So...
After doing a decent amount camping, a short time wiht a mountain rescue team back east, and falling in love wiht the Washington wilderness, I have decided to do the high hunt. I started my reading about a year ago. I got deployed and so my scouting has been cut ridiculously short. It took me about 2 months to find a website that would actually load topo maps out here, and pretty much all my "scouting" has been done by looking at this map and trying to remember what the area looked like from my hiking, backpacking, and camping.
I wish there was a tracker next to my name for y'all to see how much time i've spent researching this stuff on here. I missed last years hunting season because of super "complicated" pregnancy and the birth of my last child. I'm missing the beginning of this one and all the good scouting while deployed. I had planned on getting into the high country this year but work changed those plans... UNTIL NOW!
I will be back in the state around the 20th. I had decided to give up the hunt and wait until I was better prepared. My wife mentioned that we should be able to take a little less than a week as a family trip, leaving me with a little more than a week for hunting. Either I can wait until I am better prepared, or I can just commit and figure it out as I go.
I have some decent backpacking/camping gear, and I have read so many gear lists on here it is nauseating. I have 4 kids and so my gear budget does not exist. I'm sure good gear will make the trip easier or more enjoyable, but I don't have the time or money for that.
I have picked a spot based on topo maps. Enter the area via a downslope from the road to a small river, walk the river to a major creek intersection several miles in, follow the finger the creek runs adjacent to up into the hills. The creek runs north and I plan on camping along that creek up around the head of it. I'll follow that finger up to the saddle ridge (runs east/west) and spend my time glassing the east side of the finger, the west side of the finger, and after getting up to the saddle, i'll glass both sides of that. I more than likely will not engage any animals on the south side of the saddle because I question my ability to carry much more than myself over that saddle and back out. The "peak" on that little ridge is right at 7000 feet. If I see nothing that first day or 2, i'll move my camp over 1 finger, and then head up early in the morning and drift that saddle east. It eventually tops out at about 6800 feet, and then drops down to another major creek whihc feeds the river I plan to walk in on. If I were to just walk the river, up the finger, across the saddle, down to the river, and back to the jeep, i'd be pushing between 10 and 12 miles.
I plan on being out for between 6 and 7 days. The worst that happens is I get hurt, cannot walk, start crawling out of the woods, and get eaten by a wolf (since I am one of the weak and injured ones that wolvse prefer to prey on) or starve to death. More than likely, i'll get some GREAT pictures of some gorgeous land, spend some time remembering what is important in life, and maybe see some animals to focus on next year. Best case scenario (though I do not expect it to happen so much) I see an animal on the 2nd or 3rd day, spend some time watching it, early morning day 3 or 4, get in place and engage... clean and roll! Maybe put on ice, store in Jeep, and go back to "watch" the gutpile for "visitors" with sharp teeth? Probably not.
Anyway, I feel as though I am completely prepared to spend that amount of time living in the mountains out of a bag. I feel as though I am not prepared at all to actually hunt anything, and am very anxious about being in the big bad woods by myself.
I'll take pictures and notes of my first ever High (solo) hunt, and post report later.
I had planned on going wiht a guy from work, but I don't think he can take the leave... it would be nice to be up there with somebody. Pros and cons to both.
O, and BTW, I found an old old obscure map of the area, possibly used by the Lewis and Clark expedition. The spot I am hunting was inside a box wiht a strange marking... maybe y'all have seen it... "C-Post"... no idea
Wish me luck, i'm home in a matter of weeks!
