5.56 Medic
09-13-2013, 01:20 PM
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m202/jlaw_/img_3593.jpg (http://s105.photobucket.com/user/jlaw_/media/img_3593.jpg.html)
Above is a pic of myself showing the chute that Mr. Billy decided to slide down. That creek above my pack is the eventual camping spot at the nights end.
So we have to go back down to the packs (remember we had packed for 3 days and oh yeah, we still need water!) and then perilously make our way down the chute to find Billy Goat Gruff. Now if this doesn't sound all that bad, the sun is starting to set and we are a long way above the goat. So, man up and get there! Off we go and sidehill back and forth to the area that we figured the goat was.
Well, about half way down the hillside, the sun has finally set. Hello darkness and out come the head lamps. We spend an hour and half looking on this super steep hillside chute that is comprised of loose rock and horrible little underbrush.
We finally find the billy. Well, he's taken a bit of a beating on the traumatic bounce fest but still has his horns somewhat intact. We take the obligatory photos and start to process the meat and head. After this is done, it is now around 0200 in the morning! Gee, i'm tired and thirsty! Christopher and I pack the meat and head on to our packs, though the young buck has more meat on his (his kill, haha) and the weight is almost unreal.
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m202/jlaw_/img_3628.jpg (http://s105.photobucket.com/user/jlaw_/media/img_3628.jpg.html)
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m202/jlaw_/img_3622.jpg
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m202/jlaw_/img_3603.jpg (http://s105.photobucket.com/user/jlaw_/media/img_3603.jpg.html)
We know that there is a creek in the distance but not quite sure how far. So we continue down a narrow chute until it spills into the lower timber line. This is crazy! The packs are making the steps so hard and the rock below our feet is unstable. There is no where to just stop and camp as it's a steep chute. I was thinking, "just concentrate on being stable each step or we are going to need the 442 Squadron Cormorant to hoist our battered bodies out of here!" We had a Spot GPS locator incase this happened.
The noise of the babbling stream kept us going! Water!
We get to the creek about an hour and a half later. Wow! Glacier fed water never tasted so good! Next we hung the meat and food in trees and then pitched the tent in a hurried fashion! We had been going non stop since we left the ATV about 12 hours ago, it's now 0400 AM! Sleeeeeep!
We woke up at 11:30 and I decided to eat as much food as I could to reduce weight! We grabbed our packs and hiked off along the creekside to our ATV. This took another 1-2 hours.
Needless to say we were tired and sore but Wow! We did it and lived to tell about it!!
The Goat has a 9" set of horns, so a pretty big beast. Not bad for a couple of first timers!
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m202/jlaw_/img_3627.jpg (http://s105.photobucket.com/user/jlaw_/media/img_3627.jpg.html)
Above is a pic of myself showing the chute that Mr. Billy decided to slide down. That creek above my pack is the eventual camping spot at the nights end.
So we have to go back down to the packs (remember we had packed for 3 days and oh yeah, we still need water!) and then perilously make our way down the chute to find Billy Goat Gruff. Now if this doesn't sound all that bad, the sun is starting to set and we are a long way above the goat. So, man up and get there! Off we go and sidehill back and forth to the area that we figured the goat was.
Well, about half way down the hillside, the sun has finally set. Hello darkness and out come the head lamps. We spend an hour and half looking on this super steep hillside chute that is comprised of loose rock and horrible little underbrush.
We finally find the billy. Well, he's taken a bit of a beating on the traumatic bounce fest but still has his horns somewhat intact. We take the obligatory photos and start to process the meat and head. After this is done, it is now around 0200 in the morning! Gee, i'm tired and thirsty! Christopher and I pack the meat and head on to our packs, though the young buck has more meat on his (his kill, haha) and the weight is almost unreal.
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m202/jlaw_/img_3628.jpg (http://s105.photobucket.com/user/jlaw_/media/img_3628.jpg.html)
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m202/jlaw_/img_3622.jpg
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m202/jlaw_/img_3603.jpg (http://s105.photobucket.com/user/jlaw_/media/img_3603.jpg.html)
We know that there is a creek in the distance but not quite sure how far. So we continue down a narrow chute until it spills into the lower timber line. This is crazy! The packs are making the steps so hard and the rock below our feet is unstable. There is no where to just stop and camp as it's a steep chute. I was thinking, "just concentrate on being stable each step or we are going to need the 442 Squadron Cormorant to hoist our battered bodies out of here!" We had a Spot GPS locator incase this happened.
The noise of the babbling stream kept us going! Water!
We get to the creek about an hour and a half later. Wow! Glacier fed water never tasted so good! Next we hung the meat and food in trees and then pitched the tent in a hurried fashion! We had been going non stop since we left the ATV about 12 hours ago, it's now 0400 AM! Sleeeeeep!
We woke up at 11:30 and I decided to eat as much food as I could to reduce weight! We grabbed our packs and hiked off along the creekside to our ATV. This took another 1-2 hours.
Needless to say we were tired and sore but Wow! We did it and lived to tell about it!!
The Goat has a 9" set of horns, so a pretty big beast. Not bad for a couple of first timers!
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m202/jlaw_/img_3627.jpg (http://s105.photobucket.com/user/jlaw_/media/img_3627.jpg.html)