Thought I go for a Black Bear scouting excursion. Hope to nail one come August. I've only seen three in the wilds of Washington in all my years, so I was really just going for the condition and to zero my rifle.
Didn't have a lot of time so I chose to backpack to a place in the Snoqualmie Valley up I-90. The idea was to park at the McCellan Butte Trailhead (NWFS Pass Required), and hike up the McCellan Butte trail then an old logging road to an area due East of McCellan Butte. See the attached Google Earth picture.
Anyway, I left the car at ~8:15PM on a Friday evening and headed up. Imagine my surprise when just 5 minutes into the hike, crossing the first powerline cut I spotted a Black one. I immediately dropped and froze. I sat and watched him for a couple of minutes. When I finally decided to dig my camera out, he must have caught wind of me because he disappeared like a ghost.
Had to put on snowshoes at about 10PM (in the dark now) and continued on. Had my rail mounted flashlight on so I could see where I was going. Made it to my camp a about 11:30PM. Set up my tent and started setting everything up. Crap, realized I forgot my insulated sleeping pad. Instead of putting the tent fly on top of the tent, I folded it up and laid on the ground inside the tent and threw my sleeping bag over it.
I then had some food, water, and a couple shots of Fireball. It was a warm and clear evening. Went for a short walk around the area. It was nice without the pack.
Sleeping on the snow without the sleeping pad sucked... I ended up laying all my clothes on the tent fly and laid my sleeping bag over that. I could feel the cold coming through. It was barely tolerable.
Woke Saturday morning around 6:00AM. Sky was high overcast. Figured I'd get up and walk around a bit in the daylight. Didn't see any evidence of life up here. Checked out the local area and then packed everything up.
Stopped after about a half an hour at a gravel pit looking area and fired my rifle a bit, checking the zero.
I think I'm ready for August.
If anyone is interested in doing similar excursions let me know.
Pictures:
Google Earth Map
Camp
Camp Again
Rifle - AR Platform 6.8mm SPC sighted in.
Overlooking Exit 47