out solo on a hunting trip in the white river national forest.
Finding elk was pretty hard to do, but so much more happened this week that its hard to be mad at myself.
The area I was going to was about 4 1/2 miles down the Morapos creek Trail just south of Craig, CO. I slept in the truck the first night and headed out early morning.
My pack is pretty heavy as I decided to bring some creature comforts and a little bit stronger of a tent this time around. I definitely didn’t anticipate that this trail would lead me straight up to Wilson Mesa. (This trail it seems was built for ONLY mules)
Once I go to the top of Wilson Mesa, I met a couple horse packers Who were pretty surprised to see that I just walked up that steep as hell incline with just a pack on. We talked for a bit and they shared some information about the area, like where to find the elk and I continue down the trail and search for a little better of a camp spot. I was also nice that they told me about this little spring that came up from the ground that I could then filter my water from if I needed to.
I found a little clearing here with a bunch of awesome quartz rocks that seem like they were dripping out of the hillside, it seems like a good place to make camp for a while. And just a couple of moments I had set up my Hammock and my Hilleberg Rogen tent.
Primus fuel canister, gsi pinacle stove, and stanley cookset is a pretty low cost backpacking option!
I set up my little kitchen right away on this piece of rock and I was pretty stable. I got to make some pretty awesome meals of ramen, spanish rice, and some cold breakfast.
After I had dinner that day, and went out for the evening hunt. I really didn’t know the area so I was more or less just exploring around that’s when I started seeing a ton of awesome wildlife. I wish I got some pictures but to be honest I don’t have my phone out when I’m walking In the woods and I ended up just watching and listening to the coyotes, grouse, Falcons, hawks, deer, and rabbits once i found them.
The ecosystem in this area was super vibrant, and I couldn’t help but notice this is one of the more alive areas that I’ve ever seen. My goal there was to kill an elk, but I still hadn’t seen one and barely seen any sign. Where were they? How can 600 pound animals be so silent and elusive?
I reached the ridge line by the time 730 rolled around and was able to glass for a good half an hour is the sun set over the valley. Still in the exploring mindset I decided to head down a new trail and ended up in some pretty dense underbrush where i had to throw my headlamp on, if only to see where I was going. This is sort of where it said in that I was 4 miles back, by myself, and one wrong step could mean a really dangerous situation.
Next morning around 6 AM I headed out In search of elk. I have to hand it to the backpack hunters out there: it is really nice being a little farther in where you don’t have to wake up as early and you can still get on the animals early in the morning. I follow this river bank down a ways and ended up being spit into this valley that I didn’t yet know is Wilson mesa.
As I was following a sheep herders trail, I stopped to catch my breath and as I look up, about 600 yards down into the valley I see this brown bull elk emerge from the forest starting to feed. Man, what a majestic animal I honestly didn’t know what to do. Do I close the distance? Should I just watch him for a day?
I closed the distance as fast as i could, looking like an awkward, clumsy Legolas running across this valley. I waited till the bull was out of sight before i reached the aspen grove..he was gone.
12 hours a day of hammock lounging, napping, and reading. Eno hammocks makes some good gear! Check them out
That was pretty frustrating… I sat down and had another cold breakfast under the aspen trees. Watching, listening, thinking hard about what i was doing out here. I wanted to get close to the animal, but by the time I started closing the distance I didn’t know if I’d actually be able to kill him. To me, it was more about getting close and being out there, kind of a mixed bag.
Fred Bohm said it best, either failure moves you to try harder, or it can make you pack your shit and go a different direction in life. I didn’t really want to kill anything in that valley, so i packed up and walked out after three days in the wilderness. Some will say i’m a fraud, honestly i didn’t care at that point.
till next time :)
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