Elk Day 6 - Thursday 10/25/12
Oh what a long day. It's 10 pm local time and we just got back from dinner.
We did sleep in a bit this morning. Up at 6 and out by 7. Suppose that was a good thing though as Phil jumped a lady at the gas station. No, you perverts, not that kind of jump. Her Jeep had a dead battery. So we three Eagle Scouts did our good turn for the day. We topped off the tank and bought a gas station breakfast. Seems that our Nissan Pathfinder passes everything but a gas station.
Geordie told a funny story this morning. He said that Re-Phil and I had a snoring contest at about 10:45 last night. I'm sure our wives would agree, but personally, I did not hear a thing. I think Geordie is a Big Liar. Re-Phil says that's what Geordie gets for wearing us old men out. Geordie got out his ear plugs so that he could go back to sleep. He's threatening to film us tonight if we do it again.
We drove up to Douglass Pass and spotted 4 mulie bucks that we stopped and took pictures of on the digital camera. As we hit the mountain road, it quickly became apparent that they got at least 4" of snow. It sure was pretty, but it made travel and walking treacherous. Even though the sun was out, it was still only 23 degrees F.
We walked out to the point and it took about an hour to spot the elk on the opposite face. The weather had driven them down the slope about 1,000 feet to 7,600'. We would have to walk 1,300' down, across BLM land, up 500' and around the peak to get them. So, we started down. We hadn't gone 100' down when we stopped to wait for Grandpa. We discussed whether or not it was possible in four inches of snow to get down the 40 degree slope. We agreed we could, but there was no way we could make it back up. Do you believe that? Common sense won out! We headed back to the truck. There'd be no mountain climbing today. We drove back to Loma and ate lunch at the Strayhorn Grill.
We hit the hotel and changed into lighter clothes. We looked over the map and found a prime location in the S end of our Game Management Unit (GMU). We drove to DeBeque and up Roan Creek Road. Along the way we saw tons of mulies, 50 turkeys, and 3 rooster pheasants. Took digital pictures of them all.
We parked and hiked out to a valley on the lower Roan Creek. It was about 6,800' in elevation. We were hoping to catch the elk coming down for water. No go. Did not see anything but cattle. We stayed until dark and hiked out by moon light. It was gorgeous, as the lower valley only gotten about an inch of snow. The drive out was slick as snot and we were happy to be in a rental vehicle. It's now covered in Colorado mud.
We changed clothes and went back to the Thai restaurant, Sang Garden, just down the road from the hotel. As cold as we were today, that food made us all sweat.
We're heading out early in the am to see if we can't catch the elk moving back up the lower valley. We know that they are not up at 8,800' towards the top of our GMU, besides, we can't walk it anymore with all the snow.
Tomorrow's our last shot at getting something down, as we have to drive back to Denver for our flight on Saturday.
We're having a great time and enjoying Colorado. Yes we're tired and sore from all the hiking with full kits. We feel we've paid our dues and have worked hard enough to be rewarded with an elk or two. Tomorrow we get to see if the Good Lord agrees with that assessment.
Good night all.
P.S. Re-Phil is already snoring. Poor Papaw is realwy tire-ord.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
We did sleep in a bit this morning. Up at 6 and out by 7. Suppose that was a good thing though as Phil jumped a lady at the gas station. No, you perverts, not that kind of jump. Her Jeep had a dead battery. So we three Eagle Scouts did our good turn for the day. We topped off the tank and bought a gas station breakfast. Seems that our Nissan Pathfinder passes everything but a gas station.
Geordie told a funny story this morning. He said that Re-Phil and I had a snoring contest at about 10:45 last night. I'm sure our wives would agree, but personally, I did not hear a thing. I think Geordie is a Big Liar. Re-Phil says that's what Geordie gets for wearing us old men out. Geordie got out his ear plugs so that he could go back to sleep. He's threatening to film us tonight if we do it again.
We drove up to Douglass Pass and spotted 4 mulie bucks that we stopped and took pictures of on the digital camera. As we hit the mountain road, it quickly became apparent that they got at least 4" of snow. It sure was pretty, but it made travel and walking treacherous. Even though the sun was out, it was still only 23 degrees F.
We walked out to the point and it took about an hour to spot the elk on the opposite face. The weather had driven them down the slope about 1,000 feet to 7,600'. We would have to walk 1,300' down, across BLM land, up 500' and around the peak to get them. So, we started down. We hadn't gone 100' down when we stopped to wait for Grandpa. We discussed whether or not it was possible in four inches of snow to get down the 40 degree slope. We agreed we could, but there was no way we could make it back up. Do you believe that? Common sense won out! We headed back to the truck. There'd be no mountain climbing today. We drove back to Loma and ate lunch at the Strayhorn Grill.
We hit the hotel and changed into lighter clothes. We looked over the map and found a prime location in the S end of our Game Management Unit (GMU). We drove to DeBeque and up Roan Creek Road. Along the way we saw tons of mulies, 50 turkeys, and 3 rooster pheasants. Took digital pictures of them all.
We parked and hiked out to a valley on the lower Roan Creek. It was about 6,800' in elevation. We were hoping to catch the elk coming down for water. No go. Did not see anything but cattle. We stayed until dark and hiked out by moon light. It was gorgeous, as the lower valley only gotten about an inch of snow. The drive out was slick as snot and we were happy to be in a rental vehicle. It's now covered in Colorado mud.
We changed clothes and went back to the Thai restaurant, Sang Garden, just down the road from the hotel. As cold as we were today, that food made us all sweat.
We're heading out early in the am to see if we can't catch the elk moving back up the lower valley. We know that they are not up at 8,800' towards the top of our GMU, besides, we can't walk it anymore with all the snow.
Tomorrow's our last shot at getting something down, as we have to drive back to Denver for our flight on Saturday.
We're having a great time and enjoying Colorado. Yes we're tired and sore from all the hiking with full kits. We feel we've paid our dues and have worked hard enough to be rewarded with an elk or two. Tomorrow we get to see if the Good Lord agrees with that assessment.
Good night all.
P.S. Re-Phil is already snoring. Poor Papaw is realwy tire-ord.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I was chuckling all the way through reading today's post! Sounds like you're having a blast. Hope you are successful with the Elk tomorrow.
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