Colorado 2014 Let The Pack-in Begin part 2

As we rolled out of bed Monday morning feeling well rested and ready for the hike we had in front of us. Once again we hit up the free breakfast at hotel to fuel up and we hit the road for the trail head. After the hour or so drive we were at the trail head loading our packs with the last minute items and strapping on the bows. "The Bama Boys" pulled in shortly after us. They had hike in the day before to set up camp and get situated. The told us they made it back to the car just as it started to rain last night. These guys drove 24 hours straight then hiked over 6 miles that day. These guys were not messing around.

"The Bama Boys" geared up quickly and hit the trail ahead of us. We put on our 85 pound packs and started the hike in. The trail was covered in mud which made foot placement very important. We hiked past the spot we stopped at yesterday and headed up steep muddy switch backs. The mud caked up on our boots, with the mud, the weight of my pack and the altitude I had to give it all I had. We found the cut off trail that lead up to the area we wanted to camp. We hiked 50-100 yards at a time and would stop for a breather. With temps only in the mid 50's I was still sweating my butt off.

As we started up the cut off trail we were passed by an outfitter with pack mules packing down a 4 x 5 rag horn and possibly a cow from the looks of the load on the mules. Hopes were high as we must be in elk country. As we hiked on we passed "The Bama Boys" camp and kept on going.  There was little streams and weeps of water every were. We climbed up another hill and I needed a break as Al pressed on another 100 yards or so. He returned rather quickly as he spotted a camp and a decoy about 300 yards away. We had competition in the area. This could have been good or bad as they might push something our way or we could spook something to them.

We hiked up to a small flat spot in the trees and decided this was going to be home for the next 4-5 days. We quickly set up camp, hung our food and then set off to find water. We knew of the stream down hill from us but did not want to carry almost 4 gallons of water up hill. We set off behind camp, a few minutes later we found a nice little stream that was flowing pretty good. We pumped our bladders and filled our spare containers and set back off to camp. The whole time at camp we never heard a bugle or saw movement in the valleys but it was hot. So I did not expect to see much in the middle of the day.

We made the call to not get to far from camp as we were a little tired from the hike in. We found a small pond surrounded by aspens and pines. I set up just inside the tree line and Al took off 50-75 yards behind me to to call. We sat for close to 2 hours. We did not see or hear anything in the 2 hours. I heard Al coming up behind me so I packed my gear and we headed to a high spot to glass. We glassed till almost dark. Then down the hill back to camp. We had dinner, I had beef stroganoff mountain house. It was pretty good. I just should have grabbed some pepper from my food bag. It was off to sleep in hopes of elk in the morning.

Colorado 2014 We Came, We Hiked, Then We Hiked Some More. Part 1

We loaded up the truck Friday September 19 2014, with alarms set and all the gear loaded it was time for my last man soda and off to bed. 5:00am came quick. I showered and said my goodby's to my family, I left my house at 5:38. I told Al I would be over around 5:45am I was right on time. We hit the road, with 2 stops for gas and 10.5 hours later we pulled into Cortez. We got our room at Super 8 and headed to Walmart. We picked up our over the counter tags along with a few other items for the trip. We had a good dinner at Jimmer's BBQ and headed back to the room to get a good nights rest for the hike in in the morning. About 12:30 am I caught a flash out of my eye and then heard some of the loudest thunder I have ever heard. It proceeded to rain the rest of the night and into the morning. At that point we decided to to sleep in and get a bankers start.

Once we rolled out of bed we hit up the free breakfast downstairs. As we ate, the Weather Channel was on and calling for a massive thunder storm to come through Sunday afternoon till mid Monday Morning. We left for the trail head around 8 am. We were trying to find a few spots we had previously located on Google Earth to set our camp and just get used to the area we will be hunting in. Once we got to the trail head the Rinehart came out and we both shot a few arrows. We were slapping arrows at 20 yards. Time to beat feet.

 We headed in to the high country, crossed a river and started climbing a trail out of the valley. We found fresh elk tracks in the mud covered trail. At that point things were starting to look up. We climbed the trail for 40-45 minutes or so, the trail just kept switch backing away from the areas we were wanted to hunt. We headed back down the trail to a few ponds we saw on the way in. There was recent sign of elk and beaver all around the ponds, even a huge beaver dam. As the clouds started to billow up from the other side of the mountain. We hiked back down to check one last spot past the first trail we took. The surroundings where beautiful. There were small streams everywhere and one raging river. This is high country elk hunting, I was hooked. We called it a day and headed back to the truck.

At the truck we took our packs off, as we were getting ready to leave as two guys from Alabama pulled in to the trail head. Now known as "The Bama Boys". We all introduced ourselves and explained both our plans as to were we would be hunting. None of us wanted to impede on each others hunting grounds. "The Bama Boys" were going to the right and we were going left, perfect. "The Bama Boys" were great guys and very helpful. They filled us in on a cut off trail that lead deeper into the mountains and that there were a few good water sources higher up. The trail turned out to be the one we were looking for all along. Hunters helping hunters out is not something I am used to being from California. Now that I think of it everyone we met was very nice and helpful. We hit Main St Brewery in Cortez for dinner, I had a great burger and a few man sodas. At dinner time flew by as we set a game plan for the morning. When we got back to the room the sky broke loose and for the rest of the night we had thunder, lightening and rain.I know one of us was up every hour looking out the window hoping the storm would blow through quicker than predicted. It did not.