I usually get to this spot and say "**** it!" and then stop clearing trail and just plow through
We got to a good looking spot. We were inside of a hundred yards of the bedded nanny and kid. They didn't seem to have a care in the world. Especially on a blue bird day. Even on blue bird days, this spot is notorious for holding fog. Back to the goats, we were glassing up some other goats, I felt it get just a little bit warmer and a breeze popped up. I mean the thermals went from blowing down the mountain to up the hill. She went from bedded to hauling ass up the mountain.
I don't know how the topic came about, but I realized that my dad has yet to see the gorge... so we had to wander over so he knew what we had to avoid if we ended up coming down in the fog or dark... or the fog at night... oh the memories.
Looking up
Looking down
One day I'll get a picture that actually gives it perspective and scale.
From there we did a little glassing across the valley and spotted a bunch of goats. Nothing studly, but some decent looking goats. We discussed imaginary was of getting over there, zip lines, gondolas, squirrel suits... the usual
The other goats in the area we were glassing up (more nannies and kids) busted out of the area, these ones I think finally spotted us down below and got outta compton.
After a night of watching a couple Bill Burr specials, we rose to some heavy fog. We bounced around from spot to spot trying to find a break in the fog like a steelhead fisherman trying to find a pool with fish stacking up.
We mostly focused on "The Back Channel" and I glassed up a STUUUUUUUUD on the very top. Long winter coat already (especially compared to all the other goats we were seeing), huge shoulders... just everything that said trophy without even getting a look at the headgear. We picked out what we could, and decided to go check out the "Diesel Tanks". On our way to that spot, we noticed Dink Mountain had opened up and there was a truck parked there. We stayed low to see if we could pick anyone out up on the mountain. After not seeing anyone, we headed towards the trail head. There was a couple kids Cole and his buddy Oscar doing some spotting. We sat, looked at goats, all while I tried to milk him for info without giving up any.
Asking the usual questions
"got the draw? - Yeah"
"Have you had this draw before?No"
"Know anyone that's had the draw before?No but... so and so outfitter got such and such goat from this general area" (so he knows... but doesn't)
"Have you heard of any other goats last year coming out of here? - apparently so and so outfitter was saying the nannies took a shit kicking last year" (frig)
"Have you checked out anywhere else? - No, still got time before I get serious but apparently, these people cleared a trail to this area"
"how far up? - Not sure, but pretty sure to the top"
Spent a little more time glassing, they decided to take off to the back channel. While we were still glassing up the spot together, my dad kept asking what I thought and what our plan was. In other words, my dad was asking me questions that were going to give valuable info away.
Side note: In this situation... like out deer hunting, I'll tell people everything I know about an area. Only if they're out there putting in the effort... If you ask me for help on here... show me pictures of you putting in effort, I'll PM you. But in this case, buddy seemed to have a good instinct on what he was doing. I didn't want to start showing him the pictures on my phones of the studs that have come out of "Dink Mountain"... I want him to discover it for himself... but if he's a member on here... ooops my bad.
But when the kids took off, I finally spilled my plan. If the trail was as described and if it was by who cleared it, I'm sure the trail was clear to the top. So that evening, we headed to the trail head to the lake where I took Tranquilizer to get his goat back in 2013.
We discovered there's an actual trail head there now... I grabbed my camera and headlamp(we were already losing light) then basically ran up to the falls to see how the trail was. Then to see if there was work done on the far side of the creek. This would give us an idea of how long it would take us. As I went up the trail, my dad went and climbed into a canyon to see if he could jump anything.
The trail was marked better than I ever had it marked. No losing the trail like I've done a number of times 6 years ago while I was marking and clearing it out. They were even nice enough to cut out all the dead fall. I use to climb through it (which was usually the cause of me losing the trail) and then later went down and around it. It was looking promising if they did this much work right here.
The trail seemed longer now and kind of went up the ridge where I took it down lower... but this is me back in 2013 before the creek crossing
It was like a highway had been opened up. I went up part way on the other side of the creek and decided it was probably clear to the top, giving the evidence I seen down low. I made my way back just before dark and met up with my dad who hadn't seen much. Back at camp while introducing my dad to meat eater, we came to the decision to pack gear for an overnighter with the intent of making a day trip up to the lake. We also discussed whether we should be up real early to head up the mountain, or to turn off the alarm and sleep until whenever so we were well rested for the hike ahead of us. We had planned on an overnighter so if it got dark up there, no big deal.
