pmj
10-12-2007, 09:39 AM
I have safely returned from my first alpine trip. First I want to give a big thank you to frenchbar from this forum for all his help. He provided information that helped to make this trip a great experience. He really knows the mountains in Region 3-32 like the back of his hand. He is a stand up guy and a pleasure to talk with. He is a bundle of accurate mountain information. I want to blame all those guys on this site who have shown pictures of the alpine, done gear reports, provided detailed equipment lists, given work out and excercise advise and endlessly talked about alpine hunting. You guys gave me the push to get started.
The Story: After a year of planning and collecting gear, with my buddy James and his girl friend we drove up from the lower mainland on Saturday morning October 6 to the Lilloette area. Headed up Bridge River valley. Some spectacular sceenery there. Took a turn off and drove up no tellum valley. We turned off into a clear cut and after a little bit of driving up dead end roads we were able to locate the old road which took us into our trail head at about 12:30pm. The temperature was -1. We took a compass bearing and started what was on the maps a 3km hike in. There were numerous valleys hills and ridges to climb. We discovered that my 1:50,000 topo map was missing a creek and a 300' canyon it ran through. We persevered and discovered by my friends GPS that we had walked 6 km to reach the lake we were camping at. Maps can not show the up and down distance you travel, just the distance as the crow flies. We set up camp on the only protected part of the small alpine lake just as the winds started to pick up. By dinner time the winds were gusting over 70 kmh. I did a late afternoon scout and had trouble standing up in the directly exposed areas. The weather man had called for a wind warning and wind we got! The morning of day 2 the winds continued. We were headed out for our morning hunt and it started to rain. We headed back to camp and spent the day in the tent. I had cut off all the labels on my equipment to save weight so I had nothing to read. Fortunatley we had a copy of the Regulations so we were able to play Regulations trivia. How do you recognize a female cougar? Over 40 with a nose piercing hanging out in a bar with 20 year olds. In the late afternoon the rain stopped. We headed out again. Got about 1/2 hour out then the snow started. Whipped by winds so it was coming straight up our noses. The only thing we saw was the biggest grizzly droppings I have seen in my life:shock:. To be continued...
My yellow Eureka Alpen Lite 4 season tent. James and his girl friends tent is behind the tree to the right.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Alpine_2007_Tent.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=6304&limit=recent)
The Story: After a year of planning and collecting gear, with my buddy James and his girl friend we drove up from the lower mainland on Saturday morning October 6 to the Lilloette area. Headed up Bridge River valley. Some spectacular sceenery there. Took a turn off and drove up no tellum valley. We turned off into a clear cut and after a little bit of driving up dead end roads we were able to locate the old road which took us into our trail head at about 12:30pm. The temperature was -1. We took a compass bearing and started what was on the maps a 3km hike in. There were numerous valleys hills and ridges to climb. We discovered that my 1:50,000 topo map was missing a creek and a 300' canyon it ran through. We persevered and discovered by my friends GPS that we had walked 6 km to reach the lake we were camping at. Maps can not show the up and down distance you travel, just the distance as the crow flies. We set up camp on the only protected part of the small alpine lake just as the winds started to pick up. By dinner time the winds were gusting over 70 kmh. I did a late afternoon scout and had trouble standing up in the directly exposed areas. The weather man had called for a wind warning and wind we got! The morning of day 2 the winds continued. We were headed out for our morning hunt and it started to rain. We headed back to camp and spent the day in the tent. I had cut off all the labels on my equipment to save weight so I had nothing to read. Fortunatley we had a copy of the Regulations so we were able to play Regulations trivia. How do you recognize a female cougar? Over 40 with a nose piercing hanging out in a bar with 20 year olds. In the late afternoon the rain stopped. We headed out again. Got about 1/2 hour out then the snow started. Whipped by winds so it was coming straight up our noses. The only thing we saw was the biggest grizzly droppings I have seen in my life:shock:. To be continued...
My yellow Eureka Alpen Lite 4 season tent. James and his girl friends tent is behind the tree to the right.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Alpine_2007_Tent.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=6304&limit=recent)