Mt. View Unit

[jstone]

Fantastic looking country

[huntnnw]

First pic is couple miles in lake trail then hiked up and over ridge and down towards menatchee creek.. guard station is on horizon

2nd pic the trail would be below.. never hiked it along creek.. always got off trail at bottom. Some of those canyon bottoms are unreal thick and some are so steep you can’t climb them. I passed a 310-315” 6x7 down in there knowing what I had hiked thru to get that bull out would be a nightmare .. wasn’t big enough to deal with that crap.

[Shawn Ryan]

Made it over to Mt. View to set a couple cameras.  The Wenatchee trail is located substantially different than the FS or USGS map shows.  Both maps show the trail following the creek down.  There is a trail down there, but I could only find it about 2% of the time.  There is a much better, 1930's era-CCC-type trail, 6' wide, with cut banks, level trail tread, and easy grade that is just north of the trail on the maps, and just up hill from the map trail.  It is overgrown, but the trail cut is visible for 1/2 mile, at least.  I ran that trail down about half way, then went down to the bottom of the feeder-creek to find the map trail. What a mistake! I'd have no issue taking horses or mules down that better trail.

I was wearing Hoka running shoes, or as I call them:  clown shoes. They are great for running trails, with their 3/4" of foam soles, but they have zero lateral support.  I was off trail for the bottom half of the descent and about 1/3 of the ascent.  That was horrible.  Side-hilling on those slopes was a bit difficult in those shoes. 

I left the guard station a little after 4:00 p.m., made the bottom to drop a camera on a game trail just on the other side of Wenatchee Creek, and then up and out.  GPS says 7.5 miles, 2,235' of loss and gain in elevation, in and out in 4:15.  Good day, except I was stung by a hornet near my arm pit while busting brush near the creek on the way down and I have a bad reaction to that.  My arm is still swollen down to the wrist.

I was surprised at how huntable that area appears.  I've spent time in the Wenaha and Mt. View is very similar.  Rugged to look at, but definitely huntable.

Sunday morning I headed out the Lake Ridge trial.  Very different trail than the Wenatchee Guard Station trail.  Hardly any elevation change until you get to Lake Ridge, where the trail heads down. I was expecting it to be a substantially better trail.  It is a 1970's-era FS built trail. Very little cut bank, sloped trail tread; basically a good game trail after the first 1.5 miles or so.  Easy to lose in the places it traverses open hill sides.  Not runnable mostly after the first 1/2 mile or so.  From a hiking perspective, super easy trail out to Monument Ridge/Lake Ridge were it heads down.  I headed east from there, cross-country--still in my clown shoes.  Set a camera in a drainage north of Monument Ridge.  Was planning to set that camera down in a drainage off Lake Ridge, but decided I didn't like the south-facing slopes. Also wished I wasn't wearing clown shoes.  I peaked over the Mt. Horrible Ridge to see the north and east facing canyons. They look fairly awesome for hunting.

Found a cross "monument" out on Monument Ridge. I can't read most of the writing, but its a dedication to a guy named Willie. Anybody know the story?  Hope I have good buddies who would place a cross for me 3 miles out in an area I love.

May have changed my hunt plans, but I've still got more to learn.

(Edit: Don't know how to rotate those pics. They are vertical on my PC. Could someone with better skills fix that?)

[JWEBB]

Cool. Willie was one of my best hunting partners. He was like a grandfather to me while growing up. He hunted the area since the 70s and always had great stories to tell. He passed at cabin saddle in 2005 sadly the week before opening rifle deer. As a tribute to him, my mom and I built a cross and laminted a picture I took the last week he was alive. About 12 of us hunting friends hiked the trail the summer of 2006 and spread his ashes at bell canyon. We hung up the cross, and left him a Budweiser. Every year will still hike out there to see Willie. Bears have torn up the bottom of the cross a bit

[huntnnw]

I met his hunting buddies my last day of my last archery hunt. I slept near that cross one night. Theres another memorial with a rock etched with name along with beer cans, bullets and other things on few ridges northwest of there.

I hunted the entire hunt in Solomon speed cross shoes they did amazingly well for 19 days of hiking with 0 foot issues, but when I packed my bull out the last day is when they went crushed the soles and most of the tread was gone

[shallowforks]

that's an awesome story and a great tribute! thanks for sharing

[Shawn Ryan]

JWebb, Thank you. I was hoping for a story just like that.  I hope I die at a place like Cabin Saddle.

[Skyvalhunter]

Don't wish what you hope for 

[stew pidasso]

Very cool, thanks for the update.

[JWEBB]

JWebb, Thank you. I was hoping for a story just like that.  I hope I die at a place like Cabin Saddle.

Your welcome! Yeah I was surprised to see that pic on here. Definitely a pretty good hike that most wont take to get there. We are always at cabin saddle the week before rifle deer till the end of rifle elk. If anyone of you passes through stop in a say hi. My dad and a couple other good old boys always have the best stories to tell

[huntnnw]

Last couple day shooter

[Shawn Ryan]

Nice. Looks like you got down to check your cameras.  Hope you found a pig to start watching.

[Allen23]

You better have your big boy panties and bull pack with you if your planning on getting a bull out of there before it spoils...... I've seen many guys come over and hunt that unit and bite off a little more than they can chew.

[Timberstalker]

It's not that steep.

[Shawn Ryan]

No doubt the country is steep and rugged.  But IME, its not more difficult terrain than ground I've hunted in Goat Rocks, William O., Norse Peak, or some Gifford Pinchot terrain.  Its hotter and dryer, so meat care will be a bit more of an issue, but I do have a plan. Gotta get a bull on the ground, though; and I don't think that will be easy.