We slept in until 6 that morning. We started off the trail. The trail before the creek is deceiving, casual walking. Mostly just slowly gaining elevation with a couple steep switchbacks. On our way up, a nice looking lady in her 40s? caught up to us with what I'm assuming were her two daughters in their late teens/early 20s... Rocking their trail shoes, leggings and small dry bags for luggage, they were on a mission to make time. They apologized for potentially ruining our hunting with their bear bells and carried on.
My dad cooling down after seeing the pretty ladies (they were too old and too young for me)
Side Note: I always told my mother "I'll probably find my wife on a mountain somewhere" Now that reduces the odds a lot because
1 - I don't often hunt mountains where there's other people
2 - generally single women don't venture into the mountains... especially alone
But now I know there's a chance
Anyways...
We carried on and made pretty good time (not as good as the ladies, but they weren't packing gear) to the creek crossing. I got to point out to my dad the spot where I took a little drop.
It looks bigger than I remember, also makes me think it wasn't as high as I thought... also makes me realize it could have been a lot worse for me.
Going up the other side, it's still a bitch of a trail. Slippery and vertical. It's easier now because it's cleared, marked and even have ropes in spots to haul yourself up, but **** it's a slug of a trek up the mountain.
My dad thinking "if his mother had that abortion, I wouldn't be here right now"... don't know if he was thinking that in a "this is awesome" sense or a "**** this shit" sense... his thoughts, not mine.
We were into the snow and... fog.
We started losing light and we still had a ways to go. The girls had even turned around before the snow line. We had to be getting close, but I wasn't exactly how sure. We stopped at the bottom of a bluff. Father took a breather while dropped my pack. I went and did a recon mission on the trail ahead. It was more straight up for a bit. Then it cut across a bunch of chopped alders. But with the wet snow, they were slick even without a pack on. Past the alders was a waterfall crossing beginning to ice up. it was a short shot from the crossing to a drop off, so one mis-step you're going over. Sketch... but that's goat hunting.
Made my way back down to my dad, told him what was ahead and we needed to make the decision now. He asked me what I thought and I told him it was his goat hunt not mine. I couldn't make this decision, I know I'd push on but it was on him if he wanted to head back... sadly that's what we did.
To be fair, it was foggy and wet as hell. We would have made it to the lake to climb into sleeping bags for a cold night to wake up, look at the fog and then hike back down. Burning 2 days... turning back we've only burnt one, giving us more time to hit other spots.
The next day was back to scouting in pouring rain. We spent most of the day sitting in rain gear trying to pick something out through the fog. Nothing was happening, goats were either still up high or not of the caliber I know this area can produce. After spending before sunrise to late in the afternoon, I decided we should go for a drive and look at the neighbouring zone to see what the action was like. Plus my dad hadn't been that far down the road before. Even though it's a bigger area, it's less access and even gnarlier terrain than the area we were in. I managed to pick out one goat bedded down real low, but besides that it was still rain and fog. That night we had a couple hot rums while watching more eater on Netflix and discussed a plan. The STUUUUUD up top of the back channel was still on my mind. I've yet to make it to the top of the back channel. So the plan was to push a trail as far up as we could in one day. It would then tell us how realistic it was to get to the top. We'd be burning a day, but at least I would know.
So we were up and at er. Getting to the meadow below the back channel wasn't that hard. It's a lot nicer to mark a trail when the devils club is dead... I still got hammered by stinging nettle. At least when you get enough of it on you, the effected area goes numb and kind of gives you a little boost... in my mind anyways. On our way up I picked out a goat bedded up among some waterfalls. Glassed him up through some rain and fog. Was an OK billy. We spent some time trying to figure out if we could get to him. I know you can only go so far straight up the waterfall before you're into cliffs too high to navigate. If we could get to the one big rock and the terrain was angled properly, we could get a shot.
We continued on up to the meadow. We came across a couple young billies right in the creek bottom. Easy shot, easy pack out... goat hunting isn't suppose to be easy and those goats were too small. But the fact they were low and moving about, we figured there could be other goats close by. So we decided to post up of a bit in case something else was about. Then we made our way up the gut to get a better view at a canyon.
We spotted another small goat come down into the gorge with a little slip n sliding and then headed up the cliff into an area I deemed impossible for us to go. We went back to focus on the goat we intended on getting and he gave us the slip. I'm thinking he fed his way back into the alders or moved off considering goats were up and about. We spent the rest of the day without seeing anything down low and without a good view of what was above us. Other than the mountain taunting us with goats we couldn't get at.
